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.
U.S. Forest Service
Posted inArticles
Congress passes environmental funding without Trump’s deep cuts
But the bipartisan effort still trimmed climate research and fails to solve agencies’ chronic underfunding.
Posted inArticles
6 takeaways from our public-lands grazing investigation
Subsidies prop up ranching, grazing degrades the land and politics underpin the system.
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 inDecember 2025: Wild Harvest
How ranchers accused of breaking the rules dodge oversight
Elected officials interfere with agency efforts to protect the land.
Posted inDecember 2025: Wild Harvest
Congress made it easier to ignore grazing’s harm to public lands
Federal law requires agencies to review the environmental impacts of grazing, but government employees allege the system is riddled with loopholes.
Posted inDecember 2025: Wild Harvest
The wealthy profit from public lands, and taxpayers pick up the tab
Roughly two-thirds of grazing on Bureau of Land Management land is controlled by just 10% of permit holders.
Posted inDecember 2025: Wild Harvest
How we reported Free Range, our grazing investigation
Data and analyses used in the stories.
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The West’s vanishing porcupines
Scientists are racing to figure out why porcupines are disappearing from their former stomping grounds.
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Fix Our Forests Act divides environmental community
But it’s a rare instance of bipartisan lawmaking and the biggest wildfire legislation in recent history.
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Shutdown causes ‘confusion’ across the Forest Service
Prescribed burns are on hold during shutdown while logging continues.
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Visiting public lands during the shutdown? Be polite and prepared
Public land advocates say the shutdown threatens resources but offer advice on how to help.
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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.
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Will the public-lands coalition hold?
Americans came together to keep public lands in public hands this summer. Will they do it again?
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The dismantling of the Forest Service
The Trump administration’s plans would remake the agency and public lands. The deadline to comment is Sept. 30.
Posted inSeptember 2025: Who Controls Our Food?
What old growth forests have to do with your food
More than you might think.
Posted inArticles
Invasive fruit fly hits the Yakama Nation’s huckleberry fields
Students from Heritage University and Northwest Indian College were the first to document the presence of the spotted wing drosophila on the Yakama Nation Reservation — a first step to help eradicate it on tribal land.
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How to comment on the planned roadless rule rollback
The deadline to weigh in on the change is 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Sept. 19.
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Firefighters question leaders’ role in ICE raid near Bear Gulch Fire
Firefighting veterans believe the management team overseeing fire crews played a key role in handing team members over to immigration authorities.
Posted inArticles
Trump looks to suffocate public lands
The administration and Congress divert funds away from conservation.