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Administration inks agreement on upper Columbia, but leaves Snake River in limbo
The Biden Administration took a step forward on meeting the nation’s obligations to upper Columbia River tribes but fell short of producing a comprehensive plan for the entire Columbia basin including the Snake River. The administration announced a $200 million investment to benefit upper Columbia River salmon. The agreement between the administration and the Confederated…
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Abandoned mines pollute 110,000 miles of Western streams; new legislation and mining reform can help
Good Samaritan legislation and mining reform recommendations released this week to spur abandoned mine cleanup. With an estimated half a million abandoned mines scattered across the West, many in remote, hard-to-reach places, the job of cleaning them up seems almost insurmountable. Big, hard things are not accomplished in one fell swoop, though, and just as…
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Biodiversity needs a chance to flourish on BLM Lands
Sometimes it seems utterly hard to fathom the losses of biodiversity we are facing today. A jarring report published last year noted the abundances of freshwater species across the globe have declined over 80 percent since 1970. Born just shortly before this, by the ripe old age of 8 or 9, I was concerned enough…
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Colorado River Cutthroat restoration in the Green River watershed getting a boost from BLM
TU, BLM ink $8.867 million partnership for watershed restoration across the West. For over a decade, Nick and Hilary Walrath have been a power couple of Wyoming water restoration, working with landowners, universities, state and federal agencies, and local contractors to restore and enhance the Green River watershed where they call home. Both raised in…
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South Park – not the TV show – goes for gold in new resource management plan
After eight years of waiting, new plan in Colorado offers insight into the potential future of public lands management across the West. Since 2015, Trout Unlimited has been at the table with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Royal Gorge Field Office and other stakeholders working to update the Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the…
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BLM proposes saving the best of the West through oil and gas leasing reform
Comments are needed through September 22nd to help bring balance back to public lands Across the West, 73 percent of the remaining native trout habitat is located in watersheds on public lands. Native trout were once abundant across the country, however more than 50 percent of trout populations have been widely extirpated from their historical…
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The Fight for Bristol Bay Continues
Lawsuit by the State of Alaska threatens Clean Water Act protections. Earlier this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized Clean Water Act safeguards for the headwaters of Bristol Bay. These safeguards established a prohibition and restriction on mine waste discharge in the Pebble deposit area in the headwaters of Bristol Bay. This win was…
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