** Climate change will continue to ravage the West, and Westerners are ready to see action
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Monday, February 8, 2021
Last year wildfire smoke shrouded the Western United States for months | NASA ([link removed])

In 2020 climate change ran rampant over the Western landscape: the year brought unprecedented wildfires, deadly heatwaves, and withering drought ([link removed]) . From California to Washington and Arizona to Colorado, 2020 broke records for temperatures and racked up massive costs such as damage to property, crop losses, and spending on wildfires.

All reports seem to suggest that 2021 could bring more of the same climate extremes ([link removed]) , whether dry or wet. Snowpack is low across the West, with drought expected to persist into spring. At the same time, extreme precipitation events will likely drive catastrophe. Just last week a surge from an atmospheric river triggered widespread downpours in California, washing out a section of Highway 1 in the Big Sur area ([link removed]) .

Westerners are aware of the devastating effects that climate change has on the region. A new Conservation in the West poll ([link removed]) released by Colorado College's State of the Rockies Project shows that 74 percent of Westerners, with majorities across all political party lines, agree that climate change is a serious problem. The number of Westerners who think that climate change is an extremely serious problem in their state has increased by 27 percentage points in the past decade.

As a result, majorities of Westerners of all political stripes support bold proposals to confront climate change, such as making public lands a net-zero source of carbon pollution (72 percent support overall) and protecting 30 percent of America's lands and waters by 2030 (77 percent support overall). Additionally, 66 percent of Westerners support requiring their state to gradually transition to 100 percent renewable energy over the next ten to fifteen years, while a whopping 91 percent of Westerners support requiring oil and gas companies to use updated equipment to prevent methane leaks.
Quick hits


** "Our ancestors' dreams come true:" Deb Haaland could become the nation's most powerful Native American leader
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USA Today ([link removed])


** Climate, environmental justice to become centerpieces of congressional agenda
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Washington Post ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])


** New Mexico land commissioner increases oversight of oil and gas operators
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Santa Fe New Mexican ([link removed])


** Federal oil, gas leasing pause has little impact on a Colorado drilling county
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Greeley Tribune ([link removed])


** Opinion: The federal oil and gas leasing system is holding Montana back
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Daily Inter Lake ([link removed])


** Editorial: Utah has a chance at a better approach to managing public lands
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Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed])


** Push to get Colorado's Japanese-American internment camp national park status interrupted by coronavirus
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])


** A walk through Earth's ancient rock record, and what it can tell us about climate change
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The Atlantic ([link removed])
Quote of the day
The antiquated federal oil and gas program has shortchanged our state for decades, leaving billions of dollars in revenues on the table, exacerbating climate change, while also creating an ever-growing liability of unplugged and abandoned oil and gas wells, which could cost the state billions of dollars to clean up."

—Ray Trejo, Southern New Mexico Coordinator for the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, Las Cruces Sun News ([link removed])
Picture this


** @Interior ([link removed])
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The 28,000 acre Centennial Mountains #Wilderness ([link removed]) Study Area forms the boundary between southwest #Montana ([link removed]) and #Idaho ([link removed]) and is some of Montana’s wildest country. Aside from being a recreation paradise, the area is a critical corridor for wildlife. Pic by Bob Wick, @BLMNational ([link removed])

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