BackstoryFor years, Utah conservationists struggled to protect sensitive environments from four-wheeling, oil and gas and other development – until conservative lawmakers like Republican Rep. Rob Bishop realized that state-held lands with wilderness characteristics could be used to bargain for mineral-rich, federally owned tracts. In 2013, Bishop began negotiating a compromise with wilderness advocates, off-roaders and […]
Public Lands
Posted inJuly 21, 2014: On the Wild Edge
The Latest: Interior commits to restoring bison on select lands
BackstoryJust a few free-roaming bison herds remain in the West. Roughly 4,000 bison inhabit Yellowstone, but they are hindered by ranchers who fear they spread brucellosis, which can cause cattle miscarriages. The park and state agencies limit the herd’s roaming and remove “excess” animals by hunting, slaughter and transplanting to other areas (“The Killing Fields,” […]
Posted inJuly 21, 2014: On the Wild Edge
The Latest: Mining battle update at Utah’s Tavaputs Plateau
BackstoryUtah’s tar sands could yield from 12 billion to 30 billion recoverable barrels of yet-untapped oil, so in 2008, Calgary-based U.S. Oil Sands proposed mining the remote Tavaputs Plateau. Though the planned 213-acre mine is small, a profitable tar sands operation could set a precedent, and environmental groups like Moab-based Living Rivers have fought it […]
Posted inArticles
New BLM plan weighs sage grouse and oil in Wyoming
Governor Mead hopes the plan will keep the bird off the endangered species list.
Posted inJune 23, 2014: River of No Return
Divers explore national parks’ underwater treasures
The last frontier of the national parks lies underwater.
Posted inJune 9, 2014: Border Out of Control
Border out of control
National security runs roughshod over the Arizona wild.
Posted inMay 12, 2014: Parks for All?
Parks for all?
The National Park Service struggles to connect with a changing America.
Posted inArticles
A reluctant rebellion in the Utah desert
For ATVers at Recapture Canyon, realpolitik meets out-of-town zeal.
Posted inMay 12, 2014: Parks for All?
Hunting for conservation dollars
State wildlife agencies struggle to broaden funding as their duties expand.
Posted inMay 12, 2014: Parks for All?
The revolt that wouldn’t die
The latest Sagebrush Rebellion flare-up in Nevada was unusually fierce.
Posted inArticles
Public Record: Cliven Bundy
Court and federal documents chronicle a long history of grazing battles.
Posted inGoat
In an era of light pollution, the darkest skies in the West
Here are some of the region’s best stargazing spots.
Posted inGoat
After the standoff, what’s next for Bundy and BLM?
With armed militia on one side, armed federal agents on the other, and about 900 cows in the middle, the Bureau of Land Management last Saturday called off its roundup of rancher Cliven Bundy’s “trespass cattle,” releasing the 300 or so cows it had already collected back into the desert. BLM director Neil Kornze said […]
Posted inArticles
Photos of a standoff
Armed militia members join a Nevada rancher to protest a cattle roundup from public land.
Posted inGoat
Rancher vs the BLM: A 20-year standoff ends with tense roundup
‘As far as I’m concerned,’ Cliven Bundy says, ‘the BLM don’t exist.’
Posted inFebruary 17, 2014: The Gila $olution
Ranchers, enviros and officials seek a middle path on public-land grazing
Moving beyond stalemate to meaningful reform in Utah.
Posted inNovember 25, 2013: Ecosystems 101
The Latest: Court strikes down BLM plan in Utah
BackstoryDuring the George W. Bush administration’s final months, the Bureau of Land Management released six massive resource management plans for 11 million acres in southern Utah. The plans, which opened large areas to energy development and designated 17,000 miles of off-road vehicle trails, were released on a short timetable that allowed little opportunity for public […]
Posted inJuly 22, 2013: Red Rock Resolution?
New route to end Utah’s wilderness stalemate
Can one of the West’s most anti-federal lands lawmakers broker a mega-wilderness deal in the Beehive state?
Posted inWotr
Con: Colorado National Monument should not become a national park
As a close neighbor and regular user of Colorado National Monument in western Colorado close to Grand Junction, I suffered a sharp attack of NIMBYism when I heard of a 2011 proposal to turn one of the nation’s oldest national monuments into one of its smallest, newest national parks. I blanched at the prospects of […]
Posted inFebruary 4, 2013: Making Good on the Badlands
Will the Badlands become the first tribal national park?
Oglala Lakota leaders hope to transform their bombed-out Badlands and help lift the tribe out of poverty, but it won’t be easy.