The White House wants to alter life for U.S. hunters, anglers, RVers, off-road-vehicle drivers, backpackers, birdwatchers and hikers.
National Park Service
Posted inMay 2025: The Art of the Cruise
See 60 days of DOGE chaos
Charting the mass culling of the federal workforce.
Posted inArticles
The Eastern Shoshone are reclassifying buffalo as wildlife instead of livestock
The intent is to restore buffalo on the land and challenge the link between animal and product.
Posted inJune 2025: The Promised Land
Threats to public lands called ‘outrageous slap in the face’
Broad support for public lands is forcing some Republicans to break with the White House while advocates rally to save them from sales.
Posted inArticles
Trump to rescind the Public Lands Rule
The rule sought to elevate conservation’s status as a valid public land use, but Trump’s Interior Secretary stressed the importance of balancing development alongside protection.
Posted inApril 2025: A Monumental Reckoning
The murder, the museum and the monument
How the discovery of a long-lost monument shattered the trust between a Japanese American community and the museum built to preserve their history.
Posted inArticles
Trump’s unprecedented attack on America
We need an army of Raúl Grijalvas to stem the flood of ‘bullshit’ emanating out of the White House.
Posted inArticles
Judge rules federal job cuts ‘unlawful’
The Forest Service, Park Service and other agencies must immediately reinstate workers purged by Trump.
Posted inMarch 2025: The Berry Pickers
The rise of the recreation economy
Public-lands tourism outpaces mining and drilling in much of the West.
Posted inMarch 2025: The Berry Pickers
Wild, wild turkeys, Tiptoe the Tortoise & one beary nice B&B
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inArticles
How DOGE threatens the Forest Service and public lands
Workers describe projects on wildfire prevention, environmental restoration and trail repair halted by Trump administration terminations.
Posted inArticles
Poll finds majority of Westerners support climate action and conservation
Colorado College’s annual survey included residents of 8 Western states, the majority of whom identified as politically conservative or moderate.
Posted inArticles
Trump’s funding cuts leave the nation vulnerable to catastrophic wildfire
‘What do they want, more fires?’
Posted inIssues, March 2025: The Berry Pickers
The Indian education of Charles Sams
How the first Native director of the National Park Service drew from a legacy of federal boarding schools and Indigenous teachings.
Posted inArticles
Jimmy Carter’s mixed environmental record
The former president emphasized conservation, protection — and coal mining.
Posted inJanuary 2025: The West's Most Wanted
Why the West needs prairie dogs
They’re among the region’s most despised species, but some tribes, researchers and landowners are racing to save them.
Posted inJanuary 2025: The West's Most Wanted
Fire crews do more than fight fires
Some protect habitats and cultural resources from smoke and flames.
Posted inArticles
Roads and wildlife don’t mix
Grizzly 399’s death sparks a broader conversation on how to live with wildlife.
Posted inOctober 2024: Latino Vote
Dancing goats, fallen arches, runaway reptiles and a ‘Renaissance Faire Bear’
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inSeptember 2024: When Migrants Go Missing
What Denali’s road closure means for its wildlife
A landslide sealed off much of the national park’s iconic road — to the delight of bears.