Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has restricted the ability to gather in peaceful assembly, a Canadian company has moved forward with construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, according to the AP.
<p>As <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/keystone-xl-pipeline-construction-2645607020.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">EcoWatch</a> reported, last week Canada-based TC Energy said it would start construction despite the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate</a> impacts of the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines" target="_self">pipeline</a> and the concerns about transporting construction crews during the coronavirus outbreak.</p><p>The construction that began yesterday involved around 100 workers in a remote border crossing between Montana and Canada, which is home to cattle ranches and wheat fields, according to a spokesperson from TC Energy, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/953d36b581092315a55aab0a87f59fef" target="_blank">AP</a> reported. The number of people involved in the construction is supposed to grow into the thousands as construction advances.</p>
<p>The government in Alberta is throwing in $1.1 billion to support construction of the pipeline, which will stretch 1,210 miles from the town of Hardisty, in Alberta, Canada, to Steele City, Nebraska, and will begin operating in 2023, as <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/490419-controversial-keystone-xl-pipeline-construction-to-proceed" target="_blank">The Hill</a> reported. The investment from Alberta's government will support construction through 2020 and triggered the surprise announcement that construction would begin. The pipeline is predicted to carry 830,00 barrels of crude every day for transfer to refineries and export terminals in the Gulf of Mexico.</p><p>Alberta will also guarantee a $6 billion loan to TC Energy.</p>
<p><br>On Friday, Montana's Department of Environmental Quality issued the final state permits the company needed, agency spokeswoman Rebecca Harbage said, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/953d36b581092315a55aab0a87f59fef" target="_blank">AP</a> reported.</p><p>Even though the pipeline has been delayed for some time as it has been held up in court and demand for oil has plummeted, and even though Montana is under "stay-at-home" orders, the pipeline was granted an exception to Gov. Steve Bullock's order. The "stay-at-home" directive did not address worker camps, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/953d36b581092315a55aab0a87f59fef" target="_blank">AP</a>.</p><p>The plans for the pipeline call for 11 worker camps, some housing up to 1,000 people. Local officials and tribal leaders for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous-peoples" target="_self">indigenous people</a> say the camps could potentially spread the coronavirus into the area. Gov. Bullock, who is concerned about the virus spreading, "would want those concerns addressed prior to TC Energy and their contractors finalizing their plans of operations for those segments of construction," said spokeswoman Marissa Perry to the <a href="https://apnews.com/953d36b581092315a55aab0a87f59fef" target="_blank">AP</a>.</p><p>TC Energy said it would check all workers for fever and ensure they practice social distancing.</p>
<p>However, as Bill McKibben, founder of 360.org, noted in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/05/climate-crisis-villains-oil-industry-big-banks-pipelines" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, the worker camps on the edge of Native American territory bring up memories of introduced epidemics that wiped out 90 percent of the Native American population.</p><p>"As Faith Spotted Eagle of the Yankton Sioux put it, 'this causes eerie memories for us [of] the infected smallpox blankets that were distributed to tribes intentionally,'" McKibben wrote.</p><p>Environmental activists agreed with that assessment.</p><p>"This is a shameful new low," Catherine Collentine, associate director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign, said in a statement, as <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/490419-controversial-keystone-xl-pipeline-construction-to-proceed" target="_blank">The Hill</a> reported. "By barreling forward with construction during a global pandemic, TC Energy is putting already vulnerable communities at even greater risk."</p>
<p><br>A hearing to block the work is scheduled for April 16. In January, the federal judge who will hear arguments did not issue an order to stop work because TC Energy said there were no immediate plans to begin work, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/953d36b581092315a55aab0a87f59fef" target="_blank">AP</a>.</p><p>Stephan Volker, an attorney for the environmental groups asking the judge to intervene, said the company's decision to "jump the gun" before next week's hearing was an insult to U.S. District Judge Brian Morris, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/953d36b581092315a55aab0a87f59fef" target="_blank">AP</a> reported.</p>"We are confident the court will not be bullied, and will overturn President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump">Trump</a>'s second approval, just as he overturned President Trump's first approval, as unlawful," Volker said.
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Glacier National Park Is Replacing Signs That Predicted Glaciers Would Disappear by 2020
10 January 2020
Climate
Female hiker looking down at the majestic Grinnell glacier, located in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. Feng Wei Photography / Moment / Getty Images
Signs added to Glacier National Park more than a decade ago predicting that the glaciers would be gone by 2020 are being taken down and replaced, as CNN reported.
<p>The signs were first put up over a decade ago when climate models predicted the glaciers would melt. By 2017, the projections had been revised, but the National Parks budget was so tightly constrained that it made it impossible to change the signs, according to park spokeswoman Gina Kurzmen who spoke to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/08/us/glaciers-national-park-2020-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. </p>
<p>Kurzmen added that the most prominent sign was changed last year at the St. Mary's Visitor Center, but the park is still waiting for budget authorization to change two other signs, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/08/us/glaciers-national-park-2020-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p>
<p>Kurzmen also told MTN News in Montana that the climate models still predict shrinking glaciers, but the patterns of glacier melting are nuanced and much more complex than was initially predicted, as <a href="https://www.kpax.com/news/local-news/flathead-county/glacier-national-park-to-remove-all-glaciers-will-be-gone-by-2020-signs" target="_blank">KPAX</a> in Missoula and Western Montana reported.</p>
<p>A number of right wing outlets including Breitbart, The Washington Times, and the white nationalist outlet The Daily Caller have reported on the inaccurate signs, using it as a clarion call for denying the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate crisis</a>. </p><p>However, while the signs are outdated and the initial predictions were off-target, the loss of glaciers is conspicuous and troubling. A 2017 study by the U.S. Geological Survey and Portland State University found that some ice formations in Montana had lost 85 percent of their size and the average shrinkage was 39 percent, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/08/us/glaciers-national-park-2020-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p>
<p>Kurzmen told CNN that while the signs will be changed, the message will not change and will pin their loss on human activity. She said that the new signs will say: "When they will completely disappear depends on how and when we act. One thing is consistent: the glaciers in the park are shrinking."</p>
<p>It is a tough time for glaciers across the globe, even if the ones in Montana have survived into 2020, as the <a href="https://www.deseret.com/2020/1/8/21057080/glacier-national-park-climate-change" target="_blank">Deseret News</a> reported. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/iceland-glacier-funeral-2639890762.html" target="_self">Iceland held a funeral</a> for, Okjökull, a glacier lost in 2019. In the spring of 2019, researchers at the University of Zurich found that more than <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/fresh-water-supplies-melt-away-as-world-s-glaciers-lose-335-billion-tonnes-of-ice-a-year" target="_blank">9 trillion tons of ice have melted</a> since 1961.</p>
<p>Scientists memorialized the Okjökull glacier with a plaque that read: "Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years, all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and know what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it."</p>
<p>The 2017 study found that Montana's glaciers have almost no chance of surviving to the end of the century.</p>
<p>"In several decades they will be mostly gone. They will grow so small that they will disappear. They will certainly be gone before the end of the century," Dan Fagre, the study's lead scientist, had said, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/08/us/glaciers-national-park-2020-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p>
<p>Fagre added that humans are responsible.</p>
<p>"There are variations in the climate but it is humans that have made all those variations warmer. The glaciers have been here for 7,000 years and will be gone in decades. This is not part of the natural cycle."</p>
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Xsandra / Getty Images
Looking for ways to cut down on single-use plastic while grocery shopping? You may already have eco-friendly shopping bags, but bringing your own reusable produce bags is another easy swap.
According to the UN Environment Program, up to 5 trillion single-use plastic bags are used globally each year, and because of the material they're made from, most municipal recycling centers don't accept them (more on this below).
The most sustainable option is to skip the bag altogether. You can also make your own reusable produce bags out of old T-shirts. But if you'd rather purchase them new, here are our recommendations for the best reusable produce bags on the market today.
<p><em>Each product featured here has been independently selected by the writer. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.</em></p>
<h2>Why make the switch to reusable produce bags?<br/></h2><p>According to the <a href="https://www.unep.org/interactive/beat-plastic-pollution/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">UN</a>, humans produce 300 million tons of plastic waste each year, and about 60% of the plastic produced since the early 1950s has ended up in a landfill or the natural environment.</p><p>Plastic grocery bags and produce bags are made from low-density polyethylene (LDPE). Technically, this type of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/plastic-recycling-myth-2647706452.html" target="_self">plastic can be recycled</a>. However, in practice, plastic bags easily clog recycling machinery, so <a href="https://millerrecycling.com/ldpe-out-of-landfills" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">most municipal recycling centers</a> do not accept this type of material.</p><p>A <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-07/documents/smm_2015_tables_and_figures_07252018_fnl_508_0.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">study by the EPA</a> showed that only about 6% of the LDPE generated in 2015 was recycled. Other types of plastic, by comparison, were recycled at 18% and 10% rates.</p>Although some <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/vancouvers-grocery-store-plastic-bags-2638807121.html" target="_self">grocery stores</a> offer plastic bag recycling, the easiest way to get around this is to refuse plastic bags in the first place. Many cities have instituted <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/new-york-plastic-bag-ban-begins-2645319695.html" target="_self">plastic bag bans</a>, but more often than not, it's up to individuals to choose to make the switch to reusable grocery bags in their day-to-day lives.<p><br/></p><p><em><em><strong><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/about-ecowatch-2641507575.html?rebelltitem=47#rebelltitem47" target="_self">Melissa Smith</a> </strong>is an avid writer, scuba diver, backpacker, and all-around outdoor enthusiast. She graduated from the University of Florida with degrees in journalism and sustainable studies. Before joining EcoWatch, Melissa worked as the managing editor of Scuba Diving magazine and the communications manager of The Ocean Agency, a non-profit that's featured in the Emmy award-winning documentary Chasing Coral.</em></em></p><em><em></em></em>
Best Reusable Produce Bag Set: Eco Joy Cotton Reusable Produce Bags
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxOTAxNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzODE2MDIyNH0.qyiKrnX8T4CRp8Y5Kn_cW1oaSF7vDci2gmKEXxJfQmE/img.jpg?width=980" id="8db60" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d39a705e9f90fc1369a1806bc6d4e016" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="400" data-height="400" />Eco Joy
<p>If you're making the switch to more sustainable shopping bags and want a variety of products to use, the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Reusable-Sandwich-Biodegradable-Eco-Drawstring/dp/B003PK4W3I/ref=sr_1_36?crid=3TDUCB8ZOM7WI&dchild=1&keywords=produce+bags+grocery+reusable&qid=1613484643&sprefix=produce+bags%2Caps%2C189&sr=8-36" target="_blank">Eco Joy Cotton Reusable Produce Bags</a> set is a great place to start. The set comes with three mesh drawstring bags, three muslin drawstring bags, a large mesh tote and a zippered sandwich-size pouch.</p><p>Each product is made with organic, non-GMO cotton that's ethically sourced in accordance with Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) standards. The cotton comes from India and Turkey, and the bags are hand-assembled in Canada by the owner of Eco Joy, so you can feel good about supporting a small business while reducing your environmental impact.</p><p><strong>Customer rating:</strong> 4.7 out of 5 stars with over 300 Amazon reviews</p><p><strong>Why buy: </strong>Zero-waste; Handmade in Canada; WRAP compliant; Machine washable</p>
$13
Best Mesh Bags: Organic Cotton Mart Reusable Cotton Mesh Produce Bags
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxOTE0OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MTQyNDQ5MX0.E6MFCOXZ-3EvKDK0MIv34EJO3oE6WMWxiFZBR5aNU_w/img.jpg?width=980" id="ba5c7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="91a9dd3d18f7b4a41fae606ff4d1204b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="400" data-height="400" />Organic Cotton Mart
<p>Some shoppers prefer to use mesh bags when shopping for fruits and veggies. We recommend checking out <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Best-Reusable-Produce-Organic-Cotton/dp/B07CK2TJKL/ref=sr_1_16?crid=10A7NM0LQ0B7E&dchild=1&keywords=mesh+produce+bags&qid=1613483897&s=home-garden&sprefix=mesh+pro%2Cgarden%2C162&sr=1-16" target="_blank">Organic Cotton Mart's Reusable Cotton Mesh Produce Bags</a> if you're in this camp, as they're made with Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certified cotton.</p> <p>Mesh reusable produce bags can make the checkout process easier than muslin bags since you can see what's inside them without having to open them up. Plus, the tare weight (i.e., the weight of the empty bag that should be subtracted from the total weight of your produce to make sure you don't pay extra for using your bag) is printed right on the label of Organic Cotton Mart's bags, making everything that much more convenient.</p> <p><strong>Customer rating:</strong> 4.6 out of 5 stars with nearly 1,000 Amazon reviews</p><strong>Why buy:</strong> GOTS certified; Machine washable; Biodegradable
$16
Best Muslin Bags: Simple Ecology Reusable Produce Bags
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxOTE1OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjY3NDE3N30.f2sAcYTGhqq4ytlNGSyzZexPwqH2SpqpTwsX2fvph10/img.jpg?width=980" id="f90b3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e95c082f9b831bf11004e12b73ae8263" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="400" data-height="400" />Simple Ecology
<p>On the other hand, if you just want to purchase muslin bags, we like <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Ecology-Reusable-Organic-Shopping/dp/B004UJ0U0C" target="_blank">Simple Ecology's Reusable Produce Bags</a>, which are also made with GOTS-certified organic cotton. Simple Ecology also has a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6AUMBG/ref=sspa_dk_detail_2?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B01N6AUMBG&pd_rd_w=MA3ZS&pf_rd_p=cbc856ed-1371-4f23-b89d-d3fb30edf66d&pd_rd_wg=hVunQ&pf_rd_r=G6RTQ1Z5DKEY325MAJZ9&pd_rd_r=5d298b3a-1be7-4ebd-a9e1-d5d672a40497&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExMzc4RVAxWjNLOTdCJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNTc0NTAwMzBDMjFYOVJPTUpWSCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNjYyOTM4M0s4Vk81SVBPS1NFSyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbF90aGVtYXRpYyZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=" target="_blank">starter kit</a> that comes with several reusable grocery bags if you're looking for more variety.</p> <p>The benefit of using muslin reusable produce bags is that, unlike mesh, there are no holes for small items to slip through. This means that in addition to larger produce, you can use them to purchase bulk foods like lentils, beans and rice — or even powders like flour or spices — without worrying about anything leaking. They're also best for keeping leafy greens fresh.</p> <p><strong>Customer rating:</strong> 4.7 out of 5 stars with nearly 1,500 Amazon reviews</p><strong>Why buy:</strong> GOTS certified; Machine washable; Biodegradable; Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certified packaging when purchased from manufacturer
$16
Best String Bags: ECOBAGS Market Collection Reusable Bag Set
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxOTE2Ny9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NTkzMDc5Mn0.v_aTdf8TPuA39wgpmS2Dgb_88t2jfcbXDJkC9wf5CrE/img.png?width=980" id="c42d2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ada50990c5c2520886afd23fcca522a4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="752" data-height="628" />ECOBAGS
<p>Whether you're buying bread, fresh flowers, produce or all of the above, the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/ECOBAGS-Market-Collection-Reusable-Natural/dp/B08KFGPGN5" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ECOBAGS Market Collection Reusable Bag Set</a> is ideal for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/farmers-markets-coronavirus-safety-2645581711.html" target="_self">farmers market</a> shopping or large grocery hauls. The netted bags are durable, flexible, and pack down small so they're easy to keep in your car or purse.</p> <p>ECOBAGS is a woman-owned certified B Corp, which means it uses sound social and environmental practices. These bags come in packs of three or five and have a few different handle lengths and color options, but they're all made with GOTS-certified organic cotton.</p> <p><strong>Customer rating: </strong>Not applicable</p><p><strong>Why buy:</strong> GOTS certified; Machine washable; Biodegradable; Certified B Corp; SA8000 certified for the protection of basic human rights of workers</p>
$36
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To Preserve National Parks in a Warming World, Reconnect Fragmented Public Lands
15 January 2019
Insights + Opinion
Rising temperatures and more frequent wildfires in Alaskan national parks could affect caribou's habitat and winter food sources. Zak Richter / NPS
By Stephen Nash
The Trump administration's decision to keep many U.S. national parks open during the current federal government shutdown, with few or no staff, spotlights how popular and how vulnerable these unique places are.
Some states, such as Utah and Arizona, have spent heavily to keep parks open rather than lose tourist revenues. Unfortunately, without rangers to enforce rules, some visitors have strewn garbage and vandalized scenic areas.
<p>
The most urgent near-term priority for the park system is to either end the shutdown or
<a href="https://www.hcn.org/articles/national-park-service-keeping-national-parks-open-during-the-shutdown-is-a-terrible-mistake" target="_blank">cut off public access</a> until it is over, and then restore order once staff can get back in. But beyond the shutdown, the park system faces broader threats, as I show in my book, <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520291478/grand-canyon-for-sale" target="_blank"><em>Grand Canyon for Sale</em></a>.
</p><p>
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">Climate change</a> will force wild species in all national parks to adapt, often by migrating. The problem is that U.S. policies—especially under the Trump administration—are fragmenting connections between parks and other <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands">public lands</a> that give natural systems better odds for survival.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="329ca9cdd09c299ec62fe10bfc17427b"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ur4I8tYnxP4?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Photo Evidence: Glacier National Park Is Melting Away | National Geographic</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">
<a href="https://youtu.be/ur4I8tYnxP4" target="_blank">youtu.be</a>
</small>
</p><h2>Conservation Islands<br>
</h2><p>
External threats to national parks aren't new. Politicians started trying to protect the Grand Canyon from private interests
<a href="https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/historyculture/upload/chapter1.pdf" target="_blank">in the 1880s</a>. Finally, in 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt used his power under the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-antiquities-act-has-expanded-the-national-park-system-and-fueled-struggles-over-land-protection-56454" target="_blank">Antiquities Act</a> to designate the canyon as a <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/national-monuments">national monument</a>.
</p><p>
During a visit to the canyon, Roosevelt
<a href="http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/images/trenvpics/trgrandcanyonspeech.pdf" target="_blank">told onlookers</a>, "I hope that you will not … mar the wonderful grandeur, the sublimity, the loneliness and beauty of the Canyon. Leave it as it is. You can not improve on it." A decade later, President Woodrow Wilson <a href="https://twitter.com/grandcanyonnps/status/438840802966384640" target="_blank">signed the bill</a> that created Grand Canyon National Park on Feb. 26, 1919.
</p><p>
Aggressive and well-financed private industries, including logging, mining, grazing, energy production and real estate development, operate on other public lands, where they often pose threats to
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-trump-administration-is-scrapping-a-collaborative-sage-grouse-protection-plan-to-expand-oil-and-gas-drilling-108398" target="_blank">plants and wildlife</a>. By expanding development and fragmenting existing tracts of land, they also shut down future survival prospects for wild species in the national parks themselves.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTA4OTExNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NzI5NTY3OX0.LvfyNFAJVIW149o4ASOc8wjE8UVCtrcRdZWGE7yj_fs/img.jpg?width=980" id="995eb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="29016037fb0f8799dfaf5969e8fcf958" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Six well pads along boundary of the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit..."><a href="https://flic.kr/p/pXDk3d" target="_blank">Chris Boyer, Kestrel Aerial Services, Inc. / NPCA</a>, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" target="_blank">CC BY-ND</a></small>
</p><h2>Parks in a Changing Climate<br>
</h2><p>
Over all of these issues looms the broadest threat: climate change. According to a meta-analysis of 123 research studies conducted between 1990 and 2010, nearly all the land administered by the National Park Service is
<a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/climatechange/upload/ParkScience28-2-Summer2011_10-15_Gonzalez_2804.pdf" target="_blank">located in areas of observed warming in the 20th century</a>. And a 2018 study showed that the parks are <a href="https://theconversation.com/human-caused-climate-change-severely-exposes-the-us-national-parks-103715" target="_blank">bearing the brunt of climate change</a> because many are located in regions that are hotter and drier than the nation as a whole.
</p><p>
Part of the National Park Service's
<a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/to-provide-for-the-enjoyment-for-future-generations.htm" target="_blank">mission</a> is to conserve wild species and natural systems in the parks "by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Climate change makes this an epic challenge. For example, Grand Canyon National Park's <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/climatechange/upload/GRCA-CFP-Action-Plan-508compliant.pdf" target="_blank">climate change action plan</a> warns of more frequent droughts, habitat fragmentation, more frequent and intense <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires">wildfires</a> and floods, and shrinking waterflows in the Colorado River.
</p><p>
And, of course, the gathering heat. In effect, many national parks' climates will move two or three hundred miles south during this century. By 2100, if global greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, Grand Canyon will be as hot as the climate now is along the Mexican border. The climate of
<a href="https://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm" target="_blank">Great Smoky Mountains National Park</a>, the most popular in the system, will slide nearly to Florida. As soon as two decades from now, according to the latest U.S. national climate assessment, the Grand Canyon region and its wild species could endure <a href="https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/chapter/25/" target="_blank">40 to 50 more days with temperatures over 90 degrees yearly</a>.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTA4OTEyMi9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2OTIyNDk4NH0.2UmELAjS7ompgnnns0KeLXm229BLnoK4bJpBcCfP2Q4/img.png?width=980" id="c2596" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="08ef1d7da806eb76be2bc1e871384269" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">According to the 2018 national climate assessment, unchecked climate change could make many U.S. national parks feel like locations much further south by the end of this century. </small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Chris Zganjar, based on 26 climate model projections, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" target="_blank">CC BY-ND</a></small>
</p><p>
Similar changes are occurring throughout the park system.
<a href="https://www.usgs.gov/centers/norock/science/retreat-glaciers-glacier-national-park?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects" target="_blank">Glaciers are disappearing</a> from <a href="https://www.nps.gov/glac/index.htm" target="_blank">Glacier National Park</a> in Montana. Giant sequoia trees in <a href="https://www.nps.gov/seki/index.htm" target="_blank">Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks</a> in California are threatened by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JG004005" target="_blank">heat, fire and insects</a>. Rising seas are starting to inundate dozens of <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/climatechange/upload/2018-NPS-Sea-Level-Change-Storm-Surge-Report-508Compliant.pdf" target="_blank">parks along coastlines</a>, from Florida's <a href="https://www.nps.gov/drto/index.htm" target="_blank">Dry Tortugas</a> to Alaska's <a href="https://www.nps.gov/bela/index.htm" target="_blank">Bering Land Bridge</a>.<br>
</p><h2>Creating Escape Routes</h2><p>
As climate zones shift, many plants and animals will need to migrate into or out of protected natural areas to stay within temperature and moisture ranges where they have evolved over thousands of years. Scientists are outlining plans to ensure futures for at least some of these species by making it easier for them to move to different habitats. But studies on "<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14373" target="_blank">climate connectivity</a>" warn that if public lands around national parks are used for drilling, mining, logging and commercial development, they won't function as survival paths for wild species.
</p><p>
"You can't manage a national park by itself. That's increasingly a strategy for failure," Northern Arizona University biologist
<a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_5q8kcYAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">Paul Beier</a> told me. "Your park is embedded in the landscape, and we have to get smart about managing the entire landscape, because the climate is moving."
</p><p>
This research signals that if the goal is to guard the endurance of wild species for future generations, Congress and federal agencies will need to find new ways of managing the nation's
<a href="https://nationalmap.gov/small_scale/printable/fedlands.html" target="_blank">million square miles</a> of federal public lands. National parks will need to depend on healthy adjacent national forests, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife">wildlife</a> refuges, monuments and rangelands, maintained in their natural state.
</p><p>
In a 2017 study, researchers found that
<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1705834114" target="_blank">creating links among isolated preserves</a> was a surprisingly effective way to maintain wild bird populations in Africa and Brazil. "The issues in the American West are the same," Duke University ecologist and study co-author <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FmTTcdMAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">Stuart Pimm</a> told me. "A lot of the West is protected, but it's fragmented. Reestablishing that connectivity among public lands will give animals a chance to move, slowing down rates of local extinction."
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a14196d867037b27a8052cc7d4792ad8"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eqHinMdejEc?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Yellowstone to Yukon: 20 Years of Progress</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">
<a href="https://youtu.be/eqHinMdejEc" target="_blank">youtu.be</a>
</small>
</p><h2>Promoting Extractive Use<br>
</h2><p>
However, the Trump administration is opening public lands in pursuit of "<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-energy-dominance-the-right-goal-for-us-policy-79825" target="_blank">energy dominance</a>." The Interior Department has removed millions of acres from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/travel/bears-ears-utah-politics-trump-national-monument.html" target="_blank">national monuments</a> and opened them for uses such as logging and mining. Oil and gas leasing on public lands has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/27/climate/trump-fracking-drilling-oil-gas.html" target="_blank">tripled</a> since President Trump assumed office.
</p><p>
Public lands generate wealth for other private interests, too. In the West, some 400,000 square miles managed by the
<a href="https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/rangelands-and-grazing/livestock-grazing" target="_blank">Interior Department</a> and <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/rangeland-management/documents/grazing-stats/2010s/GrazingStatisticalSummaryFY2016.pdf" target="_blank">Forest Service</a> are leased for cattle ranching. These acres provide only one percent of our national supply of beef, but studies have documented that livestock grazing across the west can <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2386504" target="_blank">foul water sources, erode soil and severely diminish survival chances for wild species</a>.
</p><p>
The lease programs cost the government
<a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/grazing/pdfs/CostsAndConsequences_01-2015.pdf" target="_blank">more than six times as much to administer</a> as they bring in. According to data that I obtained from federal agencies, most leases are held by very large, often absentee cattle operators and by corporate interests.
</p><p>
In contrast, studies by
<a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm" target="_blank">federal agencies</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/sure-pipelines-are-good-for-oil-companies-but-what-about-jobs-related-to-preserving-nature-and-culture-72042" target="_blank">private researchers</a> show that even in raw economic terms, healthy and protected landscapes are worth tens of billions of dollars to their owners—the American public—each year.
</p><p>
Meanwhile, climate change ratchets up. Preserving the nature of U.S. national parks will require connecting and protecting all of America's public lands.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="b43ba" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="D84U3R1576662088"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1067599092598153216" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#ClimateChange Is Threatening Many Species, But One Is Getting a Boost https://t.co/0t7Uz0hdIF @truthout @savebutterflies @Buzz_dont_tweet</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1067599092598153216">1543370433.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
<p><em>Stephen Nash is a visiting senior research scholar at the University of Richmond.<br></em><em>Disclosure statement:
</em><em>Stephen Nash does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond his academic appointment.</em></p><p>
<em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-preserve-us-national-parks-in-a-warming-world-reconnect-fragmented-public-lands-105926" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
</p>
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Ryan Zinke at Fort Peck, Montana in June of 2018. U.S. Department of the Interior
The Justice Department is looking into whether former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke lied to investigators at the Department of Interior, The Washington Post reports. Anonymous sources tell the Post that investigators at the Interior's inspector general's office raised the issue with the DOJ after suspecting Zinke may have lied during questioning over his real estate deals in Montana and his review of a Native American casino project in Connecticut.
<p>The Justice Department has not yet decided whether Zinke should face legal action, the Post reports. Zinke, who left the agency Wednesday following a series of high-profile scandals, denied the allegations to the Associated Press, blaming <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation">conservation</a> groups for creating a "playbook" designed to use "frivolous allegations, sources, rumors, innuendo and false accusations" to boot him and other Cabinet members from office.</p><p>As reported by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/justice-dept-investigating-whether-zinke-lied-to-inspector-general/2019/01/03/6c9dea06-0eac-11e9-84fc-d58c33d6c8c7_story.html?utm_term=.30c84ba9ce04" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>:</p><blockquote>"Zinke, who <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/ryan-zinke-resigns-2623640472.html" title="www.washingtonpost.com">submitted his resignation last month</a>, had faced intense pressure to step down because of the probes into his conduct, though President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> had soured on him for other reasons, too, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. In particular, this person said, Trump was upset Zinke would not challenge Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) in last year's election and over how Zinke handled the administration's plan to expand <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/offshore-oil-drilling">offshore drilling</a>.</blockquote><blockquote>Last January, Zinke flew to Florida and, without consulting the White House, announced in a news conference with then-Gov. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) that Interior would exempt the state from offshore drilling. The move raised ethics questions, along with an outcry from other governors whose coastal states were affected by the plan."<br></blockquote><p>The <a href="https://apnews.com/88cbce6d7b0a497f951ff2e9624b6c26" target="_blank">Associated Press</a> reported that Zinke blamed conservation groups such as <a href="http://mtvoters.org" target="_blank">Montana Conservation Voters</a> and <a href="https://westernvaluesproject.org/" target="_blank">Western Values Project</a> for making it "impossible for Zinke and other Trump Cabinet members to serve."</p><blockquote>"A representative of Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund, Whitney Tawney, noted that the group had endorsed Zinke when he was a state lawmaker but expected more out of him in terms of protecting natural resources.</blockquote><blockquote>'The accusation that groups like Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund made his job impossible proves once again that he's continuing to point fingers at anyone he can instead of accepting responsibility for his own failures,' Tawney said."</blockquote>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="b82ab" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="L63O1H1576663732"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1080952656510832646" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#Zinke Leaves #Interior to His Pro-Polluter, Anti-Environment Deputy https://t.co/KRdLDQausl @Interior @greenpeaceusa @Earthjustice</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1080952656510832646">1546554171.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong><br></p><p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/justice-dept-investigating-whether-zinke-lied-to-inspector-general/2019/01/03/6c9dea06-0eac-11e9-84fc-d58c33d6c8c7_story.html?utm_term=.30c84ba9ce04" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>, <a href="https://apnews.com/88cbce6d7b0a497f951ff2e9624b6c26" target="_blank">AP</a></p><p> <em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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An activist adjusts his hat while protesting the Keystone XL Pipeline during the Native Nations Rise protest on March 10, 2017 in Washington, DC. The KXL has been at the center of a contentious fight for a decade. Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images
Construction on the long-delayed Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline is planned for 2019, developer TransCanada said Monday.
"Keystone XL has undergone years of extensive environmental review by federal and state regulators," TransCanada spokesman Matthew John told Omaha World-Herald. "All of these evaluations show that Keystone XL can be built safely and with minimal impact to the environment."
<p style="">
The move comes after <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trump">President Trump</a>'s State Department—<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/keystone-xl-pipeline-environmental-review-2596431586.html" target="_blank">in response to a judge's order</a>—released a nearly 340-page <a href="https://keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/documents/organization/286279.pdf" target="_blank">draft review</a> on Friday that said the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipeline">pipeline</a>'s alternative route approved by Nebraska regulators <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/keystone-xl-vote-2511009516.html">in November</a> will have "no significant direct, indirect or cumulative effects on the quality of the natural or human environments."
</p><p style="">
<span></span>"Prompt cleanup response would likely be capable of remediating the contaminated soils before the hazardous release reaches groundwater depth," the report also said.<span></span>
</p><p style="">
The KXL has been at the center of a contentious fight for a decade. If built, the $8 billion, 1,184-mile pipeline will transport heavy crude oil from Alberta's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/tar-sands" target="_blank">tar sands</a> through Montana and North and South Dakota to connect with an existing <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/keystone">Keystone pipeline</a> in Nebraska.</p>
<div id="f2027" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="CQBU0G1576683796"><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0;
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bnz5GaBheQ_/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif;
font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;
word-wrap:break-word;" target="_top">ACLU on Instagram: “After the protests at Standing Rock, leaked documents revealed law enforcement collaborated with private security contractors to employ…”</a></p>
</div></blockquote></div>
<p style="">President Obama <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/obama-keystone-xl-pipeline-would-not-make-a-meaningful-long-term-contr-1882117934.html" target="_blank">rejected</a> the KXL in 2015 partly due to concerns about its contribution to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" target="_blank">climate change</a>, but President Trump <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-dakota-access-pipeline-2211697835.html" target="_blank">reversed the decision</a> shortly after taking office.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="7a42c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="UUB6M21576683796"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="662741251565842433" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">BREAKING: President Obama rejects #KeystoneXL pipeline. Thank you #NoKXL movement! https://t.co/xeQ7K1M6JU https://t.co/wk3rm8gTzL</div> — RAN (@RAN)<a href="https://twitter.com/RAN/statuses/662741251565842433">1446844802.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
<p style="">Indigenous groups worry that its path would cross drinking water sources and treaty territories.
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/native-groups-sue-to-stop-keystone-xl-2604222357.html">Earlier this month</a>, the Fort Belknap Indian Community of Montana and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota asked a Montana judge to rescind the permit granted by the Trump administration, saying it did not assess how the pipeline would impact their water and sacred lands.<br></p><p style="">
<span></span>Environmental groups sharply criticized the Trump administration's review and vowed to fight the project.
</p><p style="">
“The Trump administration sees no problem with building Keystone XL—in other news, the grass is still green and the sky is still blue,"
<a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/" target="_blank">Sierra Club</a> Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign director Kelly Martin said in a <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2018/09/trump-administration-releases-sham-review-keystone-xl" target="_blank">press release</a>. </p><blockquote>Keystone XL is a threat to our land, water, wildlife, communities, and climate. We've held off construction of this pipeline for 10 years, and regardless of this administration's attempts to force this dirty tar sands pipeline on the American people, that fight will continue until Keystone XL is stopped once and for all.</blockquote><p>
Builders have already started preparing pipe yards, transporting pipe and mowing parts of the project's right-of-way in Montana and South Dakota, the <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2018-09-24/keystone-xl-developer-plans-to-start-construction-in-2019" target="_blank">Associated Press</a> wrote.
</p><p style="">
<span></span>Last week, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/20/keystone-pipeline-protest-activism-crackdown-standing-rock" target="_blank">Guardian</a> reported that state and federal law enforcement officials are already anticipating possible <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/standing-rock" target="_blank">Standing Rock</a>-style protests against the KXL, citing <a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/new-documents-reveal-government-plans-spy-keystone-xl-protesters" target="_blank">documents</a> from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and ACLU of Montana.
</p><p>
The ACLU obtained a
<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4325264-May-2017-Field-Analysis-Report.html" target="_blank">report</a> showing that state and federal agencies may be spying on potential protesters and characterizes pipeline opponents as "extremists" intent on "criminal disruptions and violent incidents" and warned of potential "terrorism."
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="dd448" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="IUH8871576683796"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1042685991905972224" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">'Treating protest as terrorism': US plans crackdown on Keystone XL activists https://t.co/uyI2AMMI6T</div> — Guardian Environment (@Guardian Environment)<a href="https://twitter.com/guardianeco/statuses/1042685991905972224">1537430687.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Native American tribes believe Bears Ears is the last of undisturbed sacred lands. Mark Stevens, CC BY-NC-SA
By Rosalyn R. LaPier
Forty years ago the U.S. Congress passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act so that Native Americans could practice their faith freely and that access to their sacred sites would be protected. This came after a 500-year-long history of conquest and coercive conversion to Christianity had forced Native Americans from their homelands.
<p>
Today, their religious practice is threatened all over again. On Dec. 4, 2017, the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> administration <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/us/trump-bears-ears.html" target="_blank">reduced</a> the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/bears-ears">Bears Ears National Monument</a>, an area sacred to Native Americans in Utah, by more than 1 million acres. Bears Ears Monument is only one example of the conflict over places of religious value. Many other such <a href="http://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/08/08/breaking-news/hawaii-supreme-court-rules-against-thirty-meter-telescope-opponent-seeking-contested-case-hearing/" target="_blank">sacred sites</a> are being viewed as potential areas for development, threatening the free practice of Native American faith.
</p><p>
While Congress created the American Indian Religious Freedom Act to provide "access to sacred sites," it has been open to interpretation. Native Americans still struggle to protect their sacred lands.
</p><p><strong>Land-Based Religions</strong></p><p>
Native Americans have land-based religions, which means they practice their religion within specific geographic locations. As Joseph Toledo, a Jemez Pueblo tribal leader, said, <a href="https://www.presbyterianmission.org/story/spiritual-leaders-unite-support-bears-ears-national-monument/" target="_blank">sacred sites are like churches</a>; they are "places of great healing and magnetism."
</p><p>
Some of these places, as in the case of Bears Ears National Monument, are within federal <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands">public lands</a>. As a Native American <a href="https://www.rosalynlapier.com/" target="_blank">scholar</a>, I have visited many of these places and felt their power.
</p><p>
For thousands of years, tribes have used Bears Ears for <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2018/04/17/a-spiritual-reason-utah-tribes-want-to-protect-bears-ears-its-their-eden-and-plays-into-their-stories-of-the-creation/" target="_blank">rituals</a>, ceremonies and collecting medicines used for healing. The different tribes—the Hopi, Navajo, Ute Mountain Ute, Ute Indian Tribe and the Pueblo of Zuni—have worked to protect the land. Together they set up a nongovernmental organization, the <a href="https://bearsearscoalition.org/" target="_blank">Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition</a>, to help conserve the landscape in 2015.</p><p>
The tribes believe Bears Ears is one of the last large undisturbed areas in the lower 48 states and contains the spirits of those who once lived there. Bears Ears Navajo elder <a href="https://savingplaces.org/stories/mark-maryboy-personal-reflection-bears-ears-national-monument#.W2yUOdVKjX6" target="_blank">Mark Maryboy</a> emphasized, "It's very important that we protect the earth, the plants, and special ceremonial places in Bears Ears for future generations—not just for Native Americans, but for everybody."
</p><p><strong>Sacred Landscape</strong></p><p>
My great-grandparents, Páyotayàkχkumei and Kayetså'χkumi, (translated as Aims-while-flying-through-the-air and Hollering-in-the-air), were well-known <a href="http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/university-of-nebraska-press/9781496201508/" target="_blank">religious leaders</a> on the Blackfeet reservation. They lived in the foothills of the south side of the reservation. However, they went into the mountains and onto public lands in an area now called the Badger-Two Medicine in northcentral Montana to practice their religion.
</p><p>
My great-grandfather traveled into Badger canyon to trap eagles and gather their feathers which he used in ceremonies and for divine protection. My great-grandmother gathered medicinal plants used in healing ceremonies. Together they prayed and sought solitude in this sacred landscape.
</p><p>
Similar to Bears Ears, the <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/hlcnf/about-forest/?cid=fseprd500268" target="_blank">Badger-Two Medicine</a>, a 130,000-acre area within the Lewis and Clark National Forest, became embroiled in a controversy over potential natural resource development between 1982 and 2017. The Blackfeet tribe argued that these lands were sacred. And that tribal members, such as my great-grandparents, had used these lands for years for spiritual purposes.
</p><p>
The Blackfeet tribe ultimately succeeded in stopping development, but only after a <a href="http://www.oupress.com/ECommerce/Book/Detail/2327/many%20nations%20under%20many%20gods" target="_blank">35-year-long fight</a> with the Department of the Interior, which initially approved almost 50 oil and gas leases. In 2017 Interior Secretary Jewell <a href="https://www.blm.gov/press-release/interior-department-cancels-remaining-oil-and-gas-leases-montanas-badger-two-medicine" target="_blank">canceled</a> the last of these leases. This means these public lands will not be used for natural resource development in the future.
</p><p>
Now my family and other Blackfeet, who have used the Badger-Two Medicine for millennia, can use these public lands for their religious practice in solitude.
</p><p><strong>Forty Years Later</strong></p><p>
The reality is, however, that not every dispute between tribes and the U.S. government ends up in favor of the tribes. Historically, Native American tribes have struggled to explain why certain landscapes are sacred for them.
</p><p>
In 1988, just 10 years after the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, the Supreme Court considered a <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/485/439" target="_blank">case involving the construction of a U.S. Forest Service road</a> through undeveloped federal lands sacred to northern California tribes in the Six Rivers National Forest.
</p><p>
The lower court had ruled in favor of the Yurok, Karok and Tolowa tribes, stating the road would impact their religious practice.
</p><p>
However, the Supreme Court reversed the decision, ruling that building a road through a sacred landscape would not prohibit the tribes' "free exercise" of religion.
</p><p>
The tribes lost, because the Supreme Court viewed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act as a policy and not a law with legal protections.
</p><p>
Ultimately, the road was not built because Congress stepped in and added this sacred area to the existing <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/srnf/recarea/?recid=11476" target="_blank">Siskiyou Wilderness,</a> which is a protected area by federal law.
</p><p>
What was noteworthy in the SCOTUS deliberations, though, was the dissenting opinion of Justice William Brennan, who defended land-based religions. He said,
</p><p>
"Native American faith is inextricably bound to the use of land. The site-specific nature of Indian religious practice derives from the Native American perception that land is itself a sacred, living being."
</p><p>
Indeed, religion scholars such as Yale professor <a href="https://divinity.yale.edu/faculty-and-research/yds-faculty/tisa-wenger" target="_blank">Tisa Wenger</a> <a href="https://www.uncpress.org/book/9780807859353/we-have-a-religion/" target="_blank">point out</a> that "the most important religious freedom issues for Native Americans" center around protecting their sacred places.
</p><p>
At a time when the Trump administration has created a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/08/opinions/trump-religious-liberty-opinion-mikva/index.html" target="_blank">new task force</a> to address discrimination against certain religious groups, the exclusion of Bears Ears and other places of religious significance from these discussions raises important questions about religious freedom in the U.S. and also the legacy of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="dbd52" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4OYM291576662582"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="917431675633664006" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">For Native Americans, a River Is Sacred https://t.co/YXQawDP518 @foodandwater @Waterkeeper @billmckibben @foe_us @IENearth @MarkRuffalo @350</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/917431675633664006">1507567731.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-native-americans-struggle-to-protect-their-sacred-places-101300" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em><br></p><script async="async" data-counter="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101300/count?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" id="theconversation_tracker_hook" src="https://theconversation.com/javascripts/lib/content_tracker_hook.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
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- Bears Ears: We Must Protect This Spectacular, Sacred American ... ›
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The wellhead has cracked along the length of the pipe. It's believed the crack formed in December when the well was shut in over the winter. EPA
Trucks have removed more than 1,400 tons of contaminated soil following a large oil spill on the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana, The Billings Gazette reported.
Cleanup is still ongoing. So far, more than 50 large dump trucks full of soil have been removed with more to come, the publication noted.
<p>
An estimated 600 barrels of oil and 90,000 barrels of brine (production water) leaked from an Anadarko Minerals Inc. wellhead that was shut in and last inspected in December. It is believed that the wellhead might have frozen and cracked over the winter, leading to the spill.
</p><p>
The spill was discovered on April 27 by a farmer doing a flyover in the area. The exact date of the release is unclear.
</p><p>
The wellhead is located near Lustre, in the central region of the Fort Peck Reservation. Oil and brine from the leak traveled roughly 200 yards downhill to a stock pond used by tribal entities to water livestock. About three to six inches of oil sat on top of the water.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzY4NDY5OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MjIxMzUwNX0.IVYpjHtqVwy_3McBctR8PnVTDNzbf9K1vFOnOYMwr-k/img.jpg?width=980" id="201ff" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="86ae377a97e7ecaa7f2d5348db6dc55f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Oil pooled below the well pad in a drainage leading towards a stock dam.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">EPA</small>
</p><p>
Fort Peck Reservation, which lies north of the Missouri River, is home to members of the Sioux and Assiniboine nations. Many members <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/montana-tribes-fight-keystone-xl-pipeline-revived-by-trump-w477422" target="_blank">adamantly oppose</a> the proposed <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/keystone-xl" target="_blank">Keystone XL</a> (KXL) pipeline and its potential to endanger their <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/water" target="_blank">water</a> supply.
</p><p>
<span></span>A May 2 <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FortPeckIndianReservation/posts/10160431790295046" target="_blank">press release</a> from the tribes stated that the spill further reinforces tribal officials' opposition to the KXL and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines" target="_blank">pipeline</a> development on or near the reservation.
</p><p>
Floyd Azure, chairman of the Fort Peck Tribes, stated the spill is further indication of the detrimental effects oil production can have on the environment and is yet another threat to the tribes' water quality.
</p><p>
<span></span>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is overseeing cleanup operations for the reservation.
</p><p>
"On May 7, 2018, [Anadarko Minerals Inc.] received approval to proceed with excavation of the oil and brine contaminated soils along the drainage from the well pad to the stock pond," the EPA said.
</p><p>
"Based on an initial assessment, three to six inches of soil will be removed along the drainage. The excavation will be deeper, up to twelve inches, in the area adjacent to the well pad. The oil and brine emulsion concentrated into a pool of fluid adjacent to the well pad before discharging into the drainage."
</p><p>
Crews are removing oil from the shoreline of the stock pond with high volume, low pressure flushing and raking activities, the EPA said. Flushing and oil removal activities are expected for completion by May 18.
</p><p>
Joyel Dhieux, federal on-scene coordinator for the EPA, told The Billings Gazette that "Anadarko Minerals is still evaluating options for the cleanup of brine in the stock pond." The Oklahoma-based oil and gas company is required to pay for the cleanup costs.
</p><p>
<span></span>Officials confirmed to the EPA there are no known impacts to downstream water users.
</p><p>
The EPA said that the flow of oil has been stopped and response teams are focused on recovering oil at the spill site. </p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="026db" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="P7BPGM1576683817"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="992149327031275526" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Large Oil Spill Reported on Montana Reservation, Contaminating Pond https://t.co/sKz1xqI0Uf @ChiefTheresa @NoTarSands</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/992149327031275526">1525381807.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
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A well operated by Anadarko Minerals Inc. spilled a "substantial" amount of oil in the central region of the Fort Peck Reservation in northeast Montana, according to local media.
An estimated 600 barrels of oil and 90,000 barrels of brine (production water) leaked from the well, the Glasgow Courier reported, citing officials with the reservation's Office of Environmental Protection and the Bureau of Land Management.
<p>
The spill was first discovered by a farmer doing a flyover in the area. The farmer immediately notified Valley County authorities about the incident.
</p><p>
According to a press release received by
<a href="http://www.krtv.com/story/38097857/oil-spill-reported-in-valley-county" target="_blank">MTN News</a>, the spill was reported to the reservation's Office of Environmental Protection on April 27. The exact date that the leak occurred is not yet clear. The well was shut in late December.
</p><p>
Fort Peck Reservation, which lies north of the Missouri River, is home to members of the Sioux and Assiniboine nations. Members
<a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/montana-tribes-fight-keystone-xl-pipeline-revived-by-trump-w477422" target="_blank">adamantly oppose</a> the proposed <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/keystone-xl" target="_blank">Keystone XL</a> (KXL) pipeline and its potential to endanger their <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/water">water</a> supply.<br>
</p><p>
<span></span>The press release states that the spill further reinforces tribal officials' opposition to the KXL and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines" target="_blank">pipeline</a> development on or near the reservation.
</p><p>
<span></span>Oil and brine from the leak has now traveled roughly 200 yards downhill to a stock pond used by tribal entities to water livestock. The extent of the pond's contamination is not yet determined, the press release continued. According to initial assessments, about three to six inches of oil currently sit on top of the water.
</p><p>
Jestin Dupree, a Fort Peck Tribal council member, detailed in a
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1823663114528617/permalink/2189324524629139/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> post Wednesday: "In order to get this pond cleaned up there are certain levels of contamination that are allowable but we are looking at the possibility of draining the pond for a proper clean up and the Tribal Chairman felt the same way. In some places in this pond the water is about 13 feet deep."
</p><p>
"THIS IS CONSIDERED A LARGE SPILL as there are 100,000 gallons of salt water, 27,000-30,000 gallons of oil which equates to 600 barrels of oil," he added.
</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="54461ee49e7228de82fb3bf27681b65c"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1937548106269182&set=gm.2189324524629139&type=3&theater&ifg=1"></div></div><p>
According to MTN News, Anadarko has developed a clean up plan with oversight from tribal officials, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
<br>
</p><p>
Dupree noted on Facebook that by Friday the oil company will have a dollar amount for the cost of clean up.
</p><p>
Floyd Azure, chairman of the Fort Peck Tribes, was quoted by MTN News as saying that the incident is further indication of the detrimental effects oil production on the environment and is yet another threat to the reservation's water quality.
<br>
</p><p>
<span></span>After their initial report was published, the Glasgow Courier posted on their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/glasgowcourier/posts/10155705313861559" target="_blank">Facebook</a> page: "Fort Peck Tribes have asked that people avoid the area of the oil spill so as not to impede clean up efforts."
</p><p>
EcoWatch has contacted the reservation and will update with any new information.
</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8048258349d4f91dd442f06dfde9dfea"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/glasgowcourier/posts/10155704543206559"></div></div>
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"On the Edge." Jessie Moore
By Ingrid Abramovitch
Last summer, when wildfires burned out of control in Montana and other western states, Richard M. Parrish responded the best way he knows how: by creating artwork to document the devastation. Parrish, an internationally acclaimed glass artist, ascended over the parched landscape near his studio in Bozeman, Montana, in a small propeller plane. He then used these aerial observations to create a series of fused-glass works based on topographical maps—three of which are currently on view in The Tipping Point: Artists Address Climate Change, a group exhibition at the Rockland Center for the Arts in West Nyack, New York.
<p style="">In one Parrish piece, <em>On the Edge</em>, the contours of the land appear in bas-relief against a background that appears to be ablaze. "It speaks to the idea that we are on the edge of a precipice regarding climate change," said Parrish in an interview from Australia, where he is teaching a series of workshops on his kiln-formed glass techniques. "It conjures up images of the severe fires that most recently destroyed thousands of acres, hundreds of homes and businesses, and the livelihoods of unknowable numbers of people. The smoke and ash in the air where I live was horrible."</p><p style="">Another artwork, <em>Slide</em>, with its earthy palette and sense of vertical movement, refers to the mudslides that often occur after wildfires. A third piece, <em>Red Line</em>, depicts from above the movement of rivers and eroding land features while alluding to the "line we likely have crossed, where we cannot reverse the damage of climate change," Parrish said.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzUzODg4OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY3NDE2NTMzN30.iQKWgT0QoUUxYjfcZRAuuHveoXGiPm3f1Gx3t3zogGs/img.jpg?width=980" id="41900" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="926d45b33d68d19f65f0c1bff180eb85" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">"Slide"</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Jessie Moore</small></p>
<p style="">Barbara Galazzo, the co-curator of "The Tipping Point," chose Parrish's work for the show because it is as visually arresting as it is topical and timely. "I have followed his mapping series for years and think it is brilliant and relevant," she said. "While you can physically feel climate change in temperature and in the number of hurricanes, droughts, and severe snowstorms, you can only see physical changes in the earth from above."<br></p><p style="">Parrish's unique fused-glass technique combines the three-dimensionality of sculpture with the painterly qualities of a work on canvas. It is also especially well suited to his subject matter. "By layering the colors on glass and then grinding away to reveal all the layers," Galazzo noted, "it begins to resemble an X-ray of the earth while showing a topography of the land."</p><p style="">The artist attributes his interest in environmental themes to his childhood on a farm in eastern Idaho. "It was my first connection to the land and landscape of the West, and I still draw on that," he said, "from the colors and textures to the spatial qualities of the sky and horizon. We were near Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Tetons, Craters of the Moon and the Sawtooths—all amazing and powerful places."</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzUzODg4NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MjA2MjU1Mn0.EZ84PUkeKzQLx07wjz6n4X3Ew2pRphRmo16UB71pdS0/img.jpg?width=980" id="e24fe" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e95a493307feddd4a7ba878821fdde83" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">"Red Line"</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Jessie Moore</small></p>
<p style="">Trained as an architect, Parrish taught architecture and design at the University of Michigan and Montana State University. He established a glasswork kiln in Bozeman in the early 1990s and began to experiment there with his original fused glass techniques. Since 2001 he has been creating glass art full time and exhibiting and teaching around the world. "His work functions as a continuation of the rich American landscape tradition," said Kirsty Buchanan, curator of collections and exhibitions at the Rockwell Museum, the Smithsonian affiliate in Corning, New York, which in 2016 hosted "Aerial Perspectives of the American Landscape," a solo show of Parrish's mapping pieces.<br></p><p style="">Several were bird's-eye views of the patterns created by center-pivot irrigation systems. "Something I think about a lot is the Jeffersonian grid over most of the United States west of the Mississippi," Parrish said. "To me it is the imposition of human will over the land and the 'natural' environment. I'm aesthetically interested in the way drainages, topography, and geology interact with and interrupt the geometric impositions."</p><p>In addition to the pieces in "The Tipping Point," Parrish's artwork will be on view this spring when "Aerial Perspectives" travels to Bullseye Projects in Portland, Oregon (May 2–June 16). He is also helping to organize a group exhibit opening in May at the Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle.</p><p style="">An energetic proponent of the art of glass, Parrish enthuses about its artistic qualities. "Beyond the obvious—light, color, transparency, opacity, and reflection—I'm attracted to the myriad ways it can be transformed through heat, cutting, grinding, polishing, and breaking to create art," he explained. But even more powerful is its ability to bring clarity to its subject matter. "I hope that my work can bring attention to the beauty—sometimes the result of devastating events—of the landscape environment."</p><p style=""><em>The Tipping Point: Artists Address Climate Change is on display at the Rockland Center for the Arts in West Nyack, New York, through May 25.</em></p><p style=""><em> <em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/montana-artist-makes-objects-beauty-inspired-natural-disasters" target="_blank">onEarth</a>.</em><em></em></em></p>
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Zinke Proposes New National Monument in His Home State But Wants to Shrink Them Elsewhere
27 November 2017
Popular
Badger-Two Medicine. Tony Bynum
Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke wants to reshape and repurpose 10 national monuments for drilling, logging and other commercial activities, but you wont see the same recommendations for existing monuments in Montana—Zinke's home state.
Notably, if the former Congressman's plans take shape, Montanans might even find themselves with a new, 130,000-acre national monument in their state.
<p style="">Tucked in the second-to-last page of the interior secretary's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/zinke-national-monuments-2486752670.html">review of national monuments</a> over the summer was the suggestion of creating three new monuments, including the Badger-Two Medicine area next to the Blackfeet Nation reservation by Glacier National Park in Montana.</p><p style=""><a href="https://www.npca.org/" target="_blank">National Parks Conservation Association</a> spokesman Michael Jamison <span></span>said it was confusing that Zinke is recommending protection for the Badger-Two Medicine while proposing to shrink other national monuments.<br></p><p style="">"Everyone is grateful to see Secretary Zinke paying attention to permanent protection of the Badger-Two Medicine," Jamison told the <a href="http://missoulian.com/news/local/zinke-memo-suggests-monument-status-for-badger-two-medicine/article_379c6778-e01f-5c23-9318-00ecaf4cde95.html" target="_blank">Missoulian</a> in September. "But it's not acceptable to propose monument protection of the Badger while at same time proposing to strip protections from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/bears-ears">Bears Ears</a> and other sacred places for Native Americans. If monuments aren't permanent, we don't want monument status. If it's so transitory and impermanent it can be undone by the stroke of a pen in some future administration, it's not permanent protection."</p><p style="">The Badger-Two Medicine area of Montana's Rocky Mountain Front has been threatened by oil and gas development for decades, according to the <a href="http://wilderness.org/badger-two-medicine" target="_blank">Wilderness Society</a>. National monument status would give it protection from new development. <br></p><p style=""><span></span>As the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/zinke-aims-to-shave-national-monuments-except-in-his-home-state_us_5a1b8315e4b0d4906cafab87" target="_blank">Huffington Pos</a>t pointed out, in Zinke's review of national monuments, he noted that the Badger-Two Medicine site is considered sacred to the Blackfeet Nation. By the same token, the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah is <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bears-ears-protection-2413142790.html">also a sacred site</a> to Navajo people and other tribes. </p><p style="">Montana residents are also "scratching their heads" over Zinke's new monument suggestion, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/11/26/564918337/montana-monument-may-expand-under-trump-administration" target="_blank">NPR</a> reported. <br></p><p style="">Land Tawney, head of the Montana-based <a href="https://www.backcountryhunters.org/" target="_blank">Backcountry Hunters and Anglers</a>, told the national radio station that Zinke wants to create a new monument due to political aspirations. </p><p style="">"I think the secretary has talked about wanting to come back to Montana after he's done being secretary and potentially run for governor," Tawney said.<br></p><p style="">Zinke has also called for mining bans near Yellowstone National Park.</p><p style=""><span></span>"I think the people of Montana hold our special places very near and dear," he added. "If you do not protect those places I think it's a political nightmare for you in this state."<br></p><p style="">David Parker, a political scientist at Montana State University, also told NPR that Zinke might even run for president. </p><p style="">"Whatever his ambitions are, Montana is important to that moving forward," Parker said. "You can't say you're going to be on a national stage and be a serious candidate if you don't have strong support in your home state."</p><p style="">In his review, Zinke also suggested monument status for Camp Nelson in Kentucky where African-American soldiers received training during the Civil War and the home of assassinated Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers in Jackson, Miss. </p><p style="">President Trump is expected to announce his decision about monuments in December.</p>
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Smoke obscures much of the Pacific Northwest on Sept. 6, 2017. NASA / Goddard, Lynn Jenner
An intense and deadly fire season continued to exhaust Western firefighters this week as drought envelops the region.
Officials reported Wednesday that more than one million acres total have burned during Montana's fire season. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock declared a state of emergency last week, calling this "one of the worst fire seasons" in the state's history.
<p style="">As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/07/flash-drought-north-dakota-montana-wildfires" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported, fires and drought are stunting crop yields and endangering cattle in one of the country's most important agricultural areas. <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/">Climate change</a> is intensifying drought conditions in the West: an exceptionally warm spring and summer helped to dry out the landscape after a wet winter. High temperatures and dry conditions increase the chance of a fire starting and can help an existing fire spread.</p><p style="">"Thinking about temperature trends due to human-caused climate change, we think that the western United States is 1.5 [degrees] Celsius, or 3 degrees Fahrenheit, hotter than it would be in absence of climate change," Park Williams, a research scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, told <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/09/why-is-2017-so-bad-for-wildfires-climate-change/539130/" target="_blank">The Atlantic</a>.</p><p style="">"And there's a heat wave on top of that," said Williams. "Because of the exponential influence of temperature, that means that this heat wave is having a way worse influence on fire than it would in absence of human-caused warming."</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed"></p><div id="8af65" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="CKXPPQ1576663559"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="905176244668551168" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Wildfire in LA Burns 7,000 Acres During Record-Setting Heat Wave https://t.co/C76eFcTccg @tcktcktck @energyaction</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/905176244668551168">1504645808.0</a></blockquote></div><p></p>
<p style=""><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong></p><p style="">Western fires: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/us/montana-wildfire-drought.html" target="_blank">New York Times</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/09/06/wildfires-ravaging-the-western-u-s-smoke-sprawls-across-the-nation/?utm_term=.9a865dc34cda" target="_blank">Washington Post</a>, <a href="http://www.krtv.com/story/36306110/montanas-2017-fire-season-tops-1-million-acres-burned" target="_blank">KRTV</a>, <a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/09/06/548819263/out-of-control-wildfires-threaten-western-states" target="_blank">NPR</a>. Agriculture: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/07/flash-drought-north-dakota-montana-wildfires" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. Climate change: <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/09/why-is-2017-so-bad-for-wildfires-climate-change/539130/" target="_blank">The Atlantic</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/this-us-wildfire-season-is-among-the-worst-heres-why/2017/09/07/214c4af8-942c-11e7-8482-8dc9a7af29f9_story.html?utm_term=.fb567bad40b2" target="_blank">AP</a>. Background: <a href="http://www.climatesignals.org/climate-signals/increased-drought-risk" target="_blank">Climate Signals backgrounder on increased drought risk</a>, <a href="http://www.climatesignals.org/climate-signals/increased-wildfire-risk" target="_blank">Climate Signals backgrounder on increased fire risk</a></p><p style=""> <em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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Aaron Teasdale
By Aaron Teasdale
"How much moon do we have tonight?" I yelled to my friend Greg, trying to make myself heard over the sounds of wind and surging water. The sun was sinking toward the mountains all too quickly and our float-in campsite lay somewhere down the river's bends in darkening forest.
Greg shrugged. He had no clue of the moon's cycle either, which showed just how tragically pasty and over-civilized we'd turned. Our days had become filled with computer screens, not forest scenes; our nights capped with ceilings, not stars. All of which made this journey on standup paddleboards so sweet—or at least we hoped it would be sweet, if the pesky headwind would let up before we had to risk disfiguring ourselves while navigating boulder-strewn waters by headlamp and whatever light the moon might spare.
<p>We were dancing with Montana's Blackfoot River, its sinuous current wending us through the mountains, canyons and pine-studded pastures of the Rocky Mountains. We'd come to test our paddleboarding skills and experience the waters of one of my favorite books, Norman Maclean's "A River Runs Through It," a majestic paean to fishing, family and "the magic current of the world. </p><p>In Maclean's youth the Blackfoot ran pure, cold and thick with trout. But mining, logging and ranching wore away at the river's 1.5-million-acre watershed, and the river suffered. Water quality deteriorated, trout populations plummeted, and by the 1980s the Blackfoot had become yet another American <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/rivers">river</a> despoiled. </p><p>Then something remarkable happened. In 1993 local ranchers and conservationists, led by <a href="https://www.tu.org/" target="_blank">Trout Unlimited</a>, banded together in a partnership with state and federal <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife">wildlife</a> agencies to do something about it. Their effort, known as the <a href="http://www.blackfootchallenge.org/" target="_blank">Blackfoot Challenge</a>, grew into a multi-decade, watershed-scale restoration effort. Mines were reclaimed, tributaries restored, riparian areas revegetated. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of the valley's residents, who turned the Blackfoot Challenge into a landowner-led nonprofit group, the Blackfoot's wounds healed. </p><p>Today, its waters once again run clear and cold. Trout are abundant. Grizzlies are back roaming its banks. A shining example of community-based restoration, the Blackfoot stands as one of the American West's great conservation success stories.</p><p>Greg and I had been building our standup paddleboarding skills on the lower river near Missoula, but now we wanted to see the whole thing. Succumbing to a fit of living-room ambition—beers in hand, maps spread out—we decided to cover 80 miles of the Blackfoot in only two and a half days. We knew the trip had never been done, at least in the last century, for reasons that will soon become clear. With lightweight camping gear lashed to our boards and float-in campsites reserved, our brilliant plan would end with us paddling triumphantly, heroically even, into Missoula. </p><p>Never mind that it was unclear we could paddle that far and that fast. We hoped the river's magic current would deliver.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xMDExODAxMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjA5ODI0MX0.w6ncW4brxDgBR7ciAPjUH__tsB7ku8aSWmF_tXIvBb4/img.jpg?width=980" id="57e3c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cefffde2101afc9cd9c8d8750e85634b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><small placeholder="add photo credit..." class="image-media media-photo-credit">Aaron Teasdale</small></p><p>As the sun set that first night, the elusive moon stayed hidden, but the wind finally abated and we beached at our reserved campsite just as the last light leaked from the sky. The next morning, we jumped right back on the river, and its snow- and spring-fed waters swiftly carried us through golden ranchland into canyons of ancient stone. Rising to the north were the verdant pyramids of the Swan Range and the Bob Marshall wilderness complex, one of the largest roadless areas in the lower 48.</p><p>As we paddled onward, life revealed itself everywhere. Osprey surveyed from treetops. Explosions of swallows filled the air. In a dizzying display of fertility, a merganser passed with no fewer than 40 chicks in tow.</p><p>The day flowed on, and the world became a study in color and texture. The river was a rippling, blue ribbon laced with shimmering, silvery willows; rosemary-green cottonwood leaves flashed in the breeze; pine-clad mountains and terra cotta cliffs rose to touch the porcelain blue and white dome of the sky.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xMDExODAyNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NTg5MzIzMX0.ZZYgmfHUYHa_8uf8SiAdpRuA0WCbYKQZZ7XBVyb_6_0/img.jpg?width=980" id="d5afd" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b3d902df263493f42561571256ce71af" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><small placeholder="add photo credit..." class="image-media media-photo-credit">Aaron Teasdale</small></p><p>Somewhere along the way, the world beyond the riverbanks ceased to exist. I began to understand Maclean when he wrote, "I sat there and forgot and forgot, until what remained was the river that went by and I who watched … Eventually the watcher joined the river, and there was only one of us." </p><p>We joined the river in other ways, too, as we hurled through rapids that sometimes sent us headlong into frigid, frothing water. But the mid-June sun was warm and our spirits were high. We even found the early-cycle waxing moon, a pearl boomerang arcing overhead. </p><p>As dusk settled over the mountains, salmon flies swarmed the air and I covered my mouth to avoid inhaling them. Birds with the opposite intent dove from all directions, mouths agape. Hungry trout leapt from the water to feast on the river's bounty.<strong> </strong></p><p>Sleep came easy that second night at another river-side camp beneath a spectacle of stars. The night was clear and we needed no rainfly. We also needed no alarm. Warblers, thrushes, sandpipers and more woke us with a symphony. I raised my head and smiled at the sight of the Blackfoot purling past.</p><p>We were sleeping along the river, spending our days on the river, swimming in the river, drinking the river. Never had I felt so connected to water.</p><p>The last day of our journey began in a quiet canyon between soaring walls of precambrian rock. We floated past beaver lodges and shoreline trees crowned with eagle nests. We still had 33 miles to paddle, and as we drew closer to Missoula our muscles ached. After seeing only a handful of other parties our first two days, the river got busy. First, fisherman appeared, then college kids in inner tubes—Missoula's summer "tube hatch." </p><p>The canyon walls opened and long, straight logs appeared helter-skelter on the banks. The largest lumber mill west of Chicago once stood here. Over a century ago, the Bonner sawmill supplied timber for the railroads leading the march of civilization across the young nation.</p><p>We passed beneath the roar of Interstate 90 and another river, the Clark Fork of the Columbia, approached on our left. Just below its confluence with the Blackfoot was the site of Milltown Dam, built in 1908. It powered the nearby sawmill, blocked migrating fish (and paddlers), and accumulated toxic sediments in its reservoir from upriver mining in Butte. A $100 million, eight-year removal and restoration process was completed in 2014, when the river was finally opened to paddlers for the first time in over a century. Greg and I celebrated the return of the confluence and a wild and free Blackfoot with cheers and our paddles raised.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xMDExODE5Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyODIyNTgyOX0.BWuOyv0_FW8bxJK5KNT5PuLngjMVWZnzIZC-HBGt7GY/img.jpg?width=980" id="3aed9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ed5297f2b3eb256e8e11449935020927" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><small placeholder="add photo credit..." class="image-media media-photo-credit">Aaron Teasdale</small></p><p>Okay, I'll admit that our paddle-raising may have been metaphorical. After three days of nonstop paddling we barely had the energy to high-five. A beatific vision kept us moving: a few short miles downriver, the literary and fly- fishing haven of Missoula promised some of civilization's finer benefits—brick-oven pizza and locally brewed ale.<br></p><p>As our last river miles slipped by, I thought of one of my favorite Maclean passages, from his story "USFS 1919: The Ranger, the Cook, and a Hole in the Sky," a companion piece to "A River Runs Through It": "Life every now and then becomes literature—not for long, of course, but long enough to be what we best remember, and often enough so that what we eventually come to mean by life are those moments when life, instead of going sideways, backwards, forward, or nowhere at all, lines out straight, tense and inevitable, with a complication, climax, and, given some luck, a purgation, as if life had been made and not happened."</p><p>Then Greg and I were pulling our boards onto shore, summoning newfound energy for a vigorous high-five, and stumbling up to the deck of a white linen restaurant, where we were surely the most fragrant customers present. After 80 miles of standing on top of water, I swore I could feel the earth swaying beneath my feet, even though we were now on land.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xMDExODIyNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMDY1OTQyMX0.VKtowf9V4cF6QckLa3JDSBRV83tctzIb_BdmFOvdA1Y/img.jpg?width=980" id="462c1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="af07b99c9153f1a0fbbaa9d7bdfa02dc" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><small placeholder="add photo credit..." class="image-media media-photo-credit">Aaron Teasdale</small></p><p>In this Anthropocene era—in which we've paved, dammed, and tilled the world, in which extinction rates rise and politics seem to grow ever uglier—Greg and I found hope in the growing movement to restore and rewild the natural world. Dams can be removed, rivers restored, wildlife revived. Nature heals remarkably well when we let it. Better still, when wild nature is near our cities, connective veins of wilderness can strengthen ecosystems and grant people nearby places to go deep and rediscover our own inner wildness—even if only for a couple of days. Heal nature and we heal ourselves.<strong> </strong></p><p>Greg and I—our souls replenished by water and birdsong—raised cold pints of ale and toasted the Blackfoot. We need this river, like we need all wild and free rivers of the world, to show us the moon again and turn our lives to literature.</p><p><strong>Follow in the Writer's Paddle Strokes</strong></p><p><strong>Where:</strong> the Blackfoot River starts near the Continental Divide in the mountains south of Glacier National Park and flows for 132 miles through Western Montana before joining the Clark Fork of the Columbia River near Missoula.<strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Getting There:</strong> Missoula has the nearest airport and Highway 200 is your access road for the Blackfoot. There are many public put-ins and take-outs, though the river pulls away from the highway for extended stretches that require travel by remote dirt roads. Only experienced paddlers should attempt the Blackfoot.</p><p><strong>Best Time to Visit:</strong> The Blackfoot is suitable for paddling from May through September. May and the first half of June is high water and for experts only. July is the ideal month—the water is warm and still deep enough to cover the river's many boulders, but not so high that swims are perilous. After July, paddling the Blackfoot can be like pinball as you navigate through boulder fields. Fishing is excellent all summer and fall as soon as high water subsides.</p><p><strong>Camping:</strong> A scattering of campgrounds are available along the river, but the best sites are the five Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks float-in sites accessible only to paddlers. They can be reserved in advance by calling the FWP office at (406) 542-5564.</p><p><strong>Pro Tips:</strong> While sections of the river can be paddled by beginners, the many class I-III rapids make the Blackfoot more suitable for intermediates and above. Paddleboards and other paddle-powered watercraft can be rented at The Trailhead or Strongwater in Missoula. </p><p><strong>Additional Reading:</strong> "A River Runs Through It" (University of Chicago Press, 1976), Norman Maclean. "Paddling Montana" (Falcon Publishing, 2008), Hank and Carol Fischer. </p><p><em>Reposed with permission from our media associate <a href="http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/standup-paddleboard-trip-down-montana-s-blackfoot-river" target="_blank">SIERRA Magazine</a>.</em></p>
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