Aaron and Kate are joined by Kristen Miller, Executive Director of the Alaska Wilderness League, to talk about some big steps to protect public lands in Alaska made by the Biden administration this spring. They include increased protections for 13 million acres inside the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, as well as the cancellation of a proposed 200-mile road that would have stretched across part of Alaska called the Ambler Road. 

Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

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Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: BLM/Flickr

The post A huge step forward for public lands in Alaska appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Aaron and Kate are joined by Davina Smith, who represents the Navajo Nation on the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, and Lauren Henson, who is the Collaborative Management and Tribal Support Specialist for the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, to talk about the Bears Ears draft monument management plan, which came out in March. We talk about how the draft plan came together and how to get involved.

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Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

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Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: brucerinehart/Wikimedia Commons

The post Behind the scenes of the Bears Ears draft management plan appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron are joined by the Wilderness Society’s Michael Carroll and Justin Meuse to talk through a handful of federal regulations, or rules, that were finalized in late March and April. These rules touch on everything from methane waste on public lands to ecosystem restoration to caribou herds in Alaska. Some of these rules are already in effect, and some will take effect soon. Together, they are a framework for more responsible and climate-friendly public land management.

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Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

Feedback: [email protected]

Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: BLM/Flickr

The post Why April was a huge month for public lands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron are joined by Trout Unlimited CEO Chris Wood, who has been with TU for twenty years, following a career as chief policy director at the U.S. Forest Service during the Clinton administration. Chris talks about how an influx of federal funding for ecosystem restoration is supercharging the group’s work reconnecting streams and rivers, as well as how his group is engaging in legislative mining reform.

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Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

Feedback: [email protected]

Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: Salmon using a fish ladder; Wikimedia Commons

The post Swimming upstream with Trout Unlimited appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron are joined by author Betsy Gaines Quammen to talk about public lands and extremism. Betsy has written two books about extremism in the West. Her first, American Zion, looks at the connection between Mormonism and extremism. Her second book, True West, which came out last year, digs into the myths that define the West.

Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

Feedback: [email protected]

Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: USFWS/Flickr

The post Talking public lands extremism with Betsy Gaines Quammen appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron are joined by three members of the reporting team behind, Lithium Liabilities, a groundbreaking investigation into how lithium mining could affect the West’s water supply. Emma Peterson, Morgan Casey, and Lauren Mucciolo are part of a large team of editors, photographers, and reporters who worked on the investigation at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.

Click here to read an automatically generated transcript of the episode.

Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

Feedback: [email protected]

Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: Doc Searls/Flickr

The post Will lithium mining dry up the West? appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron are joined by pollsters Lori Weigel and Dave Metz to discuss the 14th Annual Colorado College State of the Rockies Project Conservation in the West poll. The poll surveys voters in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Colorado on their environmental views. This year, it found support for conservation of nature is higher than ever.

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Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

Feedback: [email protected]

Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: BLM/Flickr

The post What Western voters want in 2024 appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron are joined by Justin Meuse, Director of Government Relations for Climate and Energy at the Wilderness Society, to talk about a proposal from the Bureau of Land Management to prioritize around 22 million acres of public land for utility scale solar development across the West. They discuss why planning matters, how much solar development to actually expect if this plan proceeds, and how you can get involved.

View an automatically generated transcript of this episode here.

Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

Feedback: [email protected]

Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: BLM/Flickr

The post More solar on public lands? Digging into BLM’s plan appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Driven by high uranium prices, domestic uranium mining has resumed at three locations in the U.S. after an eight-year hiatus. Kate and Aaron are joined by Amber Reimondo, Energy Director at the Grand Canyon Trust and Scott Clow, Environmental Programs Director for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, to discuss how that will impact the Grand Canyon and Tribal communities on the Colorado Plateau.

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Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

Feedback: [email protected]

Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: Wikimedia Commons

The post Uranium mining returns to the Colorado Plateau appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron are joined by I Ling Thompson, CEO of The Foundation for America’s Public Lands. The Foundation is the official charitable partner of the Bureau of Land Management. Its job is to engage with local communities and the public on behalf of the agency. Thompson discusses the challenges the BLM faces and how the Foundation plans to help, as well as how members of the public can engage with the Foundation.

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Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

Feedback: [email protected]

Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: BLM/Flickr

The post Inside the Foundation for America’s Public Lands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.