Last week, Republican lawmakers in the Arizona state legislature sued President Biden over his designation of the Baaj Nwaajo I’tah Kukeveni Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. The designation prohibits new uranium mining and preserves more than 900 thousand acres of federal land. We discuss the threat of uranium mining and fight for preservation with the Sierra Club’s Sandy Bahr, but first we talk about an environmental issue closer to home.

Host Esty Dinur is joined by Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC)’s Andy Olsen to discuss an alleged illegal logging operation in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (CNNF). During a recent visit to the forest, Olsen saw thousands of stacked logs that would meet the US Forest Service’s definition for old growth. In a letter that he co-wrote with managing attorney Scott Strand to the CNNF Supervisor, Regional Forester, and District Ranger, he says, “once these trees are logged, we lose the option to protect these mature forests and lose their carbon stores for decades or centuries, even as the perils of climate change become more obvious and pressing.”

Andy Olsen is a senior policy advocate at ELPC, leading the Farm Bill Clean Energy and Rural Solar programs. His work has been reflected in Farm Bill legislation and rules, and thousands of clean energy projects. Andy has worked for years to advance clean energy in Wisconsin, in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors

Sandy Bahr is the director for the Grand Canyon Chapter of Sierra Club. Originally from Michigan, she has made the Sonoran Desert her home for more than 35 years and worked actively on environmental protection issues in Arizona for the past 30.

Image of the Sunfish Timber Sale provided by Andy Olsen

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