** How fearmongering trumped facts in Montana
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Monday, October 25, 2021
First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park and National Historic Landmark, Montana State Parks ([link removed])

The New York Times uncovered how a one-woman disinformation campaign ([link removed]) successfully derailed a proposed national heritage area in Montana. 56-year-old Rae Grulkowski, who had never been involved in local politics, was radicalized by far-right media outlets that falsely claimed national heritage areas—which are merely designations designed to attract tourists—could open the door to land grabs by the federal government.

Despite being warned that she was spreading lies, Grulkowski sent packets to nearly 1,500 farmers and ranchers, falsely telling them the designation would affect water rights, give tourists access to private property, and prohibit fertilizer and pesticide use.

Grulkowski's disinformation campaign eventually made it to mainstream Republican circles, convincing Governor Greg Gianforte and Senator Steve Daines, among others, to oppose the tourism designation. Gianforte even signed a law, which the state cannot enforce, forbidding the federal government from creating any heritage areas in Montana.

The local effort to bring in tourism dollars is now in shambles. Jane Weber, a county commissioner and U.S. Forest Service retiree who led the effort backing the designation, resigned from the county commission after her fellow commissioners fell for the disinformation and voted to oppose the heritage area.

“It’s very easy to take fear and mistrust and make it work for you. It’s very hard to fight back against all of that,” Weber told the Times ([link removed]) . “It’s kind of like trying to convince someone to get vaccinated.”


** Five steps to fix climate coverage
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As world leaders prepare for the U.N. climate summit in Scotland next week, climate journalists Amy Westervelt and Mary Annaïse Heglar have published a five-point plan ([link removed]) to fix climate coverage. Among their warnings: Reporters must stop accepting oil industry talking points, especially around the cost of acting on climate, at face value.

“Basically, any talking point or press release from the fossil fuel industry should be treated with the same skepticism as a statement from the police,” they write ([link removed]) . “Similarly, regurgitating the claims of every new clean-tech startup with a ‘climate solution’ is not responsible reporting.”
Quick hits


** Colorado methane rules expected to inform new national rules this week
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Reuters ([link removed])


** Report: Greenhouse gas emissions from plastics to pass coal by 2030
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The Guardian ([link removed]) | Earther ([link removed]) | The Hill ([link removed]) | Rolling Stone ([link removed]) | Fast Company ([link removed]) | Grist ([link removed])


** Opinion: It's too easy and cheap to lease and pollute federal land in Colorado
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])


** National park campgrounds in Utah filled for peak season; Yellowstone staff under stress from record tourism
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The Spectrum ([link removed]) | Deseret News ([link removed]) | Associated Press ([link removed])


** Montana's Martha Williams tapped to lead U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
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Montana Public Radio ([link removed]) | The Hill ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])


** Chuck Sams poised to become first Indigenous director of National Park Service
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Boise State Public Radio ([link removed]) | East Oregonian ([link removed]) | National Parks Traveler ([link removed])


** Panetta: Create a tribal-led marine sanctuary and stop oil spills on the California coast
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Los Angeles Times ([link removed])


** Dino-sauring: Nearly complete tyrannosaur flies off BLM land in Montana
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Billings Gazette ([link removed])
Quote of the day
There is no reason to frame the latest climate data with ‘Scientists say.’ Scientists aren’t saying it. Science is saying it. You don’t need to qualify the truth; you can just say it.”
—Amy Westervelt and Mary Annaïse Heglar, The Nation ([link removed])
Picture this


** @Interior ([link removed])
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A bull moose surveys the GRANDness of @GrandTetonNPS ([link removed]) in Wyoming. Though they are made of ancient rock, the “Tetons” are one of the youngest mountain ranges in North America.

Pic by Joel Brown

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