The administration and Congress divert funds away from conservation.
U.S. Forest Service
Posted inArticles
Court delays land transfer that would enable copper mine at Oak Flat
The Western Apache and a coalition of environmental groups have fought for years against the Resolution Copper mine, which would become one of the country’s largest at the cost of a site revered by the tribe.
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Public lands and wildlife turn to stopgap solutions
In the face of federal cuts, volunteers, businesses and others help keep programs afloat.
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‘Help is not on the way’
As fire season ramps up, thousands of Forest Service firefighting positions are vacant.
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In Washington, ‘collaboration’ gives way to timber interests
Forest collaboratives have become major power players operating largely out of the public eye.
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The Trump administration’s repeal of the roadless rule could threaten wildlife
A 2001 policy restricts road construction on Forest Service land. What happens to at-risk species if it’s removed?
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In Wyoming, forestry work is female
In the wake of DOGE cuts, an all-female ‘Forest Corps’ is filling federal agency gaps for Wyoming trail projects.
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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.’
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Trump administration budget cuts wreak havoc on trail maintenance
As tourism season begins, trail crews are facing disruptions in key trail maintenance projects.
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Public land sale a ‘frontal assault on tribal treaty rights’
Senate Republicans’ proposed legislation could have unique impacts on tribal nations.
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MAGA and the developers are coming for your public lands
Sen. Mike Lee slips federal land privatization provision into Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.”
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Senate Republicans want to sell 3 million acres of public land
The majority of public land is too fire prone and far away from communities to even make sense for housing, research shows.
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 inMay 2025: The Art of the Cruise
The hidden costs of wolf conservation
‘Pay for presence’ aims to compensate ranchers for predator-related losses, but Western states might not be able to afford it.
Posted inMay 2025: The Art of the Cruise
How the feds abandoned reservations to burn
Tribal wildfire programs are underfunded and overburdened.
Posted inMay 2025: The Art of the Cruise
See 60 days of DOGE chaos
Charting the mass culling of the federal workforce.
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.
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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.
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The crusade to end federal public lands in New Mexico
Howard Hutchinson, a private property rights activist, leads a coalition that’s quietly organizing a county-level rejection of the Antiquities Act.
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The horses and mules that moved mountains and hearts
Forest Service stock animals are indispensable to trail work on public lands in the West. Trump’s radical upheaval is accelerating the death of a dying art.