‘We have unprecedented access to people that are in these positions who are trying to help us, which is great.’
Bureau of Land Management
Posted inArticles
Mining companies pollute waterways. Citizens pay.
Nearly 2 billion pounds of toxic waste were dumped into western waterways in 2017, and taxpayers are left to clean up the mess.
Posted inArticles
Should energy interests outweigh wildlife?
In Wyoming, Trump’s energy dominance mandate could irreparably devastate mule deer migrations.
Posted inJanuary 21, 2019: What Killed Washington's Carbon Tax?
Feds to open most of Arctic refuge coastal plain to drilling
Despite ecological harm, energy development moves forward in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Posted inMarch 18, 2019: Arizona's Wild Horse Paradox
Arizona’s wild horse paradox
Activists and agencies try to balance the West’s horse mythology against herd impacts.
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More plans, less protection for sage grouse
A final environmental assessment weakens drilling restrictions on millions of acres.
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Wyoming’s data trespass laws remain defeated
The state did not appeal a ruling striking down portions of the laws over free speech.
Posted inDecember 10, 2018: Critical Mass
Latest: BLM abandons plan to surgically sterilize wild horses
The agency will focus on increasing adoption of horses and research other methods.
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Inside Colorado’s ‘hotbed’ of wildlife conflict
Documents show flawed management leads to unnecessary killings of bighorn sheep.
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Oil and gas leasing delayed in sage grouse habitat
Federal court rejects Interior’s ‘intentional decision’ to limit public comment.
Posted inNovember 26, 2018: Follow the fish
Sagebrush Rebel appointed to Interior Department
Property rights lawyer Karen Budd-Falen will give legal counsel on wilderness, wildlife and many of the policies she’s spent her career attacking.
Posted inNovember 26, 2018: Follow the fish
Why don’t anti-Indian groups count as hate groups?
The current understanding of ‘hate groups’ excludes those who undermine tribal rights and sovereignty.
Posted inOctober 29, 2018: When your neighborhood goes BOOM
We traveled 2,000 miles to save Chaco Canyon
Pueblo historic sites face oil and gas development on unprotected public lands.
Posted inNovember 26, 2018: Follow the fish
The country’s busiest oil and gas office has a plan for more drilling
Southern New Mexico offers a testing ground for Trump’s vision for energy dominance.
Posted inArticles
Gender diversity on the fire line
A photographer chronicles several of the firefighters combating and cleaning up after California’s Donnell Fire.
Posted inAugust 20, 2018: Where the West is Moving - and Why
Flying fish; grizzly bear hunts; cougar telepathy
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inArticles
The Colorado valley at stake in Trump’s oil boom
After coal waned, a community redefined itself. Will new leases turn back the clock?
Posted inArticles
Feds eye changes to a bedrock environmental law
A clash over the National Environmental Policy Act follows familiar fault lines.
Posted inJuly 23, 2018: Pay for Prey
After Malheur, side effects of the Bundys’ extremism linger
But in Harney County, Oregon, collaboration around public lands grows.
Posted inJune 25, 2018: Little Weed, Big Problem
Trump administration pauses California’s solar energy truce
The decision imperils the balance between desert conservation and development.