public lands

A small lake sits in front of brown and white mountain slopes under a blue sky.

Nevada senators, advocates urge Biden Administration to protect Ruby Mountains

Jose Davila IV

Nevada senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen are urging the Biden Administration to immediately protect the Ruby Mountains and their marshes from future oil and gas leasing.

U.S. Congressman Mark Amodei, who represents congressional district 2 in Northern Nevada, is sitting in the KUNR Studios. He is looking toward the camera while smiling. There is a microphone pointed toward him.

Politics and Policy

Northern Nevada’s Congressman Amodei comments on debt ceiling, lands bill, and 2024 election

Lucia Starbuck

The U.S. Senate and House are on a short summer recess. KUNR’s Lucia Starbuck sat down with Republican Congressman Mark Amodei while he was in Nevada to talk about the debt ceiling, lands bill, and the 2024 election.

A mountain meadow filled with green bushes, grasses, and trees in Wyoming. The sky is partly cloudy.

Energy and Environment

BLM proposes rule to allow land leasing for conservation

Kaleb Roedel

The Bureau of Land Management recently proposed an overhaul to the way it manages federal public lands that would elevate conservation as pressure on Western rangelands mounts.

President Biden established the first new national monument of his presidency, the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument in north-central Colorado, on Oct. 12, 2022.

Energy and Environment

Utah, Wyoming stand out in analysis of federal land protections

Kaleb Roedel

A new report shows public land conservation lagged in some Western states over the past decade, but the number of acres protected in the Mountain West varies widely by state.

A pronghorn runs through a mostly brown open plain in New Mexico. To the left of it is a barbed wire fence.

Energy and Environment

BLM boosts efforts to protect wildlife corridors in drought-stricken West

Kaleb Roedel

A new federal policy aims to protect fish and wildlife migration routes on public lands across the Mountain West and the rest of the U.S.

A construction crew is working on the foundation of a home being built on a dirt lot. Mountains and forests are in the background.

Energy and Environment

Millions of homes are being built in fire-prone areas of Mountain West as wildfire risks grow

Kaleb Roedel

Wildfires are growing larger and more destructive across the West due to climate change. Yet more people than ever are moving to fire-prone spaces near forests and grasslands. Some of the fastest housing growth in these areas is happening in the Mountain West.

Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps crew planting along the Queen Valley Road in areas disturbed by vehicles.

Energy and Environment

Haaland launches Indian Youth Service Corps to benefit young people and public lands

Madelyn Beck

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is launching an Indian Youth Service Corps with new guidelines. The corps was established in 2019 as part of an amendment to the Public Lands Corps Act. Now, Haaland has published actual guidelines. One of its goals is fostering natural resource and land stewardship skills for young tribal members aged 16 to 30, or 35 if you’re a veteran.

A wide view of a state park on a clear day. There is sagebrush and other desert-like plants in the foreground. A lake and mountains can be seen in the background. A small, fenced-off area can be seen off to the right-hand side of the composition.

Energy and Environment

Interior Department sends $279 million in LWCF money to states for parks and outdoor recreation

Kaleb Roedel

The Interior Department announced the distribution of $279 million to outdoor recreation and conservation projects across the U.S., with tens of millions of dollars going to states in the Mountain West.

A desert with several rows of solar panels stretching from the foreground to the background.

Energy and Environment

Haaland announces moves to boost clean energy production on public lands in the Southwest

Yvette Fernandez, KNPR

In Las Vegas, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Tuesday announced new efforts to facilitate more renewable energy development, including cutting by 50% rent and fees charged for wind and solar projects on public lands.

A vehicle parked on an area managed by the Bureau of Land Management outside Boise, Idaho.

Housing

Western housing crisis leads some to live on public lands

Madelyn Beck

A housing crunch in the West has some looking to public lands as a solution…and a place to live.