Doug Burgum was once seen as a conservationist. Reality shows otherwise.
Perspective
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Solar and wind continue to push coal off the West’s grid
Trump’s war on clean energy falters.
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What’s destroying Utah’s monuments
The administration wants to open 3 million acres to mining claims and oil and gas leasing at the expense of the landscape.
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A ban on chainsaws in wilderness is performative, not practical
An experienced trail crew leader argues that, in today’s forests, the rigidity of the regulation buries what it’s designed to protect.
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Sen. Mike Lee targets the Roadless Rule
The Utah senator launched another unpopular assault on public lands.
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Treat water like family, not profit
Federal and state approaches to managing the Colorado River – as well as land and wildlife – reflect a lack of experience.
Posted inMarch 2026: The Uncertainty of Farming in the Colorado River Basin
Black riders have always held the reins
What ‘High Horse’ gets right about Black cowboys and the West.
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How federal cuts are reshaping Alaska’s communities, research and species management
A former U.S. Geological Survey research scientist reflects on the Trump administration’s sweeping changes in the agency.
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Skimo is hot, in hot times
The newest Olympic winter sport arrives just as snow droughts are becoming more likely.
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The AI Age perpetuates fossil fuel burning
Ancient energy sources power the future.
Posted inJanuary 2026: Deep Time in the West
What does ‘time immemorial’ really mean?
An overused phrase goes under the microscope.
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The mystery of wildlife and a world beyond our understanding
Science is essential to managing wildlife populations, but there are limits to what we know.
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The big data center buildup
An AI server farm tsunami threatens to overwhelm the West’s power grid and water supplies.
Posted inDecember 2025: Wild Harvest
Reno’s Gay Rodeo is back
Nearly 40 years after an armed sheriff, anti-LGBTQ activists and a judge’s order shut down the Gay Rodeo Finals, this year the riders came home.
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The nation’s energy dominance falters
Trump is killing clean energy, and it’s not even helping fossil fuels.
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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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The strange loneliness of Charlie Kirk’s funeral
Photos and reflections from the memorial in the Phoenix suburbs.
Posted inAugust 2025: Fire Culture
911’s hidden emergency
A former firefighter makes the case for community paramedicine in the age of climate change.
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A proposed Utah uranium mine gets the Trump treatment
Feds approve contested facility in just 11 days.
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‘De-extinction’ isn’t real, but the conservation questions it raises are
In the age of gene editing, what does it mean to protect a species?