ALEC is becoming increasingly involved in the public lands debate by providing model bills for Western states.
Public lands
Posted inArticles
Online editor Tay Wiles talks Oregon militia standoffs with KDNK Radio
The latest episode of Sounds of the High Country.
Posted inArticles
West Obsessed: What the heck is a Sagebrush Sheriff?
Behind a lot of anti-fed sentiment, you’ll find ‘constitutional’ peace officers. Here’s why that’s worrying.
Posted inFebruary 22, 2016: Fractured
How the wild Northern Rockies were saved — and who led the way
A new book looks at the ordinary citizens who fought for wilderness designations.
Posted inFebruary 22, 2016: Fractured
Latest: New Mexico land deal opens wilderness access
The Sabinoso Wilderness Area was impossible to access for years, thanks to private landowners.
Posted inFebruary 22, 2016: Fractured
Bishop’s ‘Grand Bargain’ in Utah is no deal, say enviros
The much-anticipated land-use plan has ramped up the tensions it promised to defuse.
Posted inArticles
In Wyoming, a road block for public access
A tangled web of lawsuits and land sales mean people trying to access a Lincoln County wilderness area could face trespass charges.
Posted inArticles
Nonviolent protest: A lesson for the occupiers at Malheur
On a cold Tuesday in January, when the Malheur occupation was in full swing, I marched alongside demonstrators in Portland to support the ousting of the Bundys and their armed militia. We were pretty much a hodgepodge group of birders, conservationists and nature-loving pacifists. There were no guns in sight; instead, demonstrators held signs high, […]
Posted inArticles
To save their homeland, 25 tribes unite in the Southwest
Native peoples in the Southwest take the long view. They have lived in the redrock canyons of the Colorado Plateau for 12,000 years and have shown astonishing resilience in the face of devastating change in the last 500 years. Now, they bring this ancestral perspective to the management of public lands in the canyons and […]
Posted inArticles
California Coastal Commission fires its executive director
The decision exposes the quintessential coastline to damage, development and closures.
Posted inArticles
Can we make sense of the Malheur mess?
A writer finds camaraderie and despair inside the Oregon standoff.
Posted inArticles
Analyst: FBI let Malheur militants save face to end occupation
Emotional negotiations with a like-minded Nevada state legislator may have helped FBI operation.
Posted inArticles
Livestream from the Oregon occupation
The remaining occupiers and their supporters speak live as FBI closes in on the Malheur wildlife refuge.
Posted inArticles
Should this national monument become a national park?
An Idaho town hopes changing Craters of the Moon to park status will boost its economy.
Posted inArticles
New leader steps up for the American Lands Council
Montana lawmaker takes over lands transfer group, as a new tendril of the movement emerges.
Posted inArticles
Four charts that show how public land is good for rural areas
A study finds that personal income is rising faster in counties with more public land.
Posted inArticles
No, federal land transfers are not in the Constitution
Legal scholars debunk arguments about how founding documents support local control of all lands.
Posted inArticles
The surprising history of the Malheur wildlife refuge
The refuge’s creation helped support nearby ranchers.
Posted inFebruary 2, 2016: Sagebrush Insurgency
Latest: Ranching family whose battles with the feds preceded the Bundys’ loses in court
So ends the legal saga of Wayne Hage and Wayne Hage Jr., who argued that their historical water rights gave them grazing rights, as well.
Posted inFebruary 2, 2016: Sagebrush Insurgency
Sugar Pine Mine, the other standoff
How a small-time mining dispute in Oregon readied a network of militias for the Malheur occupation.