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Congress established Utah’s Red Cliffs National Conservation Area in 2009 to protect popular trails, cultural resources, and critical habitat for 20 species of sensitive and threatened wildlife, including Washington County’s iconic and Endangered Species Act-protected Mojave desert tortoise.  But in the waning days of the Trump administration, then-Secretary David Bernhardt approved a plan to punch…

The 20-year Sage Hen Integrated Forest Restoration Project in Idaho is an example of the troubling and illegal trend of “condition-based management” by the U.S. Forest Service. Under this practice, the “where,” “when,” and “how” of logging projects are not evaluated or disclosed until long after the Forest Service has approved them, making it impossible…

Tell the full storyBorg Hendrickson – Moscow, Idaho To confuse you, dam proponents, including some in Congress, tout Columbia Basin’s Snake River per-dam juvenile salmon survival rate as if it applied accumulatively to the entire waterway. The Army Corps of Engineers cites a per-dam survival rate trending toward 95 percent, which may be true. But it is…

Today, of the 71,055 acres of federal public land within PRNS, about 18,000 acres are still fully dedicated to the industrial production of domestic livestock by thirty-five private operations.

On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously approved legislation that would enshrine private cattle ranching on 28,000 acres of public lands without any environmental assessment or regard for public opinion. This bill flouts the National Park Service’s obligation to conserve Point Reyes National Seashore lands and protect habitat for endemic tule elk. H.R.6687, introduced…

Advocates for the West Wins Ruling to Block Trump Policy Cutting Public Out of Oil and Gas Leasing Decisions on Public Lands A federal judge on Friday granted Advocates for the West’s request to halt a Trump administration policy that sharply restricts public participation in oil and gas leasing decisions on public lands. The ruling applies to future oil and gas lease sales…

Southern Resident Killer Whales are on the brink of extinction. Idaho’s sockeye salmon are on life support. The Clearwater River’s once famous wild B-run steelhead population is in a state of collapse. These are data-based facts, and anyone who denies them is ill informed, unable to accept reality, or running for re-election to Congress in…

By John Rygh, a retired geologist and longtime resident of McCall, Idaho. Opinion piece originally posted in McCall’s local paper, the Star News. Midas Gold has certainly been rolling out a persistent stream of deceptive fantasies about their proposed Stibnite mining project for the last couple years. Not exactly outright lies, but very carefully worded…

By Mia Montoya Hammersley, Healthy Communities Legal Fellow at Earthjustice and 2016 Summer Law Clerk for Advocates for the West Before attending law school, I completed my undergraduate studies at Franklin University Switzerland, a small international liberal arts school located in the heart of the Southern Alps. When friends and colleagues learn of my time…

Rose Chilcoat, former Associate Director of Great Old Broads for Wilderness, and her husband Mark Franklin face serious charges for a crime they didn’t know they’d committed.  Last April, Mark Franklin closed a cattle gate on public land in a remote section of Utah desert. Now, he faces up to 16 years in prison on charges…