Indigenous activists try to quell a rising tide of oil and gas exploration in Chaco Canyon.
Department of Interior
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
Interior opens more Western waters to offshore drilling
Officials from both parties ask Secretary Ryan Zinke to reconsider.
Posted inArticles
Monument reductions threaten future dinosaur discoveries
Digs are imperiled by Trump’s move to slash protections for public land.
Posted inFebruary 19, 2018: Unfrozen North
Interior cancels decades-old protections for migratory birds
The rollback prompts broad opposition from former officials from both political parties.
Posted inArticles
Why the National Park advisory board imploded
An interview with board chairman Tony Knowles.
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.
Posted inArticles
Interior revokes climate change and mitigation policies
Many regulations were axed because they are ‘burdens’ to energy development.
Posted inArticles
Will Trump put a ‘hired gun’ for ranchers in top BLM post?
The president is considering a BLM director who has continually fought the agency.
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For endangered species, politics replaces science
A leaked Fish and Wildlife memo suggests a shift away from science.
Posted inArticles
Reckoning with History: Interior’s legacy of bad behavior
Ryan Zinke isn’t the first Interior secretary to attract controversy.
Posted inDecember 25, 2017: Bear Essentials
A visit to Pie Town; Mermaids on maternity leave; Airplane pit-stop
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inArticles
Cliven Bundy case ruled a mistrial
The ruling represents an unprecedented failure for federal prosecutors on Western lands issues.
Posted inArticles
Stop trying to militarize Interior, Ryan Zinke
Military-style management doesn’t work everywhere.
Posted inArticles
Why Trump’s Bears Ears decision worries so many
There are now five lawsuits contesting the president’s monument reductions, including two led by tribes.
Posted inArticles
Former BLM investigator alleges misconduct in Bundy case
In leaked document, accusations of ethics violations and unprofessionalism in Bunkerville standoff investigation.
Posted inDecember 25, 2017: Bear Essentials
The price of a national park fee hike
The proposed increase in entrance fees reignites old questions about who should fund the West’s open spaces.