Sep 28, 2021

Burn scars

Burn scars

By Mountain West News • Issue #243 • View online

On wildfires' effects downstream

The ‘burn scars’ of wildfires threaten the West’s drinking water

Wildfires and their lasting effects are becoming a way of life in the West as climate change and management practices cause fires to increase in number, intensity and acreage burned, while extending the length of the fire season. In “burn scars,” where fires decimated forest systems that held soil in place, an increase in droughts followed by heavy rainfall poses a different kind of threat to the water supplies that are essential to the health of communities.

khn.org • Share

We’re dumping loads of retardant chemicals to fight wildfires. What does it mean for wildlife?

As western wildfires become bigger and more intense, state and federal fire agencies are using more and more aerial fire retardant, prompting concerns over fish kills, aquatic life, and water quality.

www.ehn.org • Share

As California burns, America breathes toxic smoke

A monthslong analysis, based on more than 10 years of data collected by the NOAA, and analyzed down to the ZIP code level, reveals a startling increase in the number of days residents are breathing smoke across California and the Pacific Northwest, to Denver and Salt Lake City in the Rocky Mountains and rural Kentucky and West Virginia in Appalachia.

www.kcrw.com • Share

How 1910's Big Burn can help us think smarter about fighting wildfires and living with fire

The U.S. has learned that it cannot suppress its way to a healthy relationship with fire in the West. That strategy failed even before climate change proved it to be no strategy at all.

theconversation.com • Share

Even Colorado's largest wildfire was no match for beavers

Deep in the Cameron Peak burn scar, nestled among charred hills, there’s an oasis of green—an idyllic patch of trickling streams that wind through a lush grass field. Apart from a few scorched branches on the periphery, it’s hard to tell that this particular spot was in the middle of Colorado’s largest-ever wildfire just a year ago. This wetland was spared thanks to the work of beavers.

www.kunc.org • Share

Circling the drain

Can the Great Salt Lake be saved?

Two Utah congressmen are working to conserve saline waters throughout the West before they become environmental and public health disasters.

www.sltrib.com • Share

Glen Canyon's generating days are numbered

Glen Canyon Dam may be an abomination, but it nevertheless is an important component of the Southwestern electricity grid. It generates enough juice to keep the air conditioners humming and the lights on for hundreds of thousands of homes. And output can be ramped up and down very quickly, making it a useful tool for smoothing out fluctuations in solar and wind output or supplying the big spikes in power demand that occur on hot afternoons.

www.landdesk.org • Share

On the Klamath, dam removal may come too late to save the salmon

The planned demolition of dams on the Klamath River was expected to help restore the beleaguered salmon on which Indigenous tribes depend. But after a record drought and wildfire this summer, many are worried the salmon could be all but gone before the dams come down.

e360.yale.edu • Share

All ears

Native American tribes tell Biden they want ‘immediate action’ on Bears Ears National Monument, which Trump shrank

“We have tried to be patient and respectful as we await your decision on restoration. However, the longer action is not taken, real harm, much permanent, is occurring on this sacred landscape,” wrote Clark W. Tenakhongva, vice chairman of the Hopi Tribe, and Henry Stevens Jr., a representative of the Navajo Nation.

www.washingtonpost.com • Share

Haaland: 'Every confidence' Biden will restore Utah monuments

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland this week said she expects President Biden to restore national monument status to more than 2 million acres of public lands in Utah, even as she acknowledged that a timeline to do so remains uncertain.

www.eenews.net • Share

Local Indigenous groups worry Bears Ears Monument will limit access to ritual space

The initial push for the monument was supported by the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, but the two closest chapters of the Navajo Nation resisted the plans. At stake are two different visions of how to best protect sacred land.

religionnews.com • Share

Public lands tracker

Report: BLM turns a blind eye to cattle grazing impacts, blames wild horses

A report highlights the BLM’s eagerness to blame wild horses for habitat degradation in western Utah, while systematically ignoring the larger role of cattle, which far outnumber wild horses.

www.sltrib.com • Share

‘Sagebrush Empire’ and the battle over public land

A war over public lands in the West has been raging for decades. And the epicenter of that battle? According to journalist Jonathan Thompson, it’s in southeastern Utah’s San Juan County.

radiowest.kuer.org • Share

Podcast explores national parks from Black, Indigenous, people of color perspective

Podcaster Misha Euceph is sharing her knowledge, fears and the expertise of park experts in a new podcast targeted at helping BIPOC access parks.

billingsgazette.com • Share

Idaho could swap endowment land around McCall to expand national forest

Documents obtained by BoiseDev through a public records request indicate the Idaho Department of Lands has been talking with the Forest Service about swapping much of the most-scenic state lands near McCall.

boisedev.com • Share

Idaho Republicans want to streamline geothermal reviews on federal land

A pair of Idaho Republicans introduced legislation last week to give the geothermal energy industry the same streamlined permitting benefits enjoyed by certain oil and gas projects on federal land.

subscriber.politicopro.com • Share

BLM prioritizes renewable energy on federal lands

The Bureau of Land Management currently has more than 40 renewable energy projects in the permitting pipeline, making significant inroads toward meeting President Biden’s onshore green energy goal, a senior Interior Department official said Thursday.

subscriber.politicopro.com • Share

Goats and their poop: BLM hopes horned allies can help slow wildfire spread

The goats clear noxious weeds, help with erosion control along rivers and eat brush that could fuel big wildfires.

www.cpr.org • Share

Opinion: Chaco Culture National Historic Park is under siege

A surge of oil and gas development threatens this ancestral site, recognized as one of the architectural marvels of the world and revered by Native Americans who consider it a living presence.

writersontherange.org • Share

Critter conflicts

Montana wolf hunt criticized by Yellowstone Park superintendent

The most viewed wolf pack in the world lost three of its members to Montana hunters during the first week of the hunting season in September, Yellowstone National Park announced. “These wolves are part of our balanced ecosystem here and represent one of the special parts of the park that draw visitors from around the globe,” said park superintendent Cam Sholly in a Monday press release. Often the state and Park Service steer clear of publicly disagreeing, but Sholly went on record Monday advocating for greater protection of the park’s wolves saying they were “extremely vulnerable” under the state’s newly enacted hunting regulations.

billingsgazette.com • Share

Opinion: Montana wolf policies are destroying state's reputation as beacon for wildlife management

Seven respected former wildlife commissioners, all hunters, condemn Montana governor and lawmakers for their callous, unscientific promotion of wolf slaughter

mountainjournal.org • Share

New twists, few answers in carnivore trophy hunting debate in Wyoming

The state has tried to buck federal constraints on hunting. But aside from a few short-lived victories and a recent win on wolves, its grizzly bears and gray wolves remained firmly in the custody of the U.S. government, shielded by the stringent terms of the Endangered Species Act.

trib.com • Share

Black, grizzly bears exploit human sloppiness all over Jackson Hole

Conflict, spurred by peoples’ lifestyles and decisions, is killing bears.

www.jhnewsandguide.com • Share

Old-growth logging in endangered Alberta caribou habitat ‘flies in the face of common sense,’ critics say

A growing chorus of voices says the government’s decision to green light old-growth cutblocks in endangered caribou habitat undermines a commitment to save the species.

thenarwhal.ca • Share

Behind the wire with a fence ecologist

How researchers are using science and data to help wildlife.

www.hcn.org • Share

What else we're reading today

Despite its optics, an Idaho college town remains a complicated place for people of color

Today, Moscow’s brief history as a probable sundown town seems a continent away. The northern Idaho town of 25,000 saw multiple racial justice protests last year. Black Lives Matter signs line the windows of Moscow’s downtown restaurants and cafes. But some people of color still feel uneasy here.

www.kunc.org • Share

The White Sands discovery only confirms what Indigenous people have said all along

Once again, the media has excluded Indigenous peoples from our own story.

www.hcn.org • Share

When public health becomes the public enemy

Far-right extremists are robbing the West of the officials who protect community health.

www.hcn.org • Share

Trans Mountain ‘investigating’ claims consultant has ties to Proud Boys terrorist group

Trans Mountain, a Canadian government-owned pipeline and energy company, says it is investigating allegations that one of its consultants has ties to the Proud Boys, a group on a federal list of terrorist organizations.

thenarwhal.ca • Share

Frenzied real estate market imperils land conservation in Washington, Idaho

“We’ve been sort of in this Goldilocks real estate land where there are these beautiful large properties, undeveloped properties close to the urban areas that were pretty affordable to purchase,” said Paul Knowles, Spokane Country’s park planner. “The conservation futures program was really able to have this significant impact on land conservation and recreation in this area. That Goldilocks era appears to be waning.”

www.spokesman.com • Share

Ranchers face difficult choices after brutally hot, dry summer

Prolonged drought conditions and record-breaking heat have forced Wyoming ranchers to either buy supplemental feed at higher-than-normal prices or cull their herds.

wyofile.com • Share

Wyoming loggers fear extinction as federal forest policy evolves

The history of Northeastern Wyoming is inextricably linked with the Black Hills and its timber industry. As federal regulators look to cut down on logging, some fear that way of life could come to an end.

wyofile.com • Share

Whistleblowers raised valid concerns about Colorado air pollution monitoring, probe finds, but problems were unintentional

Whistleblowers attacking the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division for conflicts of interest and improper modeling of potential pollution sources raised valid concerns in complaints to the EPA Inspector General, but the state’s violations were not intentional and officials did not falsify data, according to a new report by the state Attorney General’s Office.

coloradosun.com • Share

EPA deletes portion of Libby Superfund site from National Priorities List

Federal environmental officials say Libby cleanup marks progress in ongoing remediation.

flatheadbeacon.com • Share

Crop failure: Why a Montana jury gave hemp growers $65.5M

What was once thought to be a future commodity is now a pariah for area farmers who gave it a shot.

billingsgazette.com • Share

Should river towns be forced to build costly parks to get recreational water rights?

American Whitewater wants to adjust Recreational In-Channel Diversion water rights so communities can protect recreational flows without building whitewater parks.

coloradosun.com • Share

Albuquerque mayor announces search for missing Indigenous children's remains

The city of Albuquerque will become the first U.S. city to use ground-penetrating radar to search for remains of Native American children buried in unmarked gravesites over a century ago.

nativenewsonline.net • Share

Gabby Petito and missing white woman syndrome

As Petito’s case continues to dominate the news cycle, Indigenous people ask why their cases aren’t worthy of similar attention.

www.greatfallstribune.com • Share

Learning through loss

Following the deaths by suicide of eight teenagers in 16 months, prevention leaders, educators and mental health experts seek solutions in the Flathead Valley.

flatheadbeacon.com • Share

Feds launch multiple probes into deadly Montana Amtrak wreck

Saturday’s derailment of the Empire Builder in Joplin was the deadliest railroad accident in the United States since 2017.

montanafreepress.org • Share

Alaska housing can’t survive climate change. This group is trying a new model.

The Cold Climate Housing Research Center combines “Indigenous wisdom and 21st-century technologies” for sustainable architecture that can withstand the state’s elements.

www.washingtonpost.com • Share

Rockies Today is curated by Matthew Frank, fellow in regional journalism at the O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West at the University of Montana.

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By Mountain West News

The big stories up and down the Rocky Mountains

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O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, 59812