The first year of the second Trump administration saw a bewildering array of federal actions in the 49th state. Here’s your guide to where things now stand.
Department of Interior
Posted inArticles
Congress passes environmental funding without Trump’s deep cuts
But the bipartisan effort still trimmed climate research and fails to solve agencies’ chronic underfunding.
Posted inJanuary 2026: Deep Time in the West
An age-old monument faces modern threats
Scientists say Grand Staircase-Escalante isn’t reaching its full research potential.
Posted inArticles
Top Interior Department official has ties to Thacker Pass lithium mine
Karen Budd-Falen’s family ranching operation agreed to sell water rights to the company developing the controversial Nevada lithium project.
Posted inDecember 2025: Wild Harvest
How ranchers accused of breaking the rules dodge oversight
Elected officials interfere with agency efforts to protect the land.
Posted inDecember 2025: Wild Harvest
The wealthy profit from public lands, and taxpayers pick up the tab
Roughly two-thirds of grazing on Bureau of Land Management land is controlled by just 10% of permit holders.
Posted inArticles
After Trump cuts, seeds sit in the warehouse
Western groups lose federal grants for urgent restoration and conservation projects.
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Interior is failing to conserve national parks
Leaving parks open during a shutdown neglects the mandate of future enjoyment.
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Sen. Mike Lee’s new bill permits ‘tactical infrastructure’ in wilderness areas
The Border Lands Conservation Act gives the Department of Homeland Security the power to waive myriad federal laws, including the Wilderness Act, under the pretense of border security.
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More than 2,000 jobs could be cut at Interior during shutdown
Research, wildlife and conservation are in the crosshairs.
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What we stand to lose if national monuments fall
Can one of the nation’s best conservation tools survive?
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Tribal governments fend off the worst of the impacts of the shutdown
In the weeks leading up to the shutdown, tribal nations hefted their political and economic capital to protect services for their citizens.
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What the government shutdown means for public lands
Many parks will stay open, and oil and gas permitting will continue — even as tens of thousands of staff are furloughed at NPS, BLM and USFS.
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The Trump administration’s war on wind
How energy companies and states are navigating federal policy that’s hostile to wind.
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The dismantling of the Forest Service
The Trump administration’s plans would remake the agency and public lands. The deadline to comment is Sept. 30.
Posted inSeptember 2025: Who Controls Our Food?
What old growth forests have to do with your food
More than you might think.
Posted inArticles
How Interior is using environmental laws to suppress renewable energy
The Trump administration is turning environmentalists’ legal playbook against them.
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The Trump team sets double standard on migratory bird rules
The administration said it will go hunting for cases of wind energy companies unintentionally killing migratory birds — something it has long argued is not a violation of federal law.
Posted inArticles
An Interior Department veteran looks to the future
Jacob Malcom, founder of Next Interior, shares his fears for the agency and his hopes for a post-Trump reconstruction.
Posted inArticles
Mass layoffs can move forward, with devastating impacts for conservation and science
‘Shortsighted’ cuts could eliminate bird banding program, federal bee research and much more.