The first Native national parks director talks tribal co-management, historical accuracy, harassment, and the fallacy of “wilderness.”
National Park Service
Posted inArticles
How to prevent a hike from resulting in a heist
A new proposal aims to make trailheads near Seattle safe from car break-ins — but some worry it could compromise their own safety.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2022: Going Under
Questions about the LandBack movement, answered
Number one: Why are Indians spray-painting my Starbucks?
Posted inArticles
What’s it like to live in a tourist town with no tourists?
After the floods, Yellowstone gateway communities are grappling with what comes next.
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Was Yellowstone’s deadliest wolf hunt in 100 years an inside job?
Veteran park service employees were involved in last year’s hunt, but one says he’s a victim of a federal ‘witch hunt.’
Posted inArticles
What Indigenous leaders think about co-managing Bears Ears with the feds
Native advocates share their hopes and relief after decades of fighting for their ancestral lands.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2022: Going Under
Flooding could breathe life into Yellowstone ecosystem
Although destructive for people, high-water events are a natural part of river systems.
Posted inArticles
Yellowstone area flooding upends lives and portends a new climate reality
Unprecedented rain and snowmelt destroyed roads and washed away bridges outside the national park.
Posted inArticles
See the Western conservation projects getting Infrastructure Act money this year
Approximately $68 million will be delivered to more than 100 projects across the country — many of which are based in the West.
Posted inMay 1, 2022: New Ways of Seeing the West
The lion king of Los Angeles
After Miguel Ordeñana discovered mountain lion P-22 in urban LA, he became a key advocate for habitat connectivity, which is essential for the species’ survival in Southern California.
Posted inArticles
‘This is what reconciliation work can look like’
A researcher explains why she’s using settler-colonial methods to interrogate settler-colonialism in national parks.
Posted inMay 1, 2022: New Ways of Seeing the West
Park Service’s midnight-hour rule change benefits Telecom
The eliminated policy was designed to keep the public in the loop about new cell towers.
Posted inArticles
National parks center colonizer histories through place names
A recent study analyzes the impacts of appropriated and derogatory place names in the nation’s national parks.
Posted inArticles
Congress meets with Native leaders to discuss co-management of federal lands
Staving off attempts by Republican officials to talk about Russia, tribal leaders spent the morning in D.C. highlighting the benefits of co-management plans and tribal sovereignty.
Posted inMarch 1, 2022: The Cloning Conundrum
Will we share the same dismal fate as glaciers and forests?
Two recent books look at the parallels between human, ecological and societal illness.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2022: Essential
Free bird; lost-and-found bear; cowboy pride
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inArticles
The dizzying scope of abandoned mine hazards on public lands
As many as 500,000 abandoned mine features litter federal land, many posing environmental or physical safety hazards that especially threaten Native communities.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2022: Water Rights and Responsibilities
Bye Ye; Denali Uber; Heard transition
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inDecember 1, 2021: Visions of Wildness
Wind turbines proposed near a Japanese American incarceration camp prompt outrage
The Lava Ridge Wind Farm in Idaho would more than double the state’s wind energy output, but at what cost?
Posted inJanuary 1, 2022: Water Rights and Responsibilities
The Park Service buried its own study on harassment
The agency promised transparency and action. Instead, it kept the audit confidential.