Columns

Trump administration legalizes extinction of the Gunnison sage-grouse

Had Donald Trump been president in 1973, when Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act into federal law, the Gunnison…

Gunnison Sage Grouse. Courtesy Bureau of Land Management Bob Wickjpg

The sadness of a river running dry

I drove to the bluff overlooking the “Gunny” to process the sad news — news that hasn’t yet been made…

Gunnison Gorge Wilderness in wetter times, courtesy Bureau of Land Management

Planting one million trees to cool a desert city

Tucson lies in the heart of the Sonoran Desert where summers are serious business. In 2024, a record-breaking 112 days…

Interior Secretary ramps up assault on public land

For the second consecutive year, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has proposed a budget that attempts to undermine the agencies that…

A young child waits to get through the line at Arches National Park, photo Dave Marston

The Bureau of Land Management is running amok

Imagine the worst landlord you ever had. Then, make it worse. The landlord sells off the wood floor in your…

Clear-cut of Cascadia Forest, courtesy of KS Wild: George Sexton

Lawmakers need to protect public access for corner crossers

Last summer, hunters and anglers stepped up in a huge way to help defeat a proposal by Utah Senator Mike…

A landscape of the Birhorn Mountains in Wyoming.

On their own, wolves walk into Washington state

In 2008, Canadian wolves didn’t wait for an invitation from biologists to move them into Washington state. Instead, they trotted…

Southeast county in Utah has a radioactive target on its back

In the early 1980s, southeast Utah was targeted as a potential dump site for high-level nuclear waste, the kind that…

Let’s get to restoration and halt the roadless rodeo

Grounded in common sense, the Roadless Rule that the Trump administration wants to eliminate has not been controversial for 24…

Hermosa Creek Roadless Area from the Colorado Trail, Photo Courtesy Bertrand Poitier

Americans face a test of community and citizenship

Each of us Americans conducts our daily life in bubbles, all shockingly siloed from each other. These days, we don’t…

Energy dominance harms our public lands

I live in Jackson County, in northern Colorado, where hundreds of inactive and abandoned oil wells litter the landscape. Not…

For waste and ineficiency you can’t beat ethanol

Corn ethanol, also known as grain alcohol, has been burned in gasoline engines and human stomachs since before Henry Ford…

An ethanol production plant in South Dakota. Credit: photos by jim