Government-issued maps offer a promise for safely exploring our public lands, but they no longer reflect the reality of what’s actually on the ground.
National Park Service
Posted inDecember 2025: Wild Harvest
Cascades frogs vanished from Lassen Volcanic National Park in 2007. Now, they’re back.
With careful site selection and antifungal baths, scientists are staging a frog comeback in the park.
Posted inArticles
National parks aren’t just for tourists. They’re an essential home for wildlife.
Pick up this new book on Yosemite for the photos but stay for the captivating animal stories.
Posted inArticles
Yellowstone protects wolves. What happens when they leave the park?
Crossing what’s an arbitrary boundary for wildlife, an apex predator becomes prey.
Posted inArticles
After Trump cuts, seeds sit in the warehouse
Western groups lose federal grants for urgent restoration and conservation projects.
Posted inIssues
Western economies falter under the Trump administration
Tariffs, layoffs and federal funding clawbacks stress budgets.
Posted inArticles
Interior is failing to conserve national parks
Leaving parks open during a shutdown neglects the mandate of future enjoyment.
Posted inArticles
Sen. Mike Lee’s new bill permits ‘tactical infrastructure’ in wilderness areas
The Border Lands Conservation Act gives the Department of Homeland Security the power to waive myriad federal laws, including the Wilderness Act, under the pretense of border security.
Posted inArticles
What the government shutdown means for public lands
Many parks will stay open, and oil and gas permitting will continue — even as tens of thousands of staff are furloughed at NPS, BLM and USFS.
Posted inOctober 2025: Limits to Growth
The ‘bear’ necessities of good sign design
Researchers study the principles that promote bear-safety behavior.
Posted inArticles
Trump looks to suffocate public lands
The administration and Congress divert funds away from conservation.
Posted inArticles
Wildfire is a growing threat to the West’s water systems
How fire and water managers can prepare.
Posted inArticles
An Interior Department veteran looks to the future
Jacob Malcom, founder of Next Interior, shares his fears for the agency and his hopes for a post-Trump reconstruction.
Posted inArticles
The national parks are not OK
A former national park supervisor explains how toilets may be clean this summer, but the parks themselves are actually ‘hollowed out.’
Posted inArticles
Mass layoffs can move forward, with devastating impacts for conservation and science
‘Shortsighted’ cuts could eliminate bird banding program, federal bee research and much more.
Posted inJuly 2025: Seeds as Sustenance
Two-headed snakes, tourist-tossing bison and one very good dog
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inArticles
The Trump administration is asking park rangers to rewrite history
And some national park site staffers are pushing back.
Posted inArticles
What Sonoran Desert fungi are teaching scientists
The understudied mycorrhizal fungi are vital to ecosystems and may prove critical to the survival of fragile deserts stressed by climate change.
Posted inJune 2025: The Promised Land
As Trump comes after research, Forest Service scientists keep working
Scientists describe how they’re preparing for the upcoming field season despite the challenges.
Posted inArticles
Federal workers say Biden’s BLM left them vulnerable to Trump
Documents show Interior rejected a union contract for employees at BLM headquarters days before the inauguration.