Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Western megafires erase 2 decades of air quality progresss
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Tuesday, December 5, 2023
The Woolsey Fire, California, 2018. US Forest Service ([link removed])
A new study finds that megafires in the Western U.S. are causing premature deaths ([link removed]) and have undermined improvements in air quality from reduced vehicle emissions. The study, published in The Lancet Planetary Health ([link removed](23)00235-8/fulltext) , found that air quality worsened in the West from 2000 to 2020, with concentrations of black carbon rising 55 percent. The authors estimate that fires have caused an additional 670 premature deaths ([link removed]) each year.
"All the efforts for the past 20 years by the EPA to make our air cleaner basically have been lost in fire-prone areas and downwind regions," said University of Iowa professor Jun Wang, the study's lead author ([link removed]) . "We are losing ground."
Axios notes ([link removed]) that there is an emerging global consensus that adopting Indigenous fire management practices, including controlled burning, can help mitigate fire risks, and that smoke from managed burns is less intense and may be less toxic.
** Quick hits
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Opinion: It should go without saying—don't auction pristine land inside Grand Teton National Park
Writers on the Range ([link removed]\)
3 million acres returned to Tribal trust ownership during decade-long program
Native News Online ([link removed]) | Department of the Interior ([link removed]) (Press release)
Wyoming panel recommends giving $37 million in taxpayer money to “green” fossil fuel projects
WyoFile ([link removed])
Opinion: Don't be fooled by Mike Lee's HOUSES Act
Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed])
BLM director Tracy Stone-Manning on oil and gas regulations, need for law enforcement rangers
Washington Post ([link removed])
California irrigation district approves plan to pay farmers to conserve water
Desert Sun ([link removed])
Colorado wildlife officials aim to reduce hunter crowding, sustain elk herds
Aspen Journalism ([link removed])
Southern Colorado town hopes EPA grant will lead to a tourism economy
Colorado Sun ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” Rising tide raises all boats. When we look at land protection in California, it doesn’t just stop at the border of Nevada, and it doesn’t stop going the other direction, either. These lands are continuous, and the landscape is continuous.”
—Taylor Patterson, Indigenous Voices of Nevada, Las Vegas Review‑Journal ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@Interior ([link removed])
Flying over grasslands and open country with their large wings, short-eared owls are striking with their bright, black-rimmed yellow eyes and streaked feathers. Their ear tufts are inconspicuous until the owls become defensive or curious.
Photo by Kevin Smith
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