Caroline Llanes

The Trump administration has announced its intent to repeal a landmark Bureau of Land Management rule that placed conservation on equal footing with other uses of public lands, including oil and gas development and grazing.

Rural communities in the Rocky Mountain West rely on federal support to mitigate against natural hazards, and the risks brought on by a changing climate, like wildfires and storms. Leadville, in Lake County, CO relies heavily on tourism from events like skijoring, and has received federal funds to help make it more resilient. But Trump administration cuts put these plans in jeopardy.

Repealing the Inflation Reduction Act could hurt state economies and raise energy costs for consumers, according to a new study. Much of the IRA’s investments went to rural, Republican congressional districts, including in Western states.

NEPA regulates how federal agencies assess and report the environmental impacts of big projects, and provides for public participation. But new Trump administration rules and a Supreme Court case could weaken the law’s ability to provide transparency and environmental protections.

Fort Collins ecologist Mark Easter talks regenerative agriculture, carbon footprints, and the role of western farmers in tackling the climate crisis in his new book The Blue Plate: A Food Lover’s Guide to Climate Chaos.

The Trump Administration is directing federal agencies like the Department of the Interior to ramp up mining operations on federal public lands. The order singles out copper, uranium, potash, and gold.

Freshman Representative Jeff Hurd (R-Colo.) is sponsoring a bill that would require Bureau of Land Management field offices across the west to adopt plans that would open up more lands to oil and gas drilling.

About a hundred people came out to U.S. Forest Service offices in Glenwood Springs on Thursday, just hours after a judge ordered that federal probationary workers be reinstated. They held signs, waved at honking cars, and worried about the impacts to public lands in the community.

Allison Stegner, a former USGS researcher, discusses her experience in the civil service, and the important role fired federal workers play for land management agencies, and what the administration is losing with massive job cuts.

Seasonal forecasts point to a warm and dry spring. It’s not good news for a region that saw record heat and dry conditions last autumn.