( Wyatt Myskow / Inside Climate News)

The Owyhee Canyonlands is a large chunk of high desert land in Idaho, Oregon and Nevada that covers more than seven million acres.

It’s home to plants and animals, some of which can’t be found anywhere else, and it’s a playground for many who recreate along the rocks and sagebrush and for some Native Americans it’s sacred land.

Attempts to help preserve some or all of the area have failed and those who love the land are worried about threats from wildfires, invasive species, and development.

There has been a growing call for President Joe Biden to protect part of the Canyonlands under the Antiquities Act. Reporter Wyatt Myskow is the Mountain West Correspondent with Inside Climate News and he wrote about how we got to this point.