Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities


** As climate change worsens, the future of forests is grim
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Friday April 15, 2022
Burn area in Yellowstone National Park, Mav/Wikimedia Commons ([link removed])

It’s a tough time to be a tree. Earth has lost a third of its forests over the past 10,000 years ([link removed]) . And now anthropogenic climate change is threatening forests ([link removed]) like never before ([link removed]) . From the Amazon ([link removed]) to the Arctic ([link removed]) , wildfires are getting bigger, hotter, and more
frequent as the climate changes. After burning to the ground, many forests now struggle to recover due to climate change ([link removed]) .

“Forests are far more vulnerable in the climate change era than people think,” said ([link removed]) Craig Allen, a landscape ecologist who retired last year from the U.S. Geological Survey.

If the earth's temperature rises four degrees Celsius, many trees won't be able to survive. For example, the Yellowstone region’s high-elevation spruces and subalpine firs could be wiped out ([link removed]) . Forest cover could drop by half by 2100 ([link removed]) , and the density of what remains would drop even more.

If the world's nations can keep their promise to limit warming to below two degrees Celsius ([link removed]) , it could hold forest losses in Yellowstone to around 15 percent ([link removed]) . High-elevation trees would struggle, but some old growth would be able to survive, and Yellowstone’s forests—like many in the world—would be different but not unrecognizable.


** Senator Mike Lee’s ‘McMansion Subsidy Act’ will not fix affordable housing
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A ([link removed]) deep dive into Senator Lee's HOUSES Act ([link removed]) reveals that it not only threatens our public lands, it could actually incentivize the construction of luxury homes and hotels while doing nothing to address housing affordability.

For one, the bill contains no mention of affordability ([link removed]) . There is absolutely nothing in the bill that restricts the type of housing that can be developed—no mention of median income, rent restrictions, or price restrictions. The bill also lacks any meaningful density requirement, encouraging sprawl. ([link removed]) Combined with a lack of any sort of affordability requirement, this is essentially an invitation to build suburban mansions on our public lands.

Finally, (http://) the bill opens up 15 percent of the land sold under the program to commercial development ([link removed]) . ([link removed]) It also considers any development that is at least 50 percent housing to be residential. That could feasibly result in the construction of hundreds of hotels and mixed-use buildings that will do nothing to ameliorate the housing shortages faced by rural Westerners.
Quick hits


** Utah asks federal court to throw out Trump monument reduction lawsuits
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E&E News ([link removed])


** Opinion: We should rebuild the Civilian Conservation Corps to fight climate change
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Aspen Institute ([link removed])


** White House rolls out equity plans for over 90 agencies, including Interior
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Reuters ([link removed]) | Associated Press ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed]) | Interior Department ([link removed])


** Federal court rejects bid to halt social cost of carbon considerations, Louisiana plans Supreme Court plea
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Associated Press ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed]) [plea]


** A record number of Yellowstone wolves have been killed this year
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NPR ([link removed])


** Q&A: Cows, coal, and climate with BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning
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High Country News ([link removed])


** New Mexico adopts new rules regulating emissions relating to ozone
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NM Political Report ([link removed])


** Addressing water contamination with Indigenous science
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NPR ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” We must continue to proactively ensure that historically underrepresented communities benefit from our efforts to address the climate crisis and make our nation's public lands and waters accessible and welcoming to everyone."
—Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on her department's new equity plan, E&E News ([link removed])
Picture this


** @Interior ([link removed])
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Happy #WorldArtDay ([link removed]) ! We manage one of the world's largest museum collections, including over 101,000 works of art. Learn more about art from across our bureaus and offices that highlight both the diversity of our collections and our activities at Interior. [link removed]… ([link removed])

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