Climate change official Joel Clement was one of the few current staffers to speak out.
Department of Interior
Posted inOctober 2, 2017: Following Ancient Footsteps
Laundry at Old Faithful; Death Cafés; Dumpsters in the wind
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inArticles
RV industry lobbies to privatize services on public lands
And they have found an ally in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.
Posted inOctober 2, 2017: Following Ancient Footsteps
Public land is the essence of freedom
A hunter reflects on the gut-level connection she has to the public land she traverses.
Posted inArticles
What is the Department of the Interior?
The Department of the Interior protects and manages the United States’ natural and cultural resources. This executive branch department is made up of 10 agencies that oversee federal public-land management on roughly 500 million acres, largely in the West. These include the National Park Service, responsible for national parks and some national monuments, and the […]
Posted inArticles
Coal. Guns. Freedom?
How the Trump administration has seized mythologies around coal.
Posted inOctober 2, 2017: Following Ancient Footsteps
Latest: Park Service to cull part of Grand Canyon’s bison herd
The burgeoning North Rim population threatens vegetation, water and cultural sites.
Posted inArticles
In monuments report, a skewed view of protections
Under the Antiquities Act, landscapes like the Grand Canyon count as ‘objects’ that can be protected.
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These six Western monuments face reductions
See photos of the landscapes singled out in the Interior Department’s recommendations.
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Key stories for understanding the monuments debate
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has advised Trump to modify 10 national monuments.
Posted inArticles
Zinke’s fire memo calls for aggressive forest thinning
The policy ignores major drivers of Western fire: weather and climate change.
Posted inOctober 2, 2017: Following Ancient Footsteps
Sally Jewell defends Interior Department legacy
As Obama’s policies are rolled back, his last Interior secretary reviews what’s at stake.
Posted inOctober 2, 2017: Following Ancient Footsteps
Trump administration erodes environmental protections
The courts have slowed some rollbacks but many have moved ahead.
Posted inArticles
As sportsmen watch Zinke, disillusionment replaces hope
Concerns are rising that the Interior Secretary’s actions won’t match his rhetoric.
Posted inSeptember 4, 2017: The Elwha, Unleashed
How we risked losing the West
A look back at how range science misled land managers.
Posted inArticles
National monuments protect meaning, not just landscapes
If Bears Ears shrinks, it will be to our national cultural detriment.
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Why the Bundy crew keeps winning in court
The feds just lost another case against public lands occupiers.
Posted inSeptember 4, 2017: The Elwha, Unleashed
Interior overhauls sage grouse conservation
How big a role do industry concerns play in potential rewrite of management plans?
Posted inSeptember 4, 2017: The Elwha, Unleashed
Latest: New Mexico’s landlocked wilderness may become reachable
Feds move to accept land that would open access to the Sabinoso Wilderness
Posted inArticles
Will only the flexible survive?
Researchers are identifying the West’s wildlife that can best cope with climate change.