Key news from August:
- For more than a year, the National Park Service has been quietly working at the direction of Trump officials to hand over a strip of land inside Yosemite National Park to a private developer as part of a land swap, according to agency documents and four people familiar with the discussions, as reported by NOTUS. The deal would give Nevada-based Kingsbarn Realty Capital an easement through the park to build a private road to its 83-acre inholding, avoiding a 90-minute detour.
- An analysis by the Center for Western Priorities finds overwhelming opposition to the Bureau of Land Management’s proposal to roll back its 2024 oil and gas leasing rule. CWP’s analysis found that of 15,822 comments posted to the docket for this rule on regulations.gov, 99.5 percent opposed the rollback, most commonly on the grounds that weaker bonding requirements would leave taxpayers to cover cleanup costs companies walk away from. Just 43 comments, or 0.27 percent, supported it, and 42 comments were unclear. (See the full methodology here.)
- The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released a two-year plan for the Colorado River, requiring the Lower Basin states of Nevada, Arizona, and California to cut their use of water. Under the Bureau of Reclamation's operating plan, the three Lower Basin states will be required to cut their Colorado River water use by 1.25 million acre-feet, with Arizona bearing the brunt of the required cuts. The Upper Basin states of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico are also encouraged to undertake voluntary water conservation measures, but are not yet forced to make cuts in Colorado River water use under the two-year operating plan.
- The U.S. Forest Service moved forward with its plan to repeal the 2001 Roadless Rule, threatening the fate of 44.7 million acres of national forest. The proposal would strip road-building bans from roadless areas in every state except Idaho and Colorado, which have their own roadless rules. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins framed the repeal as a wildfire measure, but new roads tend to be associated with more human-caused fires, not fewer. The public already weighed in on this matter when USDA first floated this repeal last August. Out of 625,000 comments submitted during a preliminary comment period, 99 percent opposed it, according to a CWP analysis. Public comments on the new proposal are due by September 21.
- Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed an executive order directing state agencies to halt new leases, permits, and environmental review for mining at the headwaters of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. A poll conducted for Save the Boundary Waters last August found that 57 percent of Minnesota voters oppose sulfide-ore copper mining in the watershed, compared with 23 percent in favor, and that 68 percent statewide want permanent legislative protection to be a top priority.
- A federal judge in Texas extended a temporary pause on new border wall construction in and around Big Bend National Park. The pause follows an August 18 order from U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott halting all border construction inside Big Bend National Park, days after footage of construction within the park sparked bipartisan outrage. The pause is in effect until the court reconvenes on September 15.
What to watch for in September:
- Will the Interior department move ahead with a plan to sell off part of Yosemite National Park?
- Will border wall construction continue in Big Bend National Park?
- Will the Reflecting Pool be refilled?
- Will there be a rush of mining claims near Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments?
|
|
|
From the Center for Western Priorities:
|
|
How a surge in drilling nominations threatens America’s public lands
|
|
A new report released by Rocky Mountain Wild and the Center for Western Priorities shows how the Trump administration’s giveaway of national public lands for oil and gas drilling is impacting wildlife, outdoor recreation, and cultural resources across the West. The report uses eight case studies in five Western states to demonstrate how oil and gas development is encroaching on protected public lands under the Trump administration’s policies.
|
|
Report: Public lands win elections
|
|
The Mountain West polling guide for the 2026 midterms
|
|
As voters head to the polls across the Mountain West, one of the most prominent and bipartisan throughlines in 2026 is protecting America’s public lands and natural resources. Broadly, we have already seen public lands serve as a salient and decisive issue across elections, central to the identity of voters across the states highlighted. This report highlights recent data from multiple polling firms that surveyed Mountain West voters.
|
|
|
The Trump administration wants you to believe repealing the 2001 Roadless Rule is about wildfire safety and local control
|
|
|
|
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has spent the past 18 months defending data centers. Now he’s putting them on public lands
|
|
|
|
The oil industry just posted some of its best profits in years while Americans pay more at the pump
|
|
|
|
CWP's 'Keep Parks Public' campaign & road tour records live podcast in Santa Fe
|
|
|
|
With the inspector general’s independence compromised, Congress is the only oversight left. It should start issuing subpoenas
|
|
|
|
Burgum lied about the pool even after learning the truth. What other lies will he tell?
|
|
|
|
Recorded live at Scoundrel and Scamp Theatre in Tucson as part of CWP’s Keep Parks Public campaign, Aaron interviews four experts about the current state of Arizona’s public lands: Matthew Nelson with the Arizona Trail Association, Russ McSpadden with the Center for Biological Diversity, Emily Burns with Sky Island Alliance, and Amy Juan from Tohono O’odham Nation.
We discuss the impacts of border wall construction on wildlife corridors and Indigenous sites, along with staffing and funding cuts at land management agencies and rollbacks of environmental protections, from Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge to Quitobaquito Springs.
|
|
|
Kate and Aaron run through the weekly news, including the Trump administration’s plans to repeal the Roadless Rule and upend the Forest Service’s travel management planning process. Then, we play the first episode of On Common Ground: An American Inheritance, a new podcast from Eleven Dollar Bill studios, for you.
|
|
|
Kate and Aaron are joined by Professor John Leshy, one of the nation’s top scholars of public lands law, to discuss a new essay of his that argues America’s public lands are entering a new Gilded Age, complete with robber barons, corruption, and deregulation.
We also talk about a new exposé revealing Doug Burgum to be a really bad boss who’s breaking the law, and about Border Patrol breaking ground inside Big Bend National Park.
|
|
|
Recorded live at Nuckolls Brewing in Santa Fe as part of CWP’s Keep Parks Public campaign, Kate interviews four experts about the current stakes for New Mexico’s public lands. Charlotte Overby (Conservation Lands Foundation), Keegan King (Native Land Institute), Andrew Black (National Wildlife Federation/Earthkeepers 360), and Elaine Leslie (Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks) discuss the importance of defending New Mexico’s land, water, and wildlife from the current threats coming out of the Trump administration. Thank you to Nuckolls Brewing, REI Santa Fe, and New Mexico Wild for joining us at this event!
|
|
Meet the army of amateur archivists racing to save US history in national parks
The Guardian
An Indigenous photographic history of America in pictures
The Guardian
The real reason the Forest Service is killing the Roadless Rule
Outdoor Life
National parks: Impaired for future generations
RE:PUBLIC
Trump’s border wall construction threatens Native American art as old as the pyramids
Public Domain
How one small section of Trump's planned border wall became the center of a big battle
TIME
Six takeaways from the slashing of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante
Outside
Border wall expansion brings protests to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, other Arizona locations
KJZZ | 13News | KOLD [photos]
Opinion: Burgum a deflecting fool on Reflecting Pool
Bismarck Tribune
Doug Burgum’s Interior department is slowly coming apart
The Week
|
|
“We have lived in this region since time immemorial. There is no doubt this wall will desecrate countless sacred areas, burial sites, and other important locations.”
—Tohono O'odham Nation Chairman Verlon M. Jose, KVOA
|
|
|
@utahstateparts
POV: You’re a lizard. You found a rock. You have decided this is your entire afternoon.
This behavior is called basking, which is the scientific term for sitting on a warm rock until your body temperature improves.
Lizards are ectotherms, meaning they use external heat sources to regulate their body temperature. A warm rock helps with that.
You may see lizards basking on rocks, logs, and other sunny surfaces throughout many state parks. They are not necessarily resting. They are warming up, getting their metabolism moving, and making what appears to be a very reasonable use of an afternoon.
Please enjoy wildlife from a respectful distance. The lizard has plans. The plans are rock.
|
|
|
|
|
