Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** BLM whistleblower says illegal grazing is harming Rio Grande River
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Tuesday, August 22, 2023
Marshes and wetlands along the Rio Grande River; Asaavedra32, Wikimedia ([link removed])
A veteran Bureau of Land Management employee in the San Luis Valley has filed a whistleblower complaint ([link removed]) , claiming illegal grazing is harming the Rio Grande River.
Melissa Shawcroft, who has been a BLM rangeland management specialist since 1992, told the Denver Post ([link removed]) the illegal grazing has gone on for years on the nearly 250,000 acres she manages in Colorado. Shawcroft manages federal rangeland along the Rio Grande River where property on the east side of the river is private. She says ([link removed]) cows and horses are crossing the river to the federally-owned Rio Grande Natural Area, where they eat grass and young willow trees down to the ground along the banks.
“It’s almost like pavement,” Shawcroft told the Post ([link removed]) . “That’s what happens when you graze from spring into the summer and into the fall.”
Shawcroft is currently facing a two-week unpaid suspension, according to the Post ([link removed]) . She said she is being punished for speaking up about the illegal grazing, which she says her supervisors have so far ignored.
“They come right out and tell me we don’t want another Bundy situation,” Shawcroft said ([link removed]) , referring to the 2014 standoff in Nevada in which the Bundy family and an armed militia faced off against federal agents who were trying to round up the family's cows that were illegally grazing on federal land.
** Quick hits
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Reviving the redwoods means cutting down more trees
New York Times ([link removed])
Can artificial intelligence make water use on farms more efficient?
Colorado Sun ([link removed])
Indigenous youth find a way to preserve ancestral lands through conservation group
KUNC ([link removed])
Wyoming state parks department drops climbing project near Lander
WyoFile ([link removed])
EPA to investigate claims of civil rights violations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
High Country News ([link removed])
Nuclear waste storage permit slated for September public meeting
Source NM ([link removed])
To survive under extreme conditions, Wyoming fish evolve rapidly
Wyoming Public Radio ([link removed])
Federal judge halts logging project in Kootenai National Forest
Daily Montanan ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” We are trying to restore these forests to be more resilient so they will be able to withstand a hotter and drier climate... The logging left behind a forest that is very unnatural and unhealthy. We’re trying to make these stands as healthy as possible.”
—Ben Blom, director of stewardship and restoration for the Save the Redwoods League, New York Times ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@Interior ([link removed])
Sagebrush country spans over 175 million acres, is home to more than 350 wildlife species and is an important part of our shared history and culture in the West.
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