The Nevada senator is a formidable leader and champion of progressive issues.
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Wyoming’s coal industry faces uncertain future
New study examines threats to state’s coal-dependent economy.
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Land-based foods won’t float polar bears through ice declines
As climate change sends bears searching for calories, new research suggests there’s no substitute for seals.
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Business parks: Feds sell naming rights to iconic public lands
Agencies seek corporate revenues in the face of fiscal woes.
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Change in the air
I didn’t expect change to come from the air — not the kind of change that transforms the essence of a quiet place. I assumed the biggest risk of life-altering change would most likely come from wildfire. I watch smoke plumes erupt every year from this high ridge in central Colorado, overlooking the southwest flank […]
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Federal public land transfers get a Congressional boost
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and a majority of her colleagues signal support for the pro-transfer movement.
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A fracking fight that we’re still fighting
Last November, San Benito County became the first county in California to stand up to the most powerful industry on Earth. We banned fracking and other intensive oil extraction methods, despite a Big Oil pushback that was lavishly funded and Orwellian in its methods of attack. San Benito is a landlocked rural county, nestled between […]
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Colorado’s snow is dust-free for the first time in a decade
But conditions are still prime for early snowmelt and summer drought.
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Snapshot of a drought in progress
Southwest Colorado’s snowpack is dismal and melting fast.
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Unwanted California tires end up in rivers and beaches
But efforts to use the trash as building materials in Mexico offer new hope.
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Lifties and ski patrol go head to head in Telluride
It’s a Telluride tradition: the annual St. Patrick’s Day lifties versus ski patrol softball game. To understand the magnitude of this yearly matchup, it’s important to understand the social dynamic of these two groups in any ski town. Ski patrol is full of alpha males and females, talented and aggressive skiers—in general only skiers—who have […]
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Tribal water compact moving through Montana legislature
But the bill stirs up longstanding criticism of basic tribal sovereignty.
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Don’t blame bark beetles for fire risk
A new study suggests hot dry weather, not beetles, make forests go up in smoke.
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Senior editor Jonathan Thompson talks lessons from Farmington’s bust with KDNK
The energy extraction-dependent New Mexico town has ridden out a couple ups and downs.
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Supreme Court wrestles with air-pollution rule
Should the EPA have considered how expensive the new regs would be for operators?
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Lentil Underground is a Montana phenomenon
Lentils are a humble and earthy food. They’re not intended for the fancy dishes that tap-dance around the table; they’re more at home in simple, nourishing foods like Indian dal or hippy mush, the kind of food that feeds villages. Even better, lentils come from a plant that improves the land where it grows as […]
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Will public-lands ranchers pay more for grazing?
An Obama administration proposal would more than double fees.
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Airports in the rural West are getting squeezed
Starting sometime in May my only option for flying from Moab, Utah, to a regional hub will be to get on a Brasilia 30-seat turboprop (Great Lakes Airlines) that flies over the heart of the Rockies to Denver. Until then, we have Beechcraft 1900s that fly to Salt Lake City. Both of these are venerable […]
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Ranch Diaries: Ways to reduce the inevitable risks
On cattle futures, planning for potential drought, and grazing cows to encourage forage growth.
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Bison to be reintroduced in Banff, new plans for Yellowstone herd
Promising developments percolate in two North American parks.