President Donald Trump officially nominated David Bernhardt—a former energy lobbyist environmental groups have described as a “walking conflict of interest”—to officially take over as interior secretary after Ryan Zinke stepped down in December 2018 following various scandals. “It’s a humbling privilege to be nominated to lead a Department whose mission I love, to accomplish the […]
By Andrea Germanos Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke joined with U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) to argue that the best way to fix the national parks is by pillaging public lands for fossil fuels. Their CNN op-ed published Wednesday focuses on the $11.6 billion repair backlog the parks face—”our parks are being loved to death,” they […]
As the nation observes National Park Week, the Interior Department released a report Wednesday touting that visits to national parks added $35.8 billion to the U.S. economy in 2017—a nearly $1 billion increase from the year prior—and supported 306,000 jobs. The National Park Service said more than 330 million visitors spent $18.2 billion in the […]
By Sam Schipani The National Park Service announced on Thursday new entrance-fee increases for national parks across the country. The entrance price for most fee-collecting national parks will increase by $5 per vehicle, with additional increases for park-specific annual passes and motorcycles varying across parks, depending on their “size and type.” The price of the […]
The Havasupai Tribe and a coalition of conservation groups praised the decision Tuesday by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the Department of the Interior’s 20-year ban on new uranium mining claims across 1 million acres of public lands adjacent to the Grand Canyon. The court ruled that the ban, adopted in […]
Over the summer, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) decided to strip Yellowstone grizzly bears of Endangered Species Act protections, sparking condemnation from conservationists over the agency’s “flawed” ruling. But now, USFWS is reviewing this decision thanks to an appeals court ruling that restored protections for a completely different animal that was taken off […]
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. […]
Following widespread outrage, the National Parks Service (NPS) has extended the comment period for the public to weigh in on the proposed rate hikes at 17 of the most popular national parks across the country. The comment period now closes Dec. 22, 2017. The original deadline had been set for Thursday. Under the Trump administration’s […]
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester introduced legislation on Tuesday to protect more than 30,000 acres of public land bordering Yellowstone National Park. These public lands in Montana’s Park County are the targets of two industrial scale gold mine proposals, which would threaten the national park, the clean water of the Yellowstone River, wildlife and the local […]