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


** Weekend wildfires demonstrate why the climate bill matters to the West
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Monday, August 1, 2022
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service firefighters respond to the Moose Fire in Idaho, USFWS Fire Twitter ([link removed])

Climate change-fueled wildfires ([link removed].) continued to rage across the West over the weekend. Montana's Elmo Fire ([link removed]) tripled in size nearly overnight, while the nearby Moose Fire in Idaho ([link removed]) burned over 48,000 acres. Meanwhile, Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Siskiyou County, California after the McKinney Fire ([link removed]) grew to over 80 square miles in just two days. On Friday alone, Texas firefighters responded to 17 new wildfires ([link removed]) amidst
triple-digit heat.

These recent fires come on the heels of other major wildfires this summer, including the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire in New Mexico that burned nearly 300,000 acres and left the area's water supply contaminated with ash and debris ([link removed]) , and the Washburn and Oak Fires near Yosemite National Par ([link removed] ) k ([link removed]) , which threatened a grove of ancient sequoias.

The severity of the fires in the West this year is not an unfortunate coincidence. These fires are the result of climate change-fueled drought and heat ([link removed]) , and a history of poor forest management practices ([link removed]) . These fires will continue to worsen unless Congress and the Biden administration take urgent actions to slow climate change and mitigate its impacts.

Luckily, there is a narrow opportunity for the U.S. to act on climate with the revived climate bill ([link removed]) expecting a vote in the Senate this week. With Senator Joe Manchin on board ([link removed]) , the fate of this bill now rests in Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema's hands ([link removed]) . If this bill does not pass the Senate, President Biden can and should take executive action on climate. As CWP's Aaron Weiss describes in a recent blog ([link removed]) , President Biden has tools at his disposal to act on climate change, he just needs to use them.
Quick hits


** New Mexico governor declares state of emergency for drinking water due to contamination from wildfires
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New York Times ([link removed]) | CNN ([link removed]) | ABC ([link removed])


** Democrats got a climate bill. Joe Manchin got drilling, and more
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New York Times ([link removed])


** BLM approves American Prairie Reserve’s bison grazing proposal
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Montana Public Radio News ([link removed]) | M ([link removed]) ontana Free Press ([link removed])


** Colorado is the newest place to find microplastics: In the snowpack
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])


** Who does the state of Wyoming consider a poacher?
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High Country News ([link removed])


** Post-climate bill permit plan for energy development aims to fix ‘hindering’ process
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Bloomberg Law ([link removed])


** Opinion: Why forest managers need to team up with Indigenous fire practitioners
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Los Angeles Times ([link removed])


** Opinion: The case against commercial logging in wildfire-prone forests
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New York Times ([link removed])
Quote of the day
“There are large portions of the watershed you can see that are completely burned. It looks like burnt toothpicks sticking out of the ground for acres and acres. With the soil instability, during a heavy rain event it would be like putting water on a bunch of baby powder where it doesn’t absorb at all; it just falls.”
—Louie Trujillo, Mayor of Las Vegas, New Mexico, CNN ([link removed])
Picture this

[link removed]


** @ ([link removed]) NatlParkService ([link removed])
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They told me I could be anything...so I became a frog.⁣ 🐸
📸: This bear is quite ribbeting as it sits on a rock in the middle of river
@KatmaiNPS ([link removed])
NPS/L. Law⁣ #mood ([link removed])

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