Author: Felicia Fonseca, The Associated Press

Snow piled up in the mountains across the U.S. West last winter, leaving enough to thrill skiers into the summer, swelling rivers and streams when it melted, and largely making wildfire restrictions unnecessary. But the wet weather can be misleading. Climate change means the region is still getting drier and hotter. “It only demonstrates the…

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – A 150-year-old document that allowed Navajos to return to their homeland in the Four Corners region where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado meet is destined for a permanent home at the tribe’s museum. Navajos had been imprisoned at a desolate tract of land in eastern New Mexico before signing a treaty…

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Seven states that rely on a major waterway in the U.S. West have finished a yearslong effort to create a plan to protect the Colorado River amid a prolonged drought, the federal government declared Tuesday. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman commended Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming for…

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Another federal deadline passed Monday for seven states in the U.S. West to wrap up work on a plan to ensure the drought-stricken Colorado River can deliver water to the 40 million people and farms that depend on it. The states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming –…