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North entrance road to Yellowstone National Park following the recent heavy flooding. Photo: Kyle Stone, NPS Flickr
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Key news from June:
- Bureau of Land Management held its first lease sale under the Biden administration, offering around 120,000 acres of public land in Wyoming across two days. A number of smaller lease sales in other states, totaling less than 10,000 acres altogether, are also underway. Oil and gas companies leased around 60 percent of the total acreage offered in Wyoming. The BLM raised the royalty rate for this lease sale from 12.5 to 18.75 percent to align with royalty rates charged by states.
- The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a major blow to climate change regulations ;in West Virginia v. EPA. The 6 to 3 majority ruled that the Clean Air Act does not authorize the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon emissions. This decision sets a precedent for further limitations on the environmental regulatory power of federal agencies. In her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote: "Today, the court strips the EPA of the power Congress gave it to respond to the most pressing environmental challenge of our time... It deprives EPA of the power needed—and the power granted—to curb the emission of greenhouse gasses."
- June 8 marked 116 years since Teddy Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act, a landmark conservation law that gives the president authority to protect landscapes and historic sites from the threat of development. Nearly halfway into his first term, President Biden has yet to use the Antiquities Act to create a new national monument, even as land protection measures stall in a gridlocked Congress. Ahead of the anniversary, a coalition of 92 national and local organizations called on the president to invoke the Antiquities Act to protect the Castner Range, a former military testing site near El Paso. The groups urging Biden to act include The League of Conservation Voters and El Paso-based Frontera Land Alliance.
- New satellite data shows that methane emissions from fossil fuels are rising even faster than the global rebound in oil production. The satellite analysis firm Karryos said that in the Permian Basin, methane emissions rose 33 percent in the first quarter of 2022, and jumped 47 percent compared to the first quarter of 2021.
- The Bureau of Land Management completed its purchase of Marton Ranch, which runs along 8.8 miles of the North Platte River, thanks to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The acquisition opens public access to another 40,000 acres of state and federal public lands that were previously unreachable, creating a 118-square-mile area of contiguous public land. Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon then announced that he would seek to block the sale.
- Five tribes with ties to the Bears Ears region signed a cooperative agreement with the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service which grants them more power in the management of Bears Ears National Monument. The document reestablishes the Bears Ears Commission to handle day-to-day decisions. The tribes will submit a land management plan to the Bureau of Land Management, which will then incorporate the recommendations into its own plan. This historic agreement establishes a new model for co-management between tribes and the federal government that will allow for traditional ecological knowledge to be better incorporated into land management.
- Record rainfall in Yellowstone National Park led to heavy flooding that destroyed homes, roads, and bridges, and caused the evacuation of 10,000 visitors and the closure of all park entrances. The park was able to partially reopen within two weeks, but full recovery for the park and surrounding communities could take years.
- Interior Secretary Deb Haaland joined tribal leaders, community partners, and Indigenous youth to celebrate the launch of the Indian Youth Service Corps, a new partnership-based program that will provide meaningful education, employment, and training opportunities to Indigenous youth through conservation projects on public and Indian lands, and Hawaiian homelands. The Indian Youth Service Corps will work on publicly managed and tribal lands with help from $1 million in funding from the National Park Foundation and up to $5 million more from the U.S. Forest Service.
- The Interior Department will distribute $279 million this year from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to states, territories, and the District of Columbia for outdoor recreation and public land conservation projects. California will receive $23 million, the largest allotment of any state, while most Western states will receive between $2 and $5 million.
What to watch for in July:
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The Ute Mountain Ute can't access their Colorado River water rights. The Tribal chairman is trying to change that
Colorado Sun
Major water cutbacks loom as shrinking Colorado River nears ‘moment of reckoning’
Los Angeles Times
Environmental groups sue BLM for failing to consider leasing impacts to endangered species
New York Times
Yellowstone flooding foreshadows frightening climate reality for parks
High Country News
For Navajo sheepherders, a good shearer is hard to find
Corner Post
Momentum grows for permanent protections for Caja Del Rio
Associated Press
U.S. Forest Service releases report on Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire
New York Times
Study advocates for higher royalty rates on oil and gas, but industry says it will hurt production
Wyoming Public Radio
Why the public can't access the West's biggest waterfall
High Country News
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From the Center for Western Priorities:
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Monuments to America’s Past: How presidents have used the Antiquities Act to protect and shape history
President Joe Biden has the opportunity to build on the legacy of Presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama by designating national monuments that honor the stories of Black, Native American, and Latino people in the U.S.
Learn more about the history of cultural national monuments designated using the Antiquities Act as well as the proposed monuments President Biden could designate right now using the Act in our new storymap!
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Road to 30 Postcards campaign: Pribilof Islands
In honor of World Ocean Day, the Center for Western Priorities shared a new Postcard about the Alaska Native community of St. Paul that is working to preserve its culture, livelihood, and ecosystem through a proposal to protect Alaĝum Kanuux̂, the “Heart of the Ocean.”
Read about people who support the marine sanctuary nomination, including Amos Philemonoff, the President of the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island and a commercial fisherman, Destiny Bristol Kushin, a student of marine biology who grew up on St. Paul Island, and Lauren Divine, the Director for St. Paul’s Ecosystem Conservation Office. They share what makes this unique ecosystem so special, how it is threatened by climate change, and why it needs greater protection to sustain the community into the future.
To learn more about the Postcards campaign and to read, listen, or watch other stories, please visit www.RoadTo30.org/postcards.
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The senator thinks a president should “have his team in place”—until that team includes highly-qualified women
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America’s bedrock conservation law is even more relevant today than when it passed 116 years ago
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Grassroots Wildland Firefighters vice president Lucas Mayfield and advocate Michelle Hart come on The Landscape to talk about what it’s like to be a wildland firefighter and what the federal government can do to attract new people to the profession. Michelle is the widow of fallen firefighter Tim Hart, who died while fighting a fire in New Mexico last summer. Lucas served as a federal firefighter with the Forest Service for 18 years.They talk about historic, but temporary, increases to firefighter pay and benefits announced by the White House this week, as well as legislation called Tim’s Act—after Michelle’s husband—that would make those changes permanent, in addition to providing comprehensive mental and physical health coverage, housing assistance, retirement savings, and more.
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Scientist and conservationist Ed Grumbine joins Kate and Aaron on The Landscape to talk about what’s missing from President Biden’s America the Beautiful plan—and what the administration can do to get the ball rolling on 30×30.
Grumbine has worked in China as a senior scientist with the Center for Mountain Futures at the Kunming Institute of Botany, as well as in the U.S., managing the Grand Canyon Trust’s conservation and grazing activities on the North Rim Ranches. He wrote an op-ed for Sierra Magazine about the gaps in President Biden’s America the Beautiful plan, published in May.
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"The unequal impacts of climate change and environmental burdens mean years taken off the lives of some and not others. We see these trends again and again, with communities of color, Indigenous, rural and low-income communities suffering the most. What's painfully clear is that there's an intersection between poverty, pollution and political power in this country that we must address if we are ever to ensure everyone's right to a healthy environment.”
—Rep. Raúl Grijalva (AZ) and State Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale (VT), Newsweek
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The North Platte River is the only floatable waterway in central Wyoming and has become the destination fishery for the state, rated as a blue ribbon fishery by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Game fish species here include rainbow, brown and cutthroat trout. In addition to fishing, visitors here also enjoy floating, waterfowl hunting, wildlife viewing, picnicking and camping. This river has become a vital part of the social and economic values of central Wyoming.
📸 Bob Wick
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