Enacted in 2001 with broad bipartisan support, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule protects 45 million acres of national forest lands across the US. Now the Trump admistration proposes to rescind this rule and open these wildlands to road building, logging, mining, and other commercial uses. Until September 21, the public can comment on this proposed action to deep six a bedrock conservation measure before a final decision is made. In my April 2 blog post this year, I

One of the excuses the Trump administration offered for moving to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule that protects over 60 million acres of US Forest Service lands -- our lands -- was to provide more road access to fight wildfires. But a new study published in the journal Fire Ecology , and summarized in Inside Climate News , reviewed the history of wildfire ignitions from 1992 to 2024 and found that wildfires were four times more likely to ignite within 50 meters of a road tha

A Montana coal power plant Montana state lawmakers passed three bills during the 2025 legislative session that essentially block the intent of the state Supreme Court's 2024 ruling that found in favor of 16 young plaintiffs who sued to protect their rights to a "clean and healthful evironment," as codified in the state's constitution. The case was titled Held v. Montana (so named for Rikki Held, the lead plaintiff). This past week, these plaintiffs alledged in a new complai

Congress has begun nullifying resource management plans that were developed and implemented to guide long-term stewardship of federal lands. Plans cooperatively developed by the federal Bureau of Land Management in Montana, North Dakota, and Alaska -- in consultation with scientists, conservation groups, indigenous peoples, industry, and other users of these tracts of federal lands -- are the first on the chopping block. These Resource Management Plans (RMPs) provide stabil

The Trump administration seeks to weaken conservation by rescinding a rule that governs public land use. The Conservation and Landscape...

North American endangered species This proposal "threatens a half-century of progress in protecting and restoring endangered species," is...

Panama’s president, Laurentino Cortizo, signed into law far-reaching protections for the natural world last week. The legislation, which...