Key news from October:
- The Biden administration approved the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, encompassing 4,543 square miles of central California coastline. The new marine sanctuary will be the third largest in the U.S., and the first to be led by Indigenous people. The effort to designate the marine sanctuary was driven by the Northern Chumash Tribe, who will manage the marine sanctuary in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other Indigenous groups in the area. The designation is the result of a 40-year campaign by Tribal and community leaders to protect sacred Chumash sites that date back thousands of years.
- Federal and state officials from over a dozen states have filed amicus briefs asking the Supreme Court to take up Utah’s land grab lawsuit and to rule in the state’s favor. Republican attorneys general from nine states with very little national public land filed a joint brief in support of the lawsuit. Those states include Iowa, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, Texas, and the Dakotas. Attorneys general from Alaska, Idaho, and Wyoming also filed a joint brief siding with Utah, as did the Arizona Legislature.
- During a visit to the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, President Joe Biden offered a formal apology for atrocities committed at Indian boarding schools from the early 1800s to the 1970s. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who joined President Biden at the event in Arizona, said, "We all carry the trauma that these policies and these places inflicted. This is the first time in history that a United States Cabinet secretary has shared the traumas of our past, and I acknowledge that this trauma was perpetrated by the agency that I now lead."
- A group calling itself the Free Land Holders built a barbed-wire fence around a swath of U.S. Forest Service land, claiming ownership of about 1,400 acres within San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado. Some members of the group have ties to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), a polygamist sect led by Warren Jeffs. Patrick Leroy Pipkin, a member of the Free Land Holders, spoke for the group, stating they have a claim to the land under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the 1814 Treaty of Ghent, the 1783 Treaty of Paris, and the Articles of Confederation. The fences angered local residents who use the area—known locally as Chicken Creek—for cattle grazing, hunting, and recreation, and a large group gathered to tear down the fencing.
- The U.S. Forest Service announced that it would not be hiring seasonal employees due to budget shortfalls, and Western states are already feeling the impacts. The nearly 2,400 jobs that won't be filled this year range from maintenance of campgrounds, roads, and trails to field research. Also impacted: 14 avalanche centers that provide avalanche forecasts that winter outdoor recreationists rely on, but may have to scale back staffing due to funding shortfalls.
What to watch for in November:
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From the Center for Western Priorities:
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A new interactive report from the Center for Western Priorities explores the history of opposition to eight national parks and monuments. The Wrong Side of History envisions the destruction that could have been if these places weren’t protected.
Despite their popularity, proposals for public land protections almost always face vehement opposition from small but vocal minorities. These criticisms are nothing new. For over a century, parks and monuments that protect our country’s proudest landscapes have been established despite heated—sometimes violent—opposition. Even the most celebrated parks once faced the same tired objections as today’s national monument proposals. If presidents and congressional leaders in the past had listened to these opposing voices, iconic landscapes like Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, and Joshua Tree National Parks would likely have been marred by mining and logging operations.
This report follows a report released by the Center for Western Priorities in 2016 which explored the opposition faced by another set of parks and monuments. This report looks at Bears Ears, Avi Kwa Ame, and Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni–Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon national monuments, which faced the same empty and misinformed opposition highlighted in the 2016 report.
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In Southern Arizona, the proposed Santa Cruz River Urban National Wildlife Refuge would honor Indigenous stewardship, enrich community efforts to restore biodiversity, and provide equitable outdoor access for communities of color. It would also bolster President Joe Biden's conservation legacy by contributing to the national goal of protecting 30 percent of America's lands and waters by 2030.
The effort to revitalize almost 20 miles of the river corridor is led by a diverse coalition of over 50 individuals and organizations who are calling on Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to designate the Santa Cruz River Urban National Wildlife Refuge.
Over the course of about a hundred years, the Santa Cruz River was degraded by settler diversions and overuse. But thanks to diligent community involvement, water has returned to the river, bringing biodiversity with it.
In a new storymap from the Center for Western Priorities, we meet members of the coalition who are restoring the Santa Cruz River and leading the effort to designate the wildlife refuge. The storymap is part of the Center for Western Priorities' Road to 30: Postcards series, which highlights community-driven efforts across the country that will bring America closer to the national goal of protecting 30 percent of lands and waters by the end of the decade.
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Despite the potential benefits of hydrogen in certain applications, it’s not without drawbacks.
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Kate and Aaron are joined by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers CEO Patrick Berry to talk about why Utah’s lawsuit seeking control of over 18 million acres of national public land in the state would be terrible for sportsmen across the West.
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Kate and guest host Sterling are joined by journalist and producer Marissa Ortega-Welch to talk about her new podcast series, How Wild, which was recently released by KALW and distributed by NPR. The podcast explores how the concept of Wilderness is changing due to climate change, technology, crowding, and shifting views on colonialism.
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Opinion: Oil and gas companies aren't that into Utah
Deseret News
Radioactive legacy across the West haunts new search for American uranium
New York Times
Why can't we pipe in water from the East to fix the Colorado River crisis?
Colorado Sun
The legacy of the Bundy Bunkerville standoff
High Country News
The balancing act of growing solar in the West
Los Angeles Times
The fight continues against Utah's White Mesa uranium mill
Salt Lake Tribune
New report shows "catastrophic" loss of wildlife in the last 50 years
Washington Post
This national monument was privatized. Now it's abandoned
Cowboy State Daily
New Mexico extinguishes two coal mine fires burning since at least 2011
Source NM
Opinion: White House must redirect the Forest Service to preserve old forests
Seattle Times
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“We’re still here, and so are the Indigenous people wherever you live. Being able to address climate change, use traditional ecological knowledge, and participate in co-management is Indigenous peoples’ contribution to saving the planet.”
—Violet Sage Walker, chairwoman of the Northern Chumash Tribal Council, NPR
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Quaking aspens are one of the most widespread deciduous trees in North America. They typically change to beautiful shades of yellow in the fall and appear to shimmer as the sun dances off their yellow leaves.
Every tree in an aspen stand is often connected to a single root system. They spread through underground roots with new trunks growing up from the roots. So, every tree in a stand may have the same genetics. Trunks may live for a hundred years, but the root system may be hundreds or thousands of years old.
Photos by Jim Grindley and NPS
#fall #aspentrees #usinterior
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