The Landscape

Kate and Aaron talk to Nick Holshouser, a data analyst with Wandering Nature, LLC, who is analyzing the public comments coming in on the Trump administration’s proposal to repeal the 2001 roadless rule in real-time at roadless.org, and Blaine Miller-McFeeley, a senior legislative representative at Earthjustice, about public comment periods under the Trump administration. We cover why you should still submit public comments (even though the Trump administration probably isn’t interested in your opinion) and how to write a comment that requires an agency response and helps build the legal record against bad agency actions.

Produced by Aaron Weiss, Lauren Bogard, Kate Groetzinger, and Lilly Bock-Brownstein

The post Why submitting a public comment still matters—and how to write a good one appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Recorded live at Scoundrel and Scamp Theatre in Tucson as part of CWP’s Keep Parks Public campaign, Aaron interviews four experts about the current state of Arizona’s public lands: Matthew Nelson with the Arizona Trail Association, Russ McSpadden with the Center for Biological Diversity, Emily Burns with Sky Island Alliance, and Amy Juan from the Tohono O’odham Nation.

We discuss the impacts of border wall construction on wildlife corridors and Indigenous sites, along with staffing and funding cuts at land management agencies and rollbacks of environmental protections, from Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge to Quitobaquito Springs.

Produced by Aaron Weiss, Lauren Bogard, Kate Groetzinger, and Lilly Bock-Brownstein

The post LIVE from Tucson: Arizona’s Public Lands and the Border Wall appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron run through the weekly news, including the Trump administration’s plans to repeal the Roadless Rule and upend the Forest Service’s travel management planning process. Then, we play the first episode of On Common Ground: An American Inheritance, a new podcast from Eleven Dollar Bill studios, for you.

In this first episode, host Bill Hedden traces how the fight we were allowed to win concealed the one we lost. Bill has spent half a century defending the public lands in southeastern Utah. He is joined by co-host John Leshy, former Solicitor of the Department of the Interior and our foremost scholar of public-lands law and history, along with voices from across the political spectrum. Together, “The Theft” lays out what was taken, how it happened, and why you weren’t supposed to notice until it was too late.

Produced by Aaron Weiss, Lauren Bogard, Kate Groetzinger, and Lilly Bock-Brownstein

The post Introducing: On Common Ground, a new podcast about the fight to maintain our public lands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron are joined by Professor John Leshy, one of the nation’s top scholars of public lands law, to discuss a new essay of his that argues America’s public lands are entering a new Gilded Age, complete with robber barons, corruption, and deregulation.

We also talk about a new exposé revealing Doug Burgum to be a really bad boss who’s breaking the law, and about Border Patrol breaking ground inside Big Bend National Park.

Produced by Aaron Weiss, Lauren Bogard, Kate Groetzinger, and Lilly Bock-Brownstein

The post Are America’s public lands entering a new Gilded Age? appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Recorded live at Nuckolls Brewing in Santa Fe as part of CWP’s Keep Parks Public campaign, Kate interviews four experts about the current stakes for New Mexico’s public lands. Charlotte Overby (Conservation Lands Foundation), Keegan King (Native Land Institute), Andrew Black (National Wildlife Federation/Earthkeepers 360), and Elaine Leslie (Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks) discuss the importance of defending New Mexico’s land, water, and wildlife from the current threats coming out of the Trump administration. Thank you to Nuckolls Brewing, REI Santa Fe, and New Mexico Wild for joining us at this event!

Come see us at our next live show in Tucson!

Produced by Aaron Weiss, Lauren Bogard, Kate Groetzinger, and Lilly Bock-Brownstein

The post LIVE from Santa Fe: Defending New Mexico’s public lands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron talk to Heather Hansman about her new book, Fierce Country: The Untold Story of Three Women Who Ignited America’s Love for the Wild. Plus, mining companies are staking an unprecedented number of claims in New Mexico. And we’re going on tour! Come see us in Santa Fe and Tucson.

Produced by Aaron Weiss, Lauren Bogard, Kate Groetzinger, and Lilly Bock-Brownstein

The post Wild women with author Heather Hansman appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Forum of Fargo-Moorhead columnist Mike McFeely joins Aaron and Kate to trace Doug Burgum’s path from software tycoon to “opportunist” politician. McFeely outlines how Burgum abandoned his once-moderate image to become a die-hard Trump loyalist as Interior Secretary, all while chasing his future political ambitions and defending indefensible policies.

In the news: On Monday, Trump slashed Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante by about 90% each (3 million acres total). SUWA’s Scott Braden joins the pod to explain the unlawful basis for the cuts, the elimination of the Bears Ears Commission, Tribal exclusion, and plans to challenge the reductions in court.

Produced by Aaron Weiss, Lauren Bogard, Kate Groetzinger, and Lilly Bock-Brownstein

The post Who is Doug Burgum, really? appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Aaron talks with Tracy Stone-Manning, president of The Wilderness Society, former director of the Bureau of Land Management, and three-time guest on The Landscape, about how to rebuild federal land agencies after years of political disruption and why the current moment may be a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rethink public lands law from the ground up. They discuss the Forest Service reorganization, the lessons Tracy learned rebuilding BLM after the first Trump administration’s failed relocation, the new Ground Shift initiative, and why aging laws like the 1872 Mining Act are long overdue for an overhaul.

In the news: Aaron covers the ongoing fiasco at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, where a rushed, no-bid repainting job has devolved into peeling paint, algae, and an administration blaming phantom vandals. He also covers the tragic deaths of three federal wildland firefighters along the Colorado-Utah border and the questions it raises about whether staffing cuts are putting our fire crews in danger.

Produced by Aaron Weiss, Lauren Bogard, Kate Groetzinger, and Lilly Bock-Brownstein

The post Tracy Stone-Manning on the future of public lands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron talk to Jayson O’Neill, a longtime public lands watchdog and Montanan who previously led the Western Values Project and now heads up a campaign called Save Our Parks. Jayson explains how the Trump administration is using the National Park Service to funnel money into Trump’s vanity projects in DC, as well as how President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum subverted America250, an organization chartered by Congress to celebrate America’s upcoming 250th birthday.

Produced by Aaron Weiss, Lauren Bogard, Kate Groetzinger, and Lilly Bock-Brownstein

The post How Trump and Burgum hijacked the Park Service and America’s birthday party appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron are joined by Dr. Steve Feldgus, an independent consultant who served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the Interior Department under President Biden. Dr. Feldgus talks about how to improve mine permitting in the US, a topic he worked on while at Interior.

Produced by Aaron Weiss, Lauren Bogard, Kate Groetzinger, and Lilly Bock-Brownstein

The post A former Interior department official explains what’s wrong with mining on public land appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.