Politics

President Biden issued an executive order last week to bolster women's history in our National Parks

Highly skilled firefighters are the last line of defense against wildfires, but that line is fraying because the government decided long ago that they’re not worth very much

Outside’s ethics guru weighs in on whether it’s all right to name a Utah development project after one of the West’s most notorious anti-development advocates

Why did a mother with no backcountry experience take her sister and 13-year-old son to live off the grid on a 10,000-foot mountain during a Colorado winter?

Rising predawn to chase powder is sacred in ski culture, but an increasing number of resorts are offering early-access programs for people who can afford them

Before she became famous for her lawsuits against former President Trump, the writer took a road trip for an Outside story that had her asking total strangers if they had sex outdoors.

What’s an acceptable baseline of fitness? According to the most adventurous American president in U.S. history, it was an ultra endurance trek.

Caroline Gleich is a ski mountaineer, activist, and now a candidate for the United States Senate

We’re fact checking misinformation currently gaining traction on social media

The 26th president once demanded that military personnel be able to walk 50 miles in 20 hours. I set off on an ill-fated mission to see if I could do it myself.

A community ski hill in Northern California is under fire after sharing plans to erect a 20-foot-tall statue of the Virgin Mary

After 50 years, one of the most consequential environmental laws in U.S. history may no longer be relevant to the world we’re living in

In 2023, records fell, kids took government leaders to task, and activists fought bravely for the planet. These individuals are the Outsiders of the Year, chosen for their bravery, tenacity, and strength.

Sixteen young people took Montana to court to hold the state responsible for violating their right to a clean and healthful environment

Soccer player Quinn, cyclist Austin Killips, and runner Nikki Hiltz inspired us—and thousands of other fans—this year

The death of Manuel Paez Terán, a “Stop Cop City” protester, in January marked the first time police have shot and killed an environmental activist on U.S. soil

The Fifth National Climate Assessment, released by the White House this week, shows it’s not too late to act

Throughout the lower 48, recreational bush pilots are using their nimble planes and social media influence to spread the word about bold frontiers in flight: touching down on remote federal lands, flocking to little-used runways in designated wilderness, and drag racing one another for pure sport. Their capstone event each season, the High Sierra Fly-In, never fails to deliver hair-raising thrills.

If the congress can't get its act together by November 17, federal firefighters will each lose $20,000 per year

A new federal law, the Rodchenkov Act, has the potential to dramatically clean up international sports. A case involving a Texas doping ring illustrates how the new legislation works.

The new jobs program will hire 20,000 young adults to boost climate resilience and environmental justice

As Republican legislators fail to reach a deal with the fringe of their own party, the National Park Service and normal people who depend on it prepare to suffer

Special Counsel Jack Smith loves endurance sports, and we have the skinny on his multisport passion

The cyclist has become a focal point for the debate about trans women in sport

Should a reader feel guilty about booking a short-term rental in a town beset by the housing crisis? Outside’s ethics columnist weighs in.

Refugee Dominic Lobalu has proven that he can beat the best runners in the world. But will that be enough to get him to the World Championships? 

The Benton MacKaye Scenic Trail starts at the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. It could become our country’s next big hiking route.

In his new book ‘The Swine Republic,’ environmental scientist Chris Jones tells hard truths about Iowa’s agricultural industry and how its farming practices contaminate water thousands of miles away

Clean water is just the latest front in the GOP's judicial war on your rights

President Carter added protections to more than 157 million acres of public land and created 39 total national park units

Say it ain’t so, Kyrsten!

Wolves in Colorado should benefit both humans and the ecosystem, but can they survive the culture war?

The shredders, climbers, policy-makers, barrier breakers, and scientists who forever changed the way we view the world

Three figures are working to initiate change in public-lands leadership after four years of decline and mismanagement under the previous administration

The office will advance outdoor opportunities, policies, and infrastructure in the Bay State

As Ukraine prepares for months of frigid conflict with Russia, its troops might look to another nation that held its own against the Red Army in the cold: Finland.

Your guide to voting on national, state, and local levels this November

With increasing decriminalization efforts underway, here’s what it would take to legalize weed on public lands

The Ute Indian Tribe says the White House did not meaningfully consult their government about Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument, which is located within the tribe’s ancestral lands

The newest national monument sits in the heart of Colorado’s ski country. Here’s what you need to know about Camp Hale–Continental Divide National Monument.

With a possible Antiquities Act designation looming, what is Camp Hale, and why does it merit protection? 

In Colorado, there’s a new ballot-first model to bring the contentious species back to the state, and it could be a prototype for the rest of the country

While many sports are tightening restrictions on transgender athletes, these leagues went in the opposite direction

Blasting the Inflation Reduction Act on Sunday, the GOP nominee for a Senate seat in Georgia said, “A lot of the money is going into trees. Don’t we have enough trees around here?”

The family of Lauren Davis desperately sought answers after she was fatally struck by a driver while biking to work in New York City in 2016. At every step, the criminal-justice system let them down, raising the question of what justice should look like for victims of traffic violence.

You’ll need an ATV, throwing hatchets, strong lungs, a chainsaw, a snow machine, beer, a water gun, and neighbors who just can’t stop pissing you off

The contents will astonish you

The compromise offsets climate spending with big wins for oil and gas, too

Hawley is lucky that his awkward run didn’t end in injury, writes Zoë Rom

“In short, FICOR will make the outdoors more accessible, equitable, and positive to more Americans.”

For his new PBS show, ‘America Outdoors,’ comedian and activist Baratunde Thurston connects us to our natural environments through the most interesting of creatures: humans.

Mega cruise ships stopped sailing to Key West, Florida, during the height of COVID-19. Many locals appreciated the resulting peace and quiet and won a vote for large ships not to return. But the fight’s not over.

The federal government’s authority to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions is at risk, as right wing Supreme Court justices rewrite American laws

On June 21, the BLM, U.S. Forest Service, and Five Tribes of the Intertribal Coalition signed a cooperative management agreement for Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument. It marks a shift in our history at a time when we’ve never needed to collaborate more.

Native scholar weighs in on the United Nations’ suggestion that Indigenous knowledge might help us survive the climate disaster

When vast gas reserves were discovered off the idyllic coast of northern Mozambique, a crew of roughnecks flew in from around the world to make their fortunes. But in March 2021, Islamist rebels attacked, and the foreigners and thousands of Mozambicans were abandoned. Two hundred holed up at the Amarula Lodge, where the expats faced a choice: save themselves, or risk it all to save everyone. As oil and gas fuel a new war in Europe, Alex Perry pieces together, shot by shot, a stunning morality tale for the global economy.

The American Southwest hasn’t been this dry in 1,200 years. The region’s water supply—and entire energy infrastructure—is at stake.

Our national parks are overcrowded, especially in summer. One solution is to create more of them. Here are the regions that get our votes.

We asked one of the original Earth Day organizers for ideas on how to bring back urgency to the movement during a moment that’s more dire than ever

‘Our Great National Parks’ overly idealizes U.S. conservation efforts and gives a mealymouthed call to climate action

Yolanda Davis-Overstreet is fighting for safer streets and mobility justice in the marginalized communities of Los Angeles

For the German climber and his family, life has changed dramatically over the past five weeks

Bill Hayes’s new book, ‘Sweat: A History of Exercise,’ offers a personal account of a universal tradition

It’s not easy being a progressive who works for a middle-of-the-road president. Mark Sundeen sizes up the interior secretary’s first year in office—which has been a disappointment to climate-change activists—and decides she’s most likely to make a mark through a historic reckoning over the U.S. government’s shameful running of Native American boarding schools.

Earth-loving New Yorkers are drawing from an unlikely arsenal of activism, hip-hop, marathon city-council Zoom meetings, and one sassy pug to hold the city to its zero-waste commitments. If they succeed, the environmental benefits could be huge.

Whether they want to or not, organizations like World Athletics and the International Olympic Committee have shed the mantle of neutrality

A ‘Washington Post’ story on Greg Gianforte’s latest hunting escapades is misleading, which is a shame, because its subject deserves much more scrutiny

The ROI Act will give rural communities the money they need to develop outdoor recreation economies

Yes, things are very bad, but there are some glimmers of hope for making meaningful progress

BLM’s first confirmed director in five years talks about access, equity, and the future of public land in the West

All over the West, a housing crisis is causing workforce shortages, crippling local businesses, and threatening the culture and existence of mountain towns as we know them. But amid the doom and gloom, some people are fighting for solutions.

Colorado’s John Hickenlooper has straddled the divide between industry and the environment. Now the U.S. senator is trying to create a climate-oriented voting bloc comprised of outdoor enthusiasts.

For decades, Deep Springs College in California resisted the push to go coed. But even though women are now allowed to attend, it still holds on to the past.

Each year an estimated 300,000 smugglers, known as ‘kolbars,’ haul millions of pounds of contraband from Iraq to Iran over the 14,000-foot peaks of the Zagros Mountains. More than 50 of them will die—shot dead, killed in accidents, or freezing to death—and countless more will be arrested and imprisoned. Alex Perry travels to Iraqi Kurdistan to investigate the roots of a trade that all but defies comprehension.

President Biden just restored the national monument’s boundaries. Now it’s time for deeper healing and restorative justice for the region’s Indigenous people.

Three days before Indigenous People’s Day, President Biden reversed the largest attack on public lands in recent history