Episodes

Kate and Aaron are joined by Dr. Dominick DellaSala, Chief Scientist at Wild Heritage, a project of the Earth Island Institute. Dr. DellaSala came on The Landscape twice last year to talk about the Biden administration’s plans to protect mature and old growth forests. He recently wrote an op-ed for the Seattle Times in which he says the Forest Service’s is still planning to allow logging in mature and old growth forests. We talk about why that’s the case, how the Old Growth Amendment process pla...

Kate and Aaron are joined by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers CEO Patrick Berry to talk about why Utah’s lawsuit seeking control of over 18 million acres of national public land in the state would be terrible for sportsmen across the West. News Other states urge Supreme Court to hear Utah federal land case – E&E News ‘A beautiful thing’: Klamath River salmon are spotted far upstream in Oregon after dam removal – Los Angeles Times Opinion: Risking Utah’s hunting heritage: Where’s the truth in Ut...

Kate and guest host Sterling are joined by journalist and producer Marissa Ortega-Welch to talk about her new podcast series, How Wild, which was recently released by KALW and distributed by NPR. The podcast explores how the concept of capital W wilderness is changing due to climate change, technology, crowding, and shifting views on colonialism. News Leaked recordings detail a major environmental agency quietly gutting its workforce – Vox New Federal Rules Aim to End Tax Confusion for Tribal...

Aaron and Kate are joined by members of the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe to talk about the proposed Kw’tsán National Monument in southern California. This is part of our Road to 30 postcards series, in which we highlight local efforts to protect iconic landscapes around the country. A Tribal elder, a Tribal youth, and one of the leaders of the monument proposal talk about why it’s important to protect this desert region as part of a broader cultural landscape that connects Avi Kwa Ame Nationa...

Kate and Aaron talk to Inside Climate News reporter Wyatt Myskow about an incredible story he wrote about what’s unfolding in Nevada’s Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, where the endangered Devil’s Hole pupfish is undergoing a rebrand from villain to hero. Click here for a transcript of this episode. News The National Monuments Disinformation Brigade – Center for Western Priorities Proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary – NOAA Resources As a Nevada Community Fights a Lithi...

In this episode of the Landscape, Kate and Aaron discuss Utah’s attempt to sue the federal government for control of over 18 million acres of federal public land with John Leshy, Professor Emeritus, University of California College of the Law, San Francisco. Leshy served as Solicitor (General Counsel) of the U.S. Department of the Interior throughout the Clinton administration and served in the Interior department in the Carter administration. Leshy discusses the underpinnings of Utah’s legal ar...

For the 200th episode of The Landscape, we brought the whole Center for Western Priorities team together to talk about what brought us each into conservation work, and recount some of the most memorable moments we’ve had as public lands advocates. Click here for a transcript of this episode. News Utah lawsuit seeks state control over vast areas of federal land.- Associated Press Credits Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss Feedback: podcast@westernpriorities.org Music: Purple Planet Featu...

Kate talks to author Zak Podmore about his upcoming book, Life After Deadpool: Lake Powell’s Last Days and the Rebirth of the Colorado River, which explores various aspects of Lake Powell’s emptying due to drought, from how to replace the loss of hydropower to how wildlife and plant life is returning to Glen Canyon as the lake recedes. Click here to read a transcript of this podcast. News US energy reform bill a ‘wishlist for the fossil industry’, say environmental groups – The Guardian In l...

Kate and Aaron talk to Syren Nagakyrie, founder and director of Disabled Hikers, a nonprofit group seeking to make the outdoors more accessible for people with disabilities. Nagakyrie has been outspoken about the tokenization of disabled hikers by U.S. Senator Mike Lee, who recently filed a bill called the Outdoor Americans with Disabilities Act that encourages road building on public lands. Nagakyrie called the bill “a blatant attempt to scapegoat disability as an excuse to build more roads.” A...

Aaron and Kate talk to Dr. Hitesh Tolani, creator of the Gays of National Parks Instagram account, which is aimed at fostering community among LGBTQ people through a love of the outdoors. Hitesh began the account as a joke in 2022, but it has since grown into a community with over 15,000 followers. Hitesh talks about how the group is fostering connection both online and in person, as well as why representation in the outdoors and park leadership matters. News The Supreme Court will consider re...

Kate and Aaron are joined by Boise State Public Radio’s Murphy Woodhouse, a reporter with the Mountain West News Bureau collaborative. Murphy covers wildfires and wildfire policy across the West, informed by his past experience as a wildland firefighter. In a wide-ranging discussion, Murphy talks about the bleak state of wildfire pay, the possibility of much of the West becoming uninsurable because of wildfire risk, and much more. News Interior Department holds community meeting on Chuckwalla ...

The proposed Mimbres Peaks National Monument would add protections for lands overseen by the Bureau of Land Management in Luna County, New Mexico near the city of Deming. The collaborative effort is locally-led by elected leaders, business owners, economic development advocates, hunters, youth leaders, conservationists, and students. The proposal would protect approximately 245,000 acres in an area that contains documented cultural and historic sites that continue to hold importance to modern da...

Aaron and Kate are joined by Kristen Miller, Executive Director of the Alaska Wilderness League, to talk about some big steps to protect public lands in Alaska made by the Biden administration this spring. They include increased protections for 13 million acres inside the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, as well as the cancellation of a proposed 200-mile road that would have stretched across part of Alaska called the Ambler Road. News The U.S. just took its biggest step yet to end coal mining...

Aaron and Kate are joined by Davina Smith, who represents the Navajo Nation on the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, and Lauren Henson, who is the Collaborative Management and Tribal Support Specialist for the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, to talk about the Bears Ears draft monument management plan, which came out in March. We talk about how the draft plan came together and how to get involved. Click here for an automatically-generated transcript. News Biden Expands Two National Monumen...

Kate and Aaron are joined by the Wilderness Society’s Michael Carroll and Justin Meuse to talk through a handful of federal regulations, or rules, that were finalized in late March and April. These rules touch on everything from methane waste on public lands to ecosystem restoration to caribou herds in Alaska. Some of these rules are already in effect, and some will take effect soon. Together, they are a framework for more responsible and climate-friendly public land management. Click here for ...

Kate and Aaron are joined by Trout Unlimited CEO Chris Wood, who has been with TU for twenty years, following a career as chief policy director at the U.S. Forest Service during the Clinton administration. Chris talks about how an influx of federal funding for ecosystem restoration is supercharging the group’s work reconnecting streams and rivers, as well as how his group is engaging in legislative mining reform. Click here to read an automatically generated transcript of the episode. News Bi...

Kate and Aaron are joined by author Betsy Gaines Quammen to talk about public lands and extremism. Betsy has written two books about extremism in the West. Her first, American Zion, looks at the connection between Mormonism and extremism. Her second book, True West, which came out last year, digs into the myths that define the West. News Interior rule aims to crack down on methane leaks from oil, gas drilling on public lands – Associated Press Proposed Chuckwalla National Monument video – Cen...

Kate and Aaron are joined by three members of the reporting team behind, Lithium Liabilities, a groundbreaking investigation into how lithium mining could affect the West’s water supply. Emma Peterson, Morgan Casey, and Lauren Mucciolo are part of a large team of editors, photographers, and reporters who worked on the investigation at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. Click here to read an automatically generated t...

Kate and Aaron are joined by pollsters Lori Weigel and Dave Metz to discuss the 14th Annual Colorado College State of the Rockies Project Conservation in the West poll. The poll surveys voters in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Colorado on their environmental views. This year, it found support for conservation of nature is higher than ever. Click here to read an automatically generated transcript of the episode. News Wyoming Legislature’s two chambers OK ‘Kelly ...

Kate and Aaron are joined by Justin Meuse, Director of Government Relations for Climate and Energy at the Wilderness Society, to talk about a proposal from the Bureau of Land Management to prioritize around 22 million acres of public land for utility scale solar development across the West. They discuss why planning matters, how much solar development to actually expect if this plan proceeds, and how you can get involved. View an automatically generated transcript of this episode here. News W...

Driven by high uranium prices, domestic uranium mining has resumed at three locations in the U.S. after an eight-year hiatus. Kate and Aaron are joined by Amber Reimondo, Energy Director at the Grand Canyon Trust and Scott Clow, Environmental Programs Director for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, to discuss how that will impact the Grand Canyon and Tribal communities on the Colorado Plateau. Click here for an automatically generated transcript. News First conventional uranium mining in the U.S. in...

Kate and Aaron are joined by I Ling Thompson, CEO of The Foundation for America’s Public Lands. The Foundation is the official charitable partner of the Bureau of Land Management. Its job is to engage with local communities and the public on behalf of the agency. Thompson discusses the challenges the BLM faces and how the Foundation plans to help, as well as how members of the public can engage with the Foundation. Click here for an automatically generated transcript. News NYSE pulls plan for...

Kate and Aaron are joined by Tony Caligiuri, president and CEO of Colorado Open Lands, a nonprofit land trust that exists to protect Colorado’s land and water resources. Colorado Open Lands works primarily with private landowners to place voluntary agreements called conservation easements on their property. Tony talks about how private land and water conservation works, as well as the vital role it plays in the national effort to protect 30 percent of U.S. land and water by 2030. News First co...

Kate and Aaron are joined by Center for Western Priorities Executive Director Jennifer Rokala for a year-end public lands news roundup and a look ahead at 2024. Overall, 2023 was a great year for public lands. The Biden administration took some really important and concrete steps toward protecting 30 percent of U.S. lands by 2030, as well as started some important rule-makings to update public lands management and end drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. But the pressure is on as w...