** Investigations into land management agencies continue
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Wednesday, March 11, 2020
Tongass National Forest, U.S. Forest Service ([link removed])

As the Trump administration continues to roll back protections and ignore overwhelming public support for conservation, investigations into the actions of land management agencies continue. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, is giving the Interior Department one more week to comply with his document requests before issuing a subpoena ([link removed]) . Last month, the committee voted ([link removed]) to give him the power to issue subpoenas, which many other committees can already do. Grijalva set a deadline of March 16 for the Interior Department to comply with his requests, stating ([link removed]) , "based on DOI's ongoing and unjustified
obstruction and bad faith, the Committee is prepared to issue a subpoena if the deadline enumerated is not met."

As previous investigations continue, a new investigation ([link removed]) into a $2 million Forest Service grant to the state of Alaska, which was used to support efforts to open the Tongass National Forest to logging, was just opened by the Agriculture Department's inspector general. The funding went to an effort to roll back federal limits on cutting old-growth trees, and $200,000 was given to an Alaskan timber industry association. The investigation will determine whether the Forest Service broke any rules to prop up Alaska's timber industry.
Quick hits


** New Mexico, other Western state budgets hit hard by oil crash
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Reuters ([link removed]) | KRQE ([link removed]) | KOAT ([link removed]) | Denver Post ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])


** Tribal nations enter negotiations over Colorado River water
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High Country News ([link removed])


** Natural Resources Committee threatens to subpoena Interior Department
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The Hill ([link removed])


** Watchdog opens probe into Forest Service grant
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Washington Post ([link removed])


** Cattle could return to Utah monument under new management plan
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Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed])


** In Nevada, appeal of pipeline rejection denied
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Las Vegas Review-Journal ([link removed])


** Arizona working to protect waterways cut from Clean Water Act
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Arizona Public Media ([link removed])


** New Mexico senators work to restore funding for state's public lands, national parks
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Carlsbad Current-Argus ([link removed])
Quote of the day
Science and our own moral compass demand that America has a plan for our public lands. We need a plan that protects and restores vitally important lands and waters. And we must invest in strengthening our ecosystems and wind down fossil energy development so that public lands store more carbon than they emit.”
—Melyssa Watson, executive director of the Wilderness Society, Hartford Courant ([link removed])
Picture this


** @Interior ([link removed])
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The sun sets, the moon rises & the twisted arms @JoshuaTreeNPS ([link removed]) reach for a pink sky. Pic courtesy of Anke Kuballa #California ([link removed]) #FindYourPark ([link removed])

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