The Trump administration succeeded in opening the refuge for drilling. The highest bidder? The state of Alaska itself.
Bureau of Land Management
Posted inFebruary 1, 2021: End of the Line
The Washington, D.C., siege has Western roots and consequences
History and the growing power of right-wing extremism point to a volatile future for the West during the Biden presidency.
Posted inArticles
Local climate efforts cut costs and carbon in Wyoming
As the state doubles down on fossil fuels, towns chart their own path.
Posted inArticles
Interior denies all of New Mexico’s proposed LWCF projects
The rejection is considered political retribution for criticism of the Trump administration.
Posted inArticles
Biden needs to go beyond a Trump reset
The president-elect has an opportunity to rebuild better than before.
Posted inArticles
Where the Great American Outdoors Act stands now
After passing with bipartisan support in August, the conservation law hits stumbling blocks. Here’s what may happen next.
Posted inDecember 1, 2020: A Community Divided
How fossil-fueled politics undermined a backcountry compromise
William Perry Pendley’s illegal stint as agency head undoes a first-of-its-kind land designation in Montana.
Posted inDecember 1, 2020: A Community Divided
A whistleblower speaks out over excavation of Native sites
In California, archaeologists unearthed Indigenous burials 11 years ago, but the remains have yet to be repatriated.
Posted inArticles
New Mexico’s oil fields have a sinkhole problem
The hunt for industrial brine has opened massive and unexpected sinkholes, which is taking delicate work, and more than $54 million, to fill.
Posted inNovember 1, 2020: When the Smoke Clears
Infographic: A patchwork of lands fragments wildlife migration
New legislation helps connect private and public parcels for wildlife flow.
Posted inArticles
In Arizona, building a wall — and destroying a canyon
In a mountain range too steep to cross, DHS is spending millions of dollars on five miles of border wall.
Posted inArticles
Violence at the U.S.-Mexico border as a presidential election nears
Law enforcement deploys tear gas and rubber bullets in confrontation with Indigenous activists.
Posted inNovember 1, 2020: When the Smoke Clears
Hunting for myself in the high Montana sagebrush
A hunter celebrates a new vision of queerness and rural culture.
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
Energy dominance or climate action: Trump, Biden and the fate of public lands
In Grand Junction, Colorado, the presidential election is a choice between two distinct energy futures.
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
Sage advice
The ecological and ethical problems of ‘smudging.’
Posted inNovember 1, 2020: When the Smoke Clears
Once a boom town, now a ghost town. Always a hometown.
Over generations, the Soto family has lived through cycles of mining booms and the broken promises that come with them.
Posted inArticles
Wildish Podcast: When a horse goes ‘home’
Episode Six: In Montana, two ranchers adopted ‘Delilah.’ They’re among the growing number of people actually getting paid to adopt wild horses and burros.
Posted inArticles
Rare Nevada wildflower diminished by 40% in one weekend
The remaining Tiehm’s buckwheat inhabits less than 20 acres near a proposed mine for lithium and boron.
Posted inArticles
Wildish Podcast: The unsexy burro
Episode Five: In Arizona, two incarcerated men rehabilitate wild donkeys for adoption.
Posted inArticles
Dispatch from an irreversibly changed New Mexico
Laura Paskus’s new book examines wildfire, drilling on the Navajo Nation and climate grief.