President Biden’s leasing pause signals a major shift in federal land policy.
Department of Interior
Posted inFebruary 1, 2021: End of the Line
Reclaiming the National Bison Range
After decades of battling misinformation, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes recover their lands and the herd.
Posted inArticles
Oil lease sale for Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge draws few bidders
The Trump administration succeeded in opening the refuge for drilling. The highest bidder? The state of Alaska itself.
Posted inArticles
Indigenous fishers on the Columbia River confront new challenges
Beyond depleted salmon runs, the pandemic has created occupational hazards and a depressed salmon market.
Posted inArticles
A crude virus: How ‘man camps’ can cause a COVID surge
The Keystone XL Pipeline threatens to spread more than just oil through Indigenous communities.
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
Trump’s impact on Indian Country over four years
From legal decisions to on-the-ground policies, Indigenous lawyers describe the administration’s tactics as an “onslaught” removing federal protections of land and wildlife.
Posted inArticles
Tribal leaders respond to the idea of an Indigenous Interior secretary
Representation is important, and so are policy decisions impacting tribes on the ground.
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 inArticles
How the Biden administration can reverse Trump’s environmental policies
And what actions the President-elect should prioritize.
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 inDecember 1, 2020: A Community Divided
Trump gutted NEPA regulations, but a Biden presidency could restore them
An environmental lawyer discusses the future of the country’s bedrock environmental law.
Posted inArticles
We need to ‘see’ buffalo before we can restore them
Buffalo were originally decimated to starve Indigenous peoples; now, their absence is starving out the land.
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 inArticles
Six states threaten lawsuits if feds fast-track the Lake Powell Pipeline
The Trump Administration’s plan to expedite review of Utah’s diversion project undoes decades of collaborative agreements between the states that rely on the Colorado River.
Posted inArticles
Why the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge may not be drilled
The economic, legal and political obstacles to petroleum extraction on Alaska’s North Slope.
Posted inArticles
Grupos fronterizos piden que se rechace la nominación de Pendley como director de la Oficina de Administración de Tierras
‘No sólo deberían quitarle los votos a Pendley en el Senado, deberían sacarlo del BLM lo antes posible’
Posted inArticles
Borderlands groups: Deny Pendley’s nomination to head Bureau of Land Management
‘Pendley should not only be voted down by the U.S. Senate, he should be shown out the door of the BLM as soon as possible.’