Against economic and ecological reason, officials plan to open the refuge to drilling.
Tim Lydon
Posted inArticles
How to celebrate Earth Day
Stand up for public lands, fight climate change and get outside this April 22 — and all year long.
Posted inArticles
Protected lands generate big-time revenue
In Alaska, sustainable recreation dollars help advocates for protected areas.
Posted inArticles
The West grapples with history through its place names
A growing number of places have been renamed to honor their first inhabitants.
Posted inArticles
We can still ease back from worst-case climate scenarios
A colossal iceberg breaks off Antarctica, foreshadowing a daunting future climate.
Posted inArticles
We’re ignoring a major factor in the immigration debate
Climate change is exacerbating illegal immigration.
Posted inArticles
A place for artists on public lands
The connection between art and the American landscape offers new ways to advocate for lands.
Posted inArticles
Outdoor outfitters can’t stay quiet on climate change
The industry is short-changing millions of visitors at a time when dialogue is needed.
Posted inArticles
This year’s weird Alaska winter should make us very, very nervous.
It’s time to think of winters like the past three as glimpses into the future.
Posted inMarch 21, 2016: Making Sense of Malheur
Stop trying to make biking in wilderness happen. It’s not going to happen.
I shouldn’t be writing this, and you shouldn’t be reading it. Far more pressing issues face our public lands. But a vocal minority is drudging up the long-resolved question of mountain biking in wilderness. They have even drafted a bill for somebody to introduce in Congress — the Human-Powered Wildlands Travel Management Act — that […]
Posted inArticles
This just happened: Alaska’s warm winter
It might seem like the big weather story this winter was the spate of snow and cold that hit the East Coast. But a more prolonged and sobering story was all the snow and cold that did not hit large parts of the West, and especially Alaska. Today, the Sierra Nevada’s snowpack hovers at around […]
Posted inArticles
Giving thanks and looking forward
With Thanksgiving near, it’s the season to be grateful and take stock of our situation. In that spirit, here’s some of what I’ve been thinking about. First, as we conclude our celebration of the golden anniversary of the Wilderness Act, let’s give a cheer to the 88th U.S. Congress, which, in 1964, passed the law […]
Posted inWotr
Colorado’s ‘Berlin Wall for wildlife’ should get an animal crossing
Supporters hope to try out a revolutionary design on I-70.
Posted inWotr
Snow, no longer so white
The recent online series, Trip, features Swiss free-skiers Nicolas and Loris Falquet skiing through snow colored with yellow, blue and umber dyes, all apparently non-polluting. It’s beautiful, slow-motion cinematography that captures the complexity of snow, with vivid contrasts between storm layers, cornices, powder and slabs. It’s also a timely metaphor, because the color of snow […]
Posted inWotr
For climate’s sake, finish your veggies
The Oxford Dictionaries Online last year added the word “locavore,” defined as someone who eats mostly locally produced food. The word’s acceptance reflects the success of a movement that seeks to make a dent in global climate change by encouraging people to purchase food close to home. It’s just one part of an ongoing health […]
Posted inWotr
Dead whales do tell tales
Just as 2012 was ending, a dead fin whale washed up on a beach in Malibu, Calif. A rare emissary from the ocean as well as an endangered species, it gave people in the area several things to consider. The first was the sheer wonder of whales. Fin whales are the second-largest animal on Earth, […]
Posted inWotr
Here come the Super Storms
Once again, we were all New Yorkers. Watching the heartbreak that continues in Staten Island, parts of Queens and along the pummeled Jersey Shore, our sympathies turned eastward toward the victims of this unusual “Super Storm.” But just how unusual was it? Sandy’s devastation gives us the opportunity to remember another giant storm that barreled […]
Posted inWotr
Don’t look for the frontier in Alaska
Alaska. The word tumbles out like a wild stream, carrying a cascade of images: grizzly bears, glaciers, vast mountains, Native villages. It’s the Alaska we believe in, an American Eden for lovers of wilderness. But as change sweeps the state, the veneer is cracking. In the southeastern panhandle, the famed Inside Passage bordering British Columbia, […]
Posted inWotr
The teenagers we’re not helping
This winter, events in two Western states gave supporters of same-sex marriage reason to cheer. First, on Feb. 7, the 9th Circuit Court ruled that California Proposition Eight, the 2008 voter-approved ban on gay marriage, violates the U.S. Constitution. The court said the ban’s only purpose was “to lessen the status and human dignity of […]
Posted inFebruary 6, 2012: Can evolution help snowshoe hares adapt to climate change?
A young wolf wanders the West
As 2011 came to a close, a wolf that biologists call “OR-7” made history by loping across the Oregon border into Northern California. He was the first wild wolf seen in that state since 1924. But that’s only one of OR-7’s milestones. Two months earlier, he became the first wolf in over 50 years to […]