Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Bureau of Land Management
Posted inMay 14, 2018: Death in the Alpine
Recreation is redefining the value of Western public lands
Visits to public lands and consumer spending grow, as agency budgets atrophy.
Posted inArticles
Oil- and gas-rich counties ask for more federal revenue
A new bill would return money earmarked for Western water projects to mineral-producing counties.
Posted inApril 30, 2018: Celebrity Scofflaw
How the feds helped make Cliven Bundy a celebrity
The creation of an anti-public-lands hero.
Posted inArticles
Drilling, one mile outside Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes
Opposition swells against leases that could impede wildlife migration corridors.
Posted inArticles
Acquitted, convicted, fined or free: after the Oregon standoff
Two years after the armed takeover of a wildlife refuge, consequences vary widely.
Posted inArticles
Public doesn’t mean protected
Less oversight of mining and drilling will leave federally managed land vulnerable.
Posted inApril 30, 2018: Celebrity Scofflaw
What will Zinke do with the extra $2.5 billion in his budget?
Congress rejected the deep budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration.
Posted inArticles
In Congress, both parties agree on one public lands bill
A bill allowing public land sales for conservation inches towards passage.
Posted inMarch 5, 2018: Drilling Chaco
Resistance to drilling grows on the Navajo Nation
Indigenous activists try to quell a rising tide of oil and gas exploration in Chaco Canyon.
Posted inArticles
BLM speeds ahead on Grand Staircase-Escalante plans
The agency won’t wait for the courts to rule on monument boundaries to start planning.
Posted inArticles
A new structure for the Interior Department takes shape
A massive shake-up would shed senior staffers and state boundaries. Could it work?
Posted inMarch 5, 2018: Drilling Chaco
The Air Force wants to expand into Nevada’s wild desert
A 300,000-acre base expansion would push into intact bighorn sheep habitat.
Posted inFebruary 19, 2018: Unfrozen North
The big public land sell-out
Even without wholesale land transfers, public lands are already being conveyed to industry.
Posted inArticles
Utah’s approach to public lands won’t work
New Mexico exemplifies the risk of managing lands at the whim of local interests.
Posted inArticles
Wild horses aren’t overrunning the West
A Trump administration proposal sets wild horse populations at extinction levels.
Posted inArticles
As a rancher, I see failure on both sides of the Bundy trial
It takes wisdom, patience and humanity to make federal land management work.
Posted inArticles
A rancher’s claim to tribal land
Cliven Bundy refuses to pay grazing fees on federal land taken at great cost to the Southern Paiutes.
Posted inFebruary 5, 2018: Caught Between Crises
More prime sage grouse habitat is open for drilling
The Trump administration will allow oil and gas leasing in key sagebrush lands.
Posted inJanuary 22, 2018: A Separatist State of Mind
Cliven Bundy walks for involvement in 2014 standoff
Judge dismisses case for ‘flagrant misconduct’ after prosecutors and FBI withheld evidence.