Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Utah
Posted inArticles
Inside Utah’s PR campaign to seize public lands
Utah used actors, AI, stagecraft and NDAs as it sought to sway public opinion and take control of 18.5 million acres of federal public land.
Posted inArticles
Supreme Court puts Utah’s oil train back on the rails
The 8-0 decision overturned the U.S. Court of Appeals decision that the project’s environmental impact statement was insufficient.
Posted inArticles
A proposed Utah uranium mine gets the Trump treatment
Feds approve contested facility in just 11 days.
Posted inArticles
Public lands for housing in Nevada and Utah called ‘giveaway’
Interested parties say water resources, tribal sovereignty and public engagement are threatened by the budget reconciliation bill’s amendment.
Posted inArticles
The crusade to end federal public lands in New Mexico
Howard Hutchinson, a private property rights activist, leads a coalition that’s quietly organizing a county-level rejection of the Antiquities Act.
Posted inArticles
The horses and mules that moved mountains and hearts
Forest Service stock animals are indispensable to trail work on public lands in the West. Trump’s radical upheaval is accelerating the death of a dying art.
Posted inApril 2025: A Monumental Reckoning
The murder, the museum and the monument
How the discovery of a long-lost monument shattered the trust between a Japanese American community and the museum built to preserve their history.
Posted inMarch 2025: The Berry Pickers
As the Great Salt Lake recedes, industry rises
Utah’s Inland Port Authority works with local officials to boost development, but residents feel ignored.
Posted inArticles
These states use stolen Indigenous land to fund prisons
State trust lands generate millions of dollars for carceral facilities and programs every year, largely from extractive industries like oil and gas drilling.
Posted inFebruary 2025: Immigrant Stories
A veteran transforms a legacy of violence into a campaign for restoration
How a former Marine found a road to repair.
Posted inArticles
Uranium trucks on Arizona’s ‘Killer 89’ spark alarm in tribal communities
White Mesa residents say they’d be last to know about accidents despite being closest to danger.
Posted inIssues
What happens after Utah’s coal-fired power plants close?
Department of Energy grants are helping eastern Utah plan for the energy transition.
Posted inArticles
How the Park City ski patrol won concessions from Vail
As patrollers and management reach an agreement, other ski patrols are learning from Park City’s example.
Posted inArticles
Our imperiled public lands
President-elect Trump, a Republican-dominated Congress and Utah launch an all-out assault on environmental protection.
Posted inArticles
How Utah’s Christmas Festival has buoyed a changing coal community
Thirty-five years ago, Helper was nearly a ghost town. Now, art and tourism are providing new paths forward.
Posted inMarch 2025: The Berry Pickers
Utah’s coal mines can’t find enough workers
A mine just reopened in eastern Utah, but the industry has changed.
Posted inDecember 2024: Land as Reparations
The passion of the Mormon feminist
For 50 years, ‘Exponent II‘ has made the LDS Church squirm. It has no plans to stop.
Posted inArticles
Audio: How nature can thrive despite human impact
What disturbance-loving plants teach.
Posted inArticles
Beautiful Bears Ears is at risk, again
What are the consequences for the land if the incoming president shrinks the national monument?