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US Approves Bison Grazing on Montana Prairie Amid Criticism
U.S. officials have approved a conservation group’s proposal to expand bison grazing on prairies in Montana amid objections from some ranchers and elected officials
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US Plans More Wild Horse Roundups This Year Than Ever Before
The U.S. government plans to capture more wild horses on federal lands this year than ever before
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Biden Sets Out Oil, Gas Leasing Reform, Stops Short of Ban
The Biden administration has recommended an overhaul of the nation’s oil and gas leasing program to focus on areas that are most suitable for energy development and raise costs for energy companies to drill on public lands and water
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Land Agency Moving Back to DC, Reversing Trump-Era Decision
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is moving the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management back to the nation’s capital after two years in Colorado.
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US to Bolster Firefighter Ranks as Wildfires Burn Year-Round
U.S. wildfire managers have started shifting from seasonal to full-time firefighting crews to deal with what has become a year-round wildfire season as climate change makes the American West warmer and drier
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Judge Throws Out Trump-Era Approvals for Alaska Oil Project
A federal judge in Anchorage has thrown out Trump administration approvals for a large planned oil project.
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Feds Will Ration Water From Colorado River Amid Historic Drought
The Colorado River supplies water and power for more than 40 million people across the West, while also fueling some 2.5 million acres of croplands.
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Biden Taps Montana Environmentalist for US Public Lands Boss
A longtime environmental advocate and Democratic aide has been nominated by President Joe Biden to oversee roughly a quarter-billion acres of federally owned land in Western states.
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Trump Admin. Plans for Utah Monument Guts Protections, Opens Site to Mining
The U.S. government’s final management plan for lands in and around a Utah national monument that President Donald Trump downsized doesn’t include many new protections for the cliffs, canyons, waterfalls and arches found there, but it does include a few more safeguards than were in a proposal issued last year. The Bureau of Land Management’s plan for the Grand Staircase-Escalante...
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Federal Agency Frets About Terrorism Threats at Burning Man
Burning Man organizers say the U.S. government wants to place unreasonable conditions on a proposal to expand the counter-culture festival’s capacity to 100,000, including stepped-up security searches and new perimeter barriers that land managers say would reduce vulnerability to acts of terrorism. Group leaders say the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed stipulations for a new 10-year special use permit would...
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US Moves Ahead With Oil Leases Near Sacred Park
U.S. land managers will move forward in March with the sale of oil and gas leases that include land near Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico and other sites sacred to Native American tribes. The sale comes as Democratic members of Congress, tribal leaders and environmentalists have criticized the federal Bureau of Land Management for pushing ahead with...
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How Congress Got Trump to Climb Down, End Shutdown For Now
President Donald Trump was feeling the heat. Week after week, Trump had demanded that the government stay partially shuttered until Democrats agreed to pay for his wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Surrounded by a shrinking cast of advisers, he watched as federal workers went unpaid and basic services were frozen. His poll numbers were slipping. His arguments were landing with...
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Trump, Congress Leaders Reach Deal to End Shutdown Without Wall Funding
President Donald Trump and congressional leaders reached a deal Friday to temporarily reopen the government and end the longest shutdown in U.S. history. Trump agreed to endorse a short-term funding bill that doesn’t include money for a border wall — something he had previously demanded as part of any continuing resolution to end the shutdown.
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Belt Buckles and Beer: Federal Shutdown Hits Businesses Hard
From power restaurants in Washington and a belt-buckle maker in Colorado to a brewery in California, businesses that count heavily on federal employees as customers are feeling the punishing effects of the government shutdown. In many cases, it’s forcing them to cut workers’ hours and buy less from suppliers — measures that could ripple through the larger U.S. economy.
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Escaped Rodeo Cow Evades Capture on Alaska Trails
A rodeo cow named Betsy has evaded capture for six months as she wanders the trails of Alaska’s biggest city, the cow’s owner said. The 3-year-old cow “busted out” of a pen before participating in junior events at the Father’s Day Rodeo in Anchorage, rodeo promoter Frank Koloski told the Anchorage Daily News. Betsy headed to the Hilltop Ski Area...
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Selective Shutdown? Some Americans Impacted, Some Unfazed
The government shutdown is wreaking havoc on many Americans: Hundreds of thousands of federal employees don’t know when they’ll see their next paycheck, and low-income people who rely on the federal safety net worry about whether they’ll make ends meet should the stalemate in Washington carry on another month. But if you’re a sportsman looking to hunt game, a gas...
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Wild Horses of American West Pushed to Brink Due to Drought
Harsh drought conditions in parts of the American West are pushing wild horses to the brink and spurring extreme measures to protect them. For what they say is the first time, volunteer groups in Arizona and Colorado are hauling thousands of gallons of water and truckloads of food to remote grazing grounds where springs have run dry and vegetation has...
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Self-Taught Rocket Scientist Blasts Off Into California Sky
He finally went up — just like the self-taught rocket scientist always pledged he would.
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Judge Ends Standoff Case Against Rancher Cliven Bundy, Sons
A judge in Las Vegas on Monday dismissed criminal charges against a Nevada rancher and his sons accused of leading an armed uprising against federal authorities in 2014. Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro signaled when she declared a mistrial last month that she might dismiss the case outright against 71-year-old Cliven Bundy, sons Ryan and Ammon Bundy, and Montana...
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How the Kate Steinle Murder Case Became an Immigration Flashpoint
A jury’s decision to acquit a Mexican man in the 2015 slaying of Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier has reignited the furor of critics who in the two years since have pointed to Steinle’s death as evidence of the need for tougher immigration policies.