Tribal officials say the process threatens cultural resources and what remains of healthy Indigenous foodways.
Archaeology
Posted inArticles
Public-land recreation management near Moab gets an overhaul
BLM releases new high-profile travel plan for Labyrinth Canyon area.
Posted inArticles
Revising the colonial history of the horse in the West
A new study uses archaeological science and Indigenous knowledge to show how the species arrived in the Americas earlier than previously thought.
Posted inApril 1, 2022: The Archives Issue
What’s wrong with the Manitou Cliff Dwellings Museum and Preserve?
Archival documents reveal the true origins of a popular Colorado tourist attraction.
Posted inNovember 1, 2021: The Radioactive Waste Next Door
The nation’s last uranium mill plans to import Estonia’s radioactive waste
Utah says the White Mesa Mill isn’t contaminating groundwater, but its neighbor, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, disagrees.
Posted inNovember 1, 2021: The Radioactive Waste Next Door
The White Sands discovery only confirms what Indigenous people have said all along
Once again, the media has excluded Indigenous peoples from our own story.
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The fight over a 5,000-year-old burial site in California
How a state law to expedite affordable housing erased a tribe’s right to consultation.
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Petroglyph vandalism is not a victimless crime
Indigenous archaeologists say more protective measures and education are needed to prevent future vandalism.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2021: End of the Line
Bears Ears is just the beginning
As the Biden administration begins, tribal nations with ties to Utah assert their relationships to the land.
Posted inDecember 1, 2020: A Community Divided
A whistleblower speaks out over excavation of Native sites
In California, archaeologists unearthed Indigenous burials 11 years ago, but the remains have yet to be repatriated.
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Trump’s monumental hypocrisy
Despite decrying destruction of Confederate monuments, the president has dismantled millions of acres of national monuments.
Posted inOctober 14, 2019: Severed Ties
One man’s mission to save a historic ship built a digital community
If you (re)build it, they will come.
Posted inSeptember 2, 2019: In Bad Faith
The desert gets a biocrust skin graft
Without its cover of living microorganisms, the desert is eroding.
Posted inJuly 21, 2019: A Radical Return
Staffers allege misconduct at BLM’s busiest oil and gas office
Complaints to Interior’s Office of Inspector General reveal concerns that the Carlsbad Field Office broke laws to favor industry.
Posted inArticles
What is lost when cultural sites are bulldozed?
Southwestern tribes learn of possible heritage destruction at the hands of Arizona State Parks and Trails.
Posted inMarch 5, 2018: Drilling Chaco
The Air Force wants to expand into Nevada’s wild desert
A 300,000-acre base expansion would push into intact bighorn sheep habitat.
Posted inArticles
Monument reductions threaten future dinosaur discoveries
Digs are imperiled by Trump’s move to slash protections for public land.
Posted inJanuary 22, 2018: A Separatist State of Mind
Lawsuits challenge Trump’s trim of Utah monuments
Reductions in Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante exclude thousands of significant objects.
Posted inNovember 13, 2017: Solace and Perspective
A man and his house of relics, in search of a self
What is the right way to treat artifacts that do not belong to you?
Posted inOctober 2, 2017: Following Ancient Footsteps
Indigenous knowledge helps untangle the mystery of Mesa Verde
Pueblo people and archaeologists work to understand the science of human migrations.