Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** After years of dispute, corner crossing is legal in six Western states
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Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Hunter in the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument in Montana. Bob Wick/BLM, Flickr ([link removed])
On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled ([link removed]) that corner crossing, or accessing public land at a common corner with private land, is legal in at least six Western states.
The ruling ([link removed]) upholds a 2022 decision by a district court which found that a group of hunters did not trespass onto the private property of Elk Mountain Ranch in Wyoming when they crossed from one section of public land to another in 2020 and 2021. The ranch owner sued, citing the hunters' momentary presence in the airspace above the private land when they used a ladder to avoid stepping foot on the ranch.
The ruling is a huge win for public lands access—because some of America's public and private land is divided in such a way that creates a checkerboard pattern, the ability to cross from one corner of public land to another ensures access to millions of acres ([link removed]) on national public lands that would otherwise be inaccessible.
As a result of the ruling, corner crossing is now protected by federal law in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming. But the precedent could make corner crossing legal in other states, too.
“This is a key win in the battle to keep public lands in public hands," said ([link removed]) Dagny Signorelli, Wyoming director of Western Watersheds Project.
** Quick hits
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Appeals court rules that corner crossing is legal in at least six states
WyoFile ([link removed]) | Cowboy State Daily ([link removed]) | Wyoming Public Radio ([link removed]) | Montana Free Press ([link removed]) | Outdoor Life ([link removed]) | Meat Eater ([link removed]) | Casper Star Tribune ([link removed])
As Americans protest attacks on public lands, Trump signals national monuments may be eliminated
Inside Climate News ([link removed])
Opinion: The value of national monuments
Pagosa Daily Post ([link removed])
Trump's war on public lands moves to its second phase
The Nation ([link removed])
'I’m not super optimistic': Forest Service employees in limbo despite reinstatement email
Bozeman Daily Chronicle ([link removed])
Opinion: It's still the West against itself
Writers on the Range ([link removed])
The collateral damage of Trump's firing spree
Wall Street Journal ([link removed])
Feds keep the phone lines open for more monarch butterfly debate
E&E News ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” Make no mistake about it, Congress can trim or even eliminate a national monument if Congress believes a president acted in error, but President Trump cannot wrest that power from Congress just because he’s hell-bent on undoing all the work of his predecessor.”
—John Ruple, law professor and program director at the University of Utah’s Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment; Inside Climate News ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@grandcanyonnps ([link removed])
Is the Colorado River dyed green for St. Patty's Day?
No. Silt from the Colorado River settles at the foot of Glen Canyon Dam, which means the water that passes through the dam is mostly clear. The river turns muddy brown with spring snow melt, rainwater, water from tributaries, and high flow, but often the river is an emerald green.
Now, for a little Irish history—the first photos of Grand Canyon and its river down below were taken in the 1870s, by Timothy O’Sullivan, a native of Ireland. O’Sullivan took about 300 images of the lower canyon but unfortunately, many of his negatives were destroyed or damaged. A few photos made it, which must have influenced many to come and see the Southwest with their own eyes.
Whether chocolatey brown or vibrant green, it’s hard to take a bad photo of the Colorado River within the depths of Grand Canyon! -AR
Photos: NPS/A. Rehkopf and Timothy O'Sullivan - U.S. Library of Congress
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