This American Land

As the Trump Administration prepares to sell drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Gary Strieker talks with Inside Climate News reporter Sabrina Shankman about the opposition to leasing and what's at stake in this pristine wilderness area in northeast Alaska.

New uranium mining activity just outside the boundary of the Grand Canyon National Park would pose the risk of serious radioactive contamination of air and water, especially threatening the Havasupai people who live at the bottom of the Canyon. Gary Strieker talks with the Sierra Club's Alicyn Gitlin about the campaign to persuade Congress to enact a permanent ban on uranium mining in the Canyon area.

With oil and gas drilling on public lands at historically high levels, Gary Strieker talks with the Wyoming Outdoor Council's John Rader on the environmental impacts and what needs to be done to protect the public's interests in natural resources.

President Trump has reduced the size of two national monuments in southeast Utah -- Grand Staircase Escalante and Bears Ears -- the largest elimination of protected lands in U.S. history. Conservation groups have filed lawsuits to reverse these decisions. Gary Strieker talks with Josh Ewing of Friends of Cedar Mesa, one of the plaintiffs in the litigation.

Wildlife-vehicle collisions are a serious hazard in many parts of the country, killing a million large animals and hundreds of drivers or passengers every year. Transportation departments in many states are building overpasses and tunnels to allow animals to cross roads safely, with proven results. Gary Strieker talks with Patricia Cramer, an expert in researching and designing wildlife crossing structures that prevent accidents and save lives.

A million-acre pristine wilderness in northern Minnesota faces a major toxic threat from a sulfide-ore copper mine project that was once rejected by federal authorities but is now supported by the pro-industry Trump administration. Gary Strieker talks with Rebecca Rom, who leads the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters.

In 1975 grizzlies were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and since then a back-and-forth legal battle has followed attempts to de-list them and allow hunting of grizzlies outside national parks in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. Gary Strieker talks with leading grizzly advocate Louisa Willcox.

Since 1973 the Endangered Species Act has empowered the federal government to save bald eagles, brown pelicans, peregrine falcons, California condors, American alligators and a wide range of other animals and plants. But there is an active opposition to the Act that threatens to weaken it. Gary Strieker talks with Noah Greenwald, Endangered Species Director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

NOTE: Since this episode was recorded, new regulations under the Endangered Species Act have been issued, and we will devote another episode to these changes and their impact on enforcement of the Act.

Host Gary Strieker talks with wolf specialist Carter Niemeyer about the history of wolf eradication, the re-introduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park, the continuing campaign by some ranchers and politicians to limit the spread of wolves to wider ranges, and the outlook for wolves in the West and the Great Lakes region.

From Yellowstone to Mammoth Cave, America’s national parks are in dire need of essential repairs and maintenance, a backlog that now totals nearly $12 billion after decades of neglect, and Congress needs to authorize funding to pay it. Gary Strieker talks with Marcia Argust, the director of the Pew Charitable Trusts’ campaign to restore America’s parks.