Some wildlife biologists say the cull makes sense — but not because bison can spread brucellosis.
National Park Service
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Should this national monument become a national park?
An Idaho town hopes changing Craters of the Moon to park status will boost its economy.
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Grand Canyon park’s 15-year failure on sexual harassment
Interior Department investigation shows a history of harassment, hostility and retaliation.
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What if the Grand Canyon were private? An alternate future for the park.
In the beginning, you didn’t need any permits. OK, that’s a slight exaggeration. Even back in the halcyon days of the 1960s, permits were required to backpack in Grand Canyon, but they weren’t a big deal. We would drive up after school and bang on the door of park headquarters, whereupon a ranger would clamber […]
Posted inJanuary 25, 2016: The Forever War
Latest: Yellowstone officials to cull hundreds of bison
Meanwhile, Montana released a plan to let bison roam year-round outside the park.
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Forty years of Sagebrush Rebellion
The Oregon occupation, the 2014 Bundy standoff and many other stories are all related to a long-simmering movement.
Posted inDecember 21, 2015: Secrets of the Deep
Pet the nipping pup and hide your newcomer roots: tips from a failed campaign.
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
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Leave your dog at home, please
What I say will not make me a popular person, but here it is: For excellent reasons, dogs should not be – and usually aren’t — allowed in the backcountry of national parks. Dogs, being predators, bother wildlife even when they’re leashed. Then there’s canine fecal matter, which carries a number of diseases and parasites […]
Posted inNovember 23, 2015: Water Hustle
Latest: National Park Service intervenes in Alaska predator hunting
BACKSTORYIn Alaska, federal and state officials have long clashed over the management of wolves and bears in national parks and preserves. State law requires sustaining abundant caribou and moose populations for food security, a goal that often entails killing off predators, while the federal 1916 Organic Act mandates keeping healthy populations of all wildlife species. […]
Posted inNovember 23, 2015: Water Hustle
How a plan to save southeastern Colorado went off the rails
Heritage tourism offered a way out of economic doldrums. Why did it go wrong?
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Alaska’s wolves and bears get new protections
New regulations help wildlife on federal lands. But they’re still no match for state predator control.
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Park Service may strengthen its oil and gas regulations
Current rules give the agency little leverage to protect lands or restore damage once drilling companies pull out.
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
The Latest: Park Service takes the reins at Valles Caldera
The failed experiment in privatized land management has come to an end.
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
Will the Land and Water Conservation Fund rise again?
Congress derails the nation’s most successful public access and recreation program.
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Can studying morality help Yellowstone’s wolves and bison?
Sociologist Justin Farrell plumbs the spiritual depths of environmental struggle.
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Congress lets sun set on Land and Water Conservation Fund
The nation’s most successful conservation program is in jeopardy.
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Why Jim Unger came West: a Yellowstone love affair
There are tourists, and then there’s Jim Unger, a Pennsylvania resident who headed out this summer on his 41st pilgrimage to some of the places that have become his second home — the national parks, monuments and historic sites of the West. It all started in 1971, when Jim and his wife, Sandy, both elementary […]
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For Dinosaur National Monument’s 100th birthday, let’s protect more land
We launched our rafts on Colorado’s Yampa River at Deerlodge Park, and ran Little Joe and Big Joe Rapids. On the second afternoon, we pulled into Mathers Hole Camp under an overhung cliff wall that towered 500 feet above us. As I set up my tent, I thought about the 100th birthday of Dinosaur National […]
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Invasive crayfish in Oregon devastate native newts
At Crater Lake, the National Park Service is seeking solutions — but it could be too late.