News & Commentary

California Seeks to Reduce Inequity in Access to Nature

July 22, 2020 Expert BlogCaliforniaDrevet Hunt, Damon Nagami

Natural spaces like rivers, beaches, wetlands, and forests are critical to human health and well-being. California's legislature is poised to take action to ensure access to nature for all its citizens by enacting AB3030.

These Tiny, Treetop-Living, Ewok-Looking Creatures May Be Getting Socially Distanced to Extinction

June 8, 2020 DispatchOregonJason Bittel

Red tree voles spend their whole lives in Oregon’s treetops, but deforestation has cut them off from the rest of their kind.

More Fracking Planned for Greater Chaco Region

May 8, 2020 Expert BlogNew MexicoAlison Kelly

Shrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante: Trump’s Monumental Mistake

February 14, 2020 Latest NewsUtahJeff Turrentine

Opening up hallowed ground to oil and gas development is quite literally an act of desecration.

On California’s Fires, More Smoke and Mirrors From Trump

November 8, 2019 Latest NewsCaliforniaJeff Turrentine

While the state smoldered, the president lashed out at Governor Newsom—and completely ignored the role played by climate change.

New Mexico Has a Methane Cloud Visible by Satellite. It Also Has Bold Climate Plans.

October 2, 2019 DispatchNew MexicoTim Vanderpool

As greenhouse gasses fill the sky, a progressive governor and worried residents take on oil and gas—the state’s most powerful industry.

Smart from the Start: Land Use Planning for the Planet

August 8, 2019 Expert BlogWest, InternationalHelen O'Shea

The new International Panel on Climate Change report emphasizes how important it is to balance multiple public goods in global land use planning—food security, environmentally responsible renewable energy development to fight climate change, and conservation of large, intact landscapes for…

Factory Butte Should Stay Off-Limits to Off-Roading

August 1, 2019 Expert BlogUtahJosh Axelrod

NRDC and the Southern Utah Wilderness Association are suing the BLM for ignoring the environmental harms of off-road vehicle use around the iconic Utah landmark.

Bears Ears: A Monument in Name Only

July 26, 2019 Expert BlogUtahBobby McEnaney

This newest management plan released by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) spells out how the remaining 200,000 acres of the monument will be governed. The changes are so sweeping, what currently is known…

Mining Oil Shale Would Be Disastrous to Utah’s Rivers, Climate, and Public Health—but the Trump Administration Wants to Do It Anyway

June 21, 2019 DispatchUtahStarre Vartan

NRDC and other environmental and public health groups are suing to stop an extraction project (the first of its kind in the United States) proposed by the Estonian company Enefit.

In the Pacific Northwest, Testing Out New Wildfire Defenses on the Front Lines

October 30, 2018 DispatchWest, Washington, OregonLora Shinn

Where quick-spreading fires are the “new normal,” some state officials and communities are willing to try whatever it takes to prevent—or better prepare for—the next big blaze.

In Utah, Industry Pounces on What Were, Not Long Ago, Our Public Lands

October 10, 2018 DispatchUtahStarre Vartan

Cobalt mining and other interests lay claim to Grand Staircase–Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments, rankling local communities tied to these lands.

In These Brightly Colored Landscapes, the Sharp Edges of Industry Collide with Nature’s Curves

July 31, 2018 PerspectivesCalifornia, United StatesPatrick Rogers

Judith Belzer’s oil paintings of bridges, dams, canals, and ports both romanticize and question humanity’s efforts to tame our natural systems.

These New Jerseyans Want to Bring “Bomb Trains” to a Halt

July 23, 2018 DispatchNew JerseyNicole Greenfield

Trains carrying combustible crude oil barrel on rickety rails through the Garden State, threatening the safety of millions of people—and their drinking water—every single day.

To Understand the Growing Wildfire Threat, Look to the Tree Rings

July 9, 2018 DispatchNew MexicoLarry O'Hanlon

As New Mexicans brace for a potentially catastrophic fire season, forest ecologists explain how we got here—and why the problem isn’t going away.

A Montana Artist Makes Objects of Beauty Inspired by Natural Disasters

April 11, 2018 PerspectivesMontanaIngrid Abramovitch

From his studio in Bozeman, Richard Parrish maps the impact of climate change in the American West using molten glass.

The Sordid Backstory Behind the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Decisions

March 9, 2018 Latest NewsUtahJeff Turrentine

A lawsuit forced Ryan Zinke’s Interior Department to disclose files relating to the shrinking of national monuments. It’s easy to see why he wanted them to stay hidden.

The Border Wall Is Underway . . . Right in the Middle of a Wildlife Refuge

July 28, 2017 PerspectivesWest, United StatesJeff Turrentine

Trump’s already offensive wall will also endanger an already endangered species.

Zinke’s Western “Listening Tour” Light on the Listening, Heavy on the Fossil Fuels

May 19, 2017 Latest NewsUtahJeff Turrentine

As the interior secretary ponders the fates of 27 national monuments, he seems to be hearing some voices more acutely than others.

The Tree Whisperer

January 27, 2017 DispatchCaliforniaElizabeth Svoboda

A Berkeley scientist is studying how climate change is affecting California’s giant sequoias, long considered dependable forest stalwarts.