In the West, wildlife managers have wavered between killing Mexican wolves and trying to save them. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials have released wolves to the wild, then yanked them back out, a push-and-pull that is now forcing a reckoning with mismanagement and inbreeding among wolf populations. In this episode of “West Obsessed,” writers and editors of High Country News discuss a recent feature story on the wolves and ask: Is there hope for their recovery?

High Country News writers and editors discuss a Western legacy of sexual harassment and our recent feature story about the women in the male-dominated world of wildland firefighting that face harassment, abuse and sexism. The story is part of an ongoing investigation into the long history of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in public-land agencies.

Some of the most powerful figures in Western states are county sheriffs. They are elected officials, armed, with deputies and the ability to wrangle posses, and they can be hard to unseat. In this episode of “West Obsessed," Managing Editor Brian Calvert, Senior Editor Jonathan Thompson and Online Editor Tay Wiles discuss what makes county sheriffs so fascinating when it comes to public land issues, like those that led to the occupation of Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Long before the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge became a fantastic media event, High Country News was following a smaller controversy, in nearby Burns, Oregon, over ranching. In this episode of “West Obsessed,” we discuss the public land issues that preceded the occupation at Malheur. We go behind the scenes with our photographer and associate designer, Brooke Warren, who spent the first evening of the occupation with the men who seized the refuge, and we discuss the deeper issues behind the occupation with our online editor, Tay Wiles, who has been following the latest iteration of the Sagebrush Rebellion.

President Donald Trump and his fossil-fuel focused administration want to steer the country toward more energy development and have promised to revive the coal industry. In this episode of West Obsessed, High Country News editors check in on the early days of the new administration. Are they on track in keeping their promises to Coal Country? What implications might that have on the West and its natural resources?

In this episode of West Obsessed, High Country News editors and writers discuss the work of wildfire researchers. New studies are uncovering how intense wildfires create their own weather and move across the land — knowledge that could save lives.

In this episode of West Obsessed, High Country News Editor-in-chief Brian Calvert and Publisher Paul Larmer bring HCN correspondent Ben Goldfarb into the studio to talk about his recent feature story an illegal timber poaching gang in Washington. How did an anonymous tip, DNA evidence and a century-old conservation law help the Forest Service take down a gang of maple poachers? Listen to find out.

In this episode of West Obsessed, High Country News Editor-in-chief Brian Calvert examines the uncomfortable Western corners featured in our annual Travel Issue. Anna V. Smith, editorial fellow, returns to the old-growth forest of her youth and questions her prior assumptions about her home. Maya L. Kapoor, associate editor, talks about an encounter with a wild hawk in a not so wild place.

In this episode of West Obsessed, High Country News Managing Editor Brian Calvert talks with Florence Williams on her new book, "The Nature Fix." Together they discuss the power of nature on mental health, and tell an incredible story about a group of female veterans seeking healing on a River of No Return.

For nearly a year, High Country News investigated how the tentacles of a national opioid and heroin epidemic have reached the rural West. Assistant Editor Paige Blankenbuehler reported in tiny Craig, Colorado, where she uncovered a private practice that spurred a complicated drug crisis that continues to outpace the available resources for addicts, the health care community and law enforcement.