public lands Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

Washington Department of Natural Resources pauses King County timber auction

By Lauren Gallup July 26, 2023

On Monday, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) decided to pause an auction of 102 acres of public, forested lands to harvest for timber in King County that had been scheduled for Tuesday. King County council members wrote a letter to Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz and the Board of Natural Resources last week, urging them to defer the auction. Read More

Conservation Groups Want Washington Forests Managed ‘For All The People’

By Courtney Flatt October 25, 2021

Many federal old-growth forests were protected in the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan. (Credit: Paula Swedeen / Conservation Northwest)

At a Supreme Court hearing, conservation groups argued Washington forest managers should log fewer trees.Read More

State Supreme Court Case On Public Lands Begins Oral Arguments

By Lauren Gallup October 21, 2021

On Thursday, the Washington State Supreme Court will begin hearing oral arguments in a case being brought against Washington’s commissioner of public lands, Hilary Franz, the Department of Natural Resources and the Board of Natural Resources, that may clarify how the state manages public lands.Read More

Deb Haaland Confirmed As U.S. Interior Secretary, First Native American In Any Cabinet Post

By NPR News March 15, 2021

Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., is sworn in before her Senate confirmation hearing to be Interior Secretary last month. Her confirmation makes her the country's first Native American cabinet secretary. CREDIT: Jim Watson/AP

The Senate voted 51-40 Monday to confirm the Democratic Congresswoman to lead the Interior Department, an agency that will play a crucial role in the Biden administration's ambitious efforts to combat climate change and conserve nature.Read More

Judge Ousts Top Public Lands Official After More Than A Year In Office Without Senate Confirmation

By NPR News September 27, 2020

Bureau of Land Management Acting Director William Perry Pendley spent much of his career as an attorney challenging the agency he would eventually lead. CREDIT: Matthew Brown/AP

The ruling blocks William Perry Pendley from continuing as the temporary head of the Bureau of Land Management, a post he has held for more than a year without being confirmed by the Senate.Read More

President Trump To Withdraw Polarizing Nominee To Lead Bureau Of Land Management

By NPR News August 15, 2020

Acting BLM Director William Perry Pendley stands in the mostly empty suite of offices at the agency's new planned headquarters in Grand Junction, Colo. Kirk Siegler/NPR

The nominee, William Perry Pendley, has been leading the agency since last August through a series of controversial continued appointment extensions. Prior to coming to Washington D.C., the Wyoming native had spent much of his career at the conservative Mountain States Legal Foundation challenging the very agency he now leads.Read More

Public Lands Managers Ask: Have Plan A, B Or C Ready To ‘Recreate Responsibly’ This Weekend

By Courtney Flatt May 21, 2020

The new entrance sign telegraphs the state-tribal partnership to manage the new state park. CREDIT: WA STATE PARKS

On those trails, state officials are asking that you take precautions: stay six feet away from people, wear masks if you can’t meet that guideline, bring hand sanitizer, water and soap. You should also pack out what you pack in.Read More

Yellowstone National Park Set To Reopen — With Caveats

By NPR News May 17, 2020

Yellowstone National Park entrance sign. CREDIT: Kirk Siegler/NPR

There is growing economic pressure to reopen national parks and ease travel restrictions even as many states are still seeing a rise in coronavirus cases. Read More

Most Washington State Parks Set To Reopen Tuesday, With Gorge And Coast Areas Waiting Longer

By Tom Banse May 3, 2020

Steamboat Rock State Park is one of more than 100 Washington parks slated to reopen on Tuesday, May 5. CREDIT: Tom Banse/N3

More than 100 Washington state parks made the cut to reopen for day use beginning Tuesday, but aficionados of Pacific Coast and Columbia River Gorge getaways will have to wait a while longer.Read More

Washington Public Lands Are Still Closed. So Please Stop Going Around Closure Signs, Officials Ask

By Courtney Flatt April 4, 2020

State-managed parks, forest, natural areas and other access points like boat launches are closed until at least May 5 to comply with Gov. Jay Inslee's continued "stay home, stay healthy" order. CREDIT: Washington DNR

Some rules aren’t meant to be broken. Rules like Washington’s public lands closures. Enforcement officers have still noted crowded parking lots places such as at the Ahtanam State Forest in Yakima County.Read More

Sept. 28 Public Lands Day Means Free Admission To State And National Recreation Sites

By Meerah Powell September 27, 2019

Mount Rainier National Park could soon have cellphone access at Paradise and on nearby hikes. CREDIT: EILIS O'NEILL

The 26th annual National Public Lands Day is this Saturday, Sept. 28. That means free visits to recreational sites around the nation. Read More

Federal Government Expands Hunting And Fishing At National Wildlife Refuges

By NWPB News September 10, 2019

Minidoka National Wildlife Refuge near American Falls, Idaho. CREDIT: Bill Schaefer/Idaho State Journal via AP

The Trump administration says it is expanding hunting and fishing in 77 national wildlife refuges, including those in Washington, Idaho and Oregon, in a move that critics contend is deferring management to states and could harm wildlife.Read More

U.S. Forest Service Proposes Plan To Reduce Environmental Scrutiny For Public Lands Projects

By Jes Burns August 22, 2019

Thinning, mowing and prescribed fire are used in Ponderosa pine forests to maintain an open forest floor. CREDIT: Jes Burns/OPB/EarthFix

The U.S. Forest Service is proposing to reduce the public’s role in shaping the way it applies federal environmental laws to projects on public lands. The agency says the changes would help land managers “make timelier decisions based on high quality, science-based analysis.”Read More

Federal Clampdown On Burning Man Imperils Festival’s Free Spirit Ethos, Say Burners

By NPR News July 15, 2019

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is recommending attendance be capped at existing levels for the next 10 years at the annual Burning Man counterculture festival in the desert 100 miles north of Reno, Nev. Burning Man organizers had proposed raising the current 80,000 limit as high as 100,000 in coming years. Ron Lewis/AP

As the Bureau of Land Management tightens its grip on the annual gathering's population growth at Nevada's Black Rock desert, a freewheeling community finds its core identity under threat.Read More

BLM Says They Won’t Kill Wild Horses In Western States To Control Growing Population

By NWPB News July 12, 2019

This July 25, 2007 file photo, shows wild horses being herded by the Bureau of Land Management in a field, at the Black Mountain and Hardtrigger Herd Management Areas in the Owyhee Mountains southeast of Marsing, Idaho. CREDIT: Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman via AP

The federal Bureau of Land Management will not pursue lethal measures such as euthanasia or selling horses for slaughter to deal with what officials say is an ecological and fiscal crisis caused by too many wild horses on rangelands in the U.S. West, an official said Thursday.Read More

When Everybody Wants A Piece Of ‘God’s Country’

By NPR News July 8, 2019

Located between Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon and Zion national parks, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument has become a big tourist draw since its designation in 1996. CREDIT: KIRK SIEGLER/NPR

About 300 miles south of Salt Lake City, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is at the heart of some of the most remote terrain in the lower 48. Famous for its red rock canyons, arches and fossil beds, the rugged land is punctuated by sites like Death Ridge, Carcass Canyon and Hell's Backbone Road.Read More

Judge Says Work Can Begin On Contested Central Idaho Hiking-Biking Trail

By NWPB News June 17, 2019

The Sawtooth National Recreation Area near Stanley, Idaho. A federal judge has ruled that work can go forward on a trail crossing private land that connects the popular central Idaho tourist destinations of Redfish Lake and Stanley. CREDIT: Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman via AP

Work can go forward on a trail crossing private land that connects the popular tourist destinations of Redfish Lake and Stanley, a judge has ruled. U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale late last week rejected a request by the owners of Sawtooth Mountain Ranch to halt construction of the 4.4-mile trail for pedestrians, cyclists, horseback riders and snowmobilers.Read More

Federal Judge Blocks Grazing Permits To Oregon Family At Heart Of Malheur Occupation

By Rob Manning June 5, 2019

Dwight Hammond Jr. greets protesters outside his home in Burns, Oregon in January 2016. Hammond was convicted of arson on federal charges in 2012. The case sparked the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Occupation led by Ammon and Ryan Bundy. CREDIT: AMELIA TEMPLETON/OPB

U.S. Judge Michael H. Simon issued a temporary restraining order, blocking the grazing permits issued to Dwight and Steven Hammond by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke before he left the Trump administration at the beginning of this year. Read More

Federal Land Managers Revive Proposal To Sterilize Wild Horses In The Northwest

By Emily Cureton May 15, 2019

The BLM says there are more than 80,000 wild horses and burros across the West. CREDIT: JAMES MARVIN PHELPS / FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS

The Bureau of Land Management re-published plans this week for an experimental study in permanent birth control for the horses, nearly identical to those stalled by a judge last year. The court’s injunction came after the BLM gathered about 900 wild horses and burros near Burns, Oregon, in October. Read More

Federal Judge Upholds Obama-Era Expansion Of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument

By Jes Burns April 3, 2019

View from the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in southern Oregon. CREDIT: BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT/FLICKR

An Oregon wood products company challenged the expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, arguing that President Barack Obama didn’t have the power to give monument protections to Oregon and California Railroad Lands in 2017, just days before leaving office. Read More

On Public Lands, Visitors Surge While Federal Management Funds Decline

By NPR News March 31, 2019

Like most American ski areas, Mammoth Mountain Ski Area operates on U.S. Forest Service land thanks to a federal lease. Shrinking federal budgets to maintain recreational access to public lands mean locals have to be creative to keep trails open and safe. CREDIT: Kirk Siegler/NPR

Across the western U.S., towns surrounded by public lands are facing an increasing bind: They're seeing a huge surge in visitors coming to play in the forests and mountains surrounding them, which is leading to an economic boom. But, at the same time, federal funding to manage these lands has been drying up.Read More

Interior Secretary Nominee Gets Grilled On Ethics At Confirmation Hearing

By NPR News March 28, 2019

David Bernhardt, a former oil and gas lobbyist, speaks before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee at his confirmation hearing to head the Interior Department, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 28, 2019. CREDIT: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

During a testy confirmation hearing on Thursday, President Donald Trump's pick to be the nation's largest land steward told senators that he would take steps to prevent conflicts of interest and to improve ethics guidelines at the Interior Department.Read More

Congress Passes Big Public Lands Protection Bill. Washington’s Methow And Yakima Valleys Benefit

By Jes Burns February 28, 2019

File photo. Glacier Peak volcano Washington's central Cascades. CREDIT: Walter Siegmund/Wikimedia/Creative Commons BY-SA 3.

The Natural Resource Management Act includes a little of everything — meant to satisfy public land interests all over the country. The land-conservation measures have received a lot of attention. But there are other provisions in the bill concerning the Northwest, among them wildfire risk, research and air quality resources, hunting on public lands, water management for Read More

Sweeping Public Lands Bill Would Protect Washington Lands, Waters

By Courtney Flatt February 13, 2019

The U.S. Senate Tuesday passed a sweeping public lands bill, with measures meant to protect lands across the country. It’s expected to have a big impact on Washington’s lands, rivers and more.Read More

Ryan Zinke Stepping Down As Interior Secretary Amid Ethics Investigations

By NPR News December 15, 2018

Ryan Zinke at a May 2018 Senate Appropriates subcommittee meeting. CREDIT: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Ryan Zinke is out as secretary of the Interior. Zinke will be leaving the Trump administration at the end of the year; his successor is expected to be announced next week. Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers was considered a top candidate for the job before Zinke was named in 2017.Read More

President Trump’s Push For ‘Energy Dominance’ Boosts Drilling On Public Lands

By NWPB News November 26, 2018

Environmental groups say the expansion of oil and gas drilling on public land could harm habitat for pronghorn antelope and sage grouse. CREDIT: Cooper McKim/Wyoming Public Media

Analysts say a perfect storm is making Wyoming, the country's largest coal state, more favorable for oil and gas. Higher oil prices are certainly one factor, says Carl Larry, who advises oil and gas companies with the financial consulting firm Refinitiv in Houston.Read More

Public Lands Grazing Helps Ranchers, Sage Grouse, Study Says

By Courtney Flatt October 6, 2018

A male greater sage grouse struts its stuff on Bureau of Land Management land in this April 21, 2012, photo. Bureau of Land Management

Grazing restrictions on public lands may have unintended consequences for greater sage grouse, according to a recent study. The imperiled birds depend on habitat on both public and private lands, and much of that habitat can be lost when ranching operations go under.Read More

Interior Secretary Zinke Ties National Parks Fixes To Oil And Gas Profits On Public Lands

By Eilís O'Neill February 12, 2018

Mount Rainier’s Alta Vista trail is filled with potholes. CREDIT: EILIS O’NEIL/KUOW/EARTHFIX

The U.S. Interior Department plans to expand energy development on public lands and offshore to pay for the National Parks’ maintenance backlog. Read More

How Will A Government Shutdown Affect Public Lands?

By Tom Banse January 19, 2018

File photo. Mount Rainier National Park was closed for 16 days in October 2013 during a government shutdown. TOM BANSE / NORTHWEST NEWS NETWORK

Uncertainty reigns about what federal public lands will be open if the congressional budget standoff leads to a partial government shutdown. Closed national parks and forest campgrounds were among the most visible effects the last time the federal government partially shut down in October 2013.Read More