Kate and Aaron talk to CWP colleagues Lauren Bogard and Sterling Homard about our recent report on President Joe Biden’s final year on public lands, which looks at the president’s conservation achievements over the past year in the context of his full presidential term. They also recap Trump Interior Secretary Nominee Doug Burgum’s Senate confirmation hearing and discuss a new legislative attack on the Antiquities Act.

News

• Doug Burgum, Trump’s Choice for Interior, Aims for ‘Energy Dominance’ – New York Times
• Trump’s Interior nominee has an oil billionaire benefactor – Westwise
• Maloy seeks Antiquities Act changes as Utah monuments land in the spotlight again – KSL

Resources

• • Report: President Biden’s final year on public lands – Center for Western Priorities

Credits

Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

Feedback: [email protected]

Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: President Biden establishes the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni -Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument; Source: Interior Department/Flickr 

The post Looking back on Biden’s conservation record appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron are joined by Alan Zibel, a research director at Public Citizen who focuses on energy and environmental issues. He breaks down what Donald Trump and the incoming Congress’s so-called “energy dominance” agenda could mean for public lands—given that the U.S. is already the world’s top exporter of natural gas (otherwise known as methane). 

News

• House Republicans Pledge Drilling and Make It Easier to Shed Federal Land – New York Times
• Federal officials have finalized a ‘Western Solar Plan,’ but are changes coming under Trump? – Colorado Public Radio
• Kelly Parcel sale to Grand Teton National Park complete – Wyoming Public Radio
• Biden permanently bans offshore drilling in 625 million acres of ocean, making a Trump reversal difficult – CNN
• Biden to create two national monuments in California honoring tribes – Washington. Post
• U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear Utah’s public lands challenge – Salt Lake Tribune

Resources

• Report: President Biden’s final year on public lands – Center for Western Priorities
• Episode transcript 

Credits

Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

Feedback: [email protected]

Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: Oil and gas development on federal lease managed by BLM California; BLM California 

The post What Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda means for public lands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron talk to Chris Clarke, host of the 90 Miles from Needles podcast, about the Cadiz pipeline project, a water mining project that poses a huge threat to the Mojave Desert. This project has been around in some form or another for over four decades and the latest iteration is especially insidious.

News

• Stopping Cadiz is good for people, the environment and our water future – Desert Sun
  Biden administration finalizes Rock Springs Plan without further changes – WyoFile
• BLM nixes Trump-era highway in Utah tortoise preserve – E&E News
• Interior Department Finalizes Framework for Future of Solar Development on Public Lands – Interior Department

Resources

• Protect Chuckwalla National Monument
• Protect Medicine Lake Highlands (Sáttítla) 
• Protect the Owyhee
• Protect Caja del Rio
• Protect the Dolores
• Episode transcript 

Credits

Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

Feedback: [email protected]

Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: Cadiz Dunes, Mojave Trails National Monument; Source: Bob Wick/BLM

The post This company is trying to drain an aquifer in the Mojave Desert appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

In this special episode of The Landscape, Kate visits the Dolores River Canyon Country in southwest Colorado, along with CWP’s Lauren Bogard and Sterling Homard, to meet with folks who support protecting this special region. The Dolores River’s riparian zone contains the largest and most biodiverse stretch of unprotected public lands in Colorado. Advocates are currently working to protect this area through a national monument proposal and legislation to establish a national conservation area. Come with us on this audio journey to learn more about the future of the Dolores River Canyons.

News

• Colorado lawmakers work to protect Dolores River Canyon by end of year – Durango Herald

Resources

• Learn more about the national monument proposal
• Sign the national monument petition
• Join the Dolores River Boating Advocates
• Meet the National Monuments Disinformation Brigade
• Transcript 

Credits

Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

Feedback: [email protected]

Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: Dolores Canyon Overlook; Source: BLM Colorado/Flickr 

The post Special episode: Inside the Dolores River Canyons appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron are joined by CWP Executive Director, Jennifer Rokala, and Curtis Hubbard, a political consultant based in Colorado, to break down the what the results of the 2024 election mean for public lands.

News

• With Ready Orders and an Energy Czar, Trump Plots Pivot to Fossil Fuels – New York Times
• Trump gave Interior nominee one directive for a half-billion acres of US land: ‘Drill.’  – Associated Press

Resources

• Project 2025 would devastate America’s public lands – Center for Western Priorities
• Opinion: Public land defenders are ready for a fight –  Writers on the Range
• Episode transcript

Credits

Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

Feedback: [email protected]

Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: Canyon Rims Recreation Site; Source: Bob Wick/BLM

The post What the results of the election mean for public lands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron talk to Sanjay Narayan, managing attorney of the Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program, about a lawsuit over the proposed Uinta Basin oil train that could have some major implications for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The case is set to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in December.

News

• With Ready Orders and an Energy Czar, Trump Plots Pivot to Fossil Fuels – New York Times
• BLM revives long-dormant wilderness protection policy – E&E News

Resources

• Supreme Court Takes Up Case Challenging Utah’s Uinta Basin Railway
• Follow us on Bluesky
• Episode transcript

Credits

Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

Feedback: [email protected]

Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: Oil and Gas fracking sand facility in Uintah County, Utah; arbyreed/Flickr

The post Choo! Choo! NEPA heads to the Supreme Court disguised as an oil train appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron are joined by Dr. Dominick DellaSala, Chief Scientist at Wild Heritage, a project of the Earth Island Institute. Dr. DellaSala came on The Landscape twice last year to talk about the Biden administration’s plans to protect mature and old growth forests. He recently wrote an op-ed for the Seattle Times in which he says the Forest Service’s is still planning to allow logging in mature and old growth forests. We talk about why that’s the case, how the Old Growth Amendment process plays into this, and what the Biden administration can do about it, then discuss recent headlines about wildlife connectivity in forests and carbon sink failure.

News

• Biden delivers “long overdue” apology in Arizona for Indian boarding school atrocities – CBS
• White House must redirect the Forest Service to preserve old forests – Seattle Times
• USDA Announces Department-wide Effort to Support Terrestrial Wildlife Habitat Connectivity – USDA
• Trees and land absorbed almost no CO2 last year. Is nature’s carbon sink failing? – The Guardian
• Group puts up fence, claims ownership over 1,400 acres of Colorado forest, sparking outrage – Colorado Sun

Resources

• Land Management Plan Direction for Old-Growth Forest Conditions Across the National Forest System – U.S. Forest Service

Credits

Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

Feedback: [email protected]

Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: Old growth forest, Oswald West State Park, Oregon; USFWS/Flickr

The post What Biden can do for America’s forests before he leaves office appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron are joined by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers CEO Patrick Berry to talk about why Utah’s lawsuit seeking control of over 18 million acres of national public land in the state would be terrible for sportsmen across the West.

News

• Other states urge Supreme Court to hear Utah federal land case – E&E News
• ‘A beautiful thing’: Klamath River salmon are spotted far upstream in Oregon after dam removal – Los Angeles Times
• Opinion: Risking Utah’s hunting heritage: Where’s the truth in Utah’s land transfer plans? – Deseret News

Resources

• Utah is not for sale – Backcountry Hunters & Anglers
• Sign the petition against Utah’s land grab lawsuit

Credits

Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

Feedback: [email protected]

Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: Bull elk, Blacktail Deer Plateau; Source: NPS/Flickr

The post How Utah’s land grab lawsuit could harm hunting in the West appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and guest host Sterling are joined by journalist and producer Marissa Ortega-Welch to talk about her new podcast series, How Wild, which was recently released by KALW and distributed by NPR. The podcast explores how the concept of capital W wilderness is changing due to climate change, technology, crowding, and shifting views on colonialism.

News

• Leaked recordings detail a major environmental agency quietly gutting its workforce – Vox
• New Federal Rules Aim to End Tax Confusion for Tribally Owned Businesses, Boost Clean Energy Projects – Native News Online

Resources

• How Wild podcast

Credits

Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

Feedback: [email protected]

Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: Eagles Nest Wilderness Area, near Vail; Source: PDTillman/Wikimedia Commons

The post How climate, crowds, and colonialism are complicating the concept of Wilderness appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Aaron and Kate are joined by members of the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe to talk about the proposed Kw’tsán National Monument in southern California.

This is part of our Road to 30 postcards series, in which we highlight local efforts to protect iconic landscapes around the country. A Tribal elder, a Tribal youth, and one of the leaders of the monument proposal talk about why it’s important to protect this desert region as part of a broader cultural landscape that connects Avi Kwa Ame National Monument and the proposed Chuckwalla National Monument.

News

• Two oil and gas companies orphaned a record number of wells in Colorado last year, records show – CPR News

Resources

• Sign the petition and learn more about the proposed Kw’tsán National Monument 

Credits

Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

Feedback: [email protected]

Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: Courtesy of Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe/Bob Wick

The post Meet the proposed Kw’tsán National Monument—a 390,000 acre landscape in the California desert appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron talk to Inside Climate News reporter Wyatt Myskow about an incredible story he wrote about what’s unfolding in Nevada’s Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, where the endangered Devil’s Hole pupfish is undergoing a rebrand from villain to hero. Click here for a transcript of this episode. News The National Monuments Disinformation Brigade […]

The post From villain to hero: the Devil’s Hole pupfish could save this desert community appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.