Aerial view of the Pinto Valley copper mine, located on private and U.S. national forest lands in Gila County, Ariz.
Wild Horizon/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Hard rock minerals like gold, silver, copper and lithium on public lands belong to the American public, but under a 150-year-old law, the US gives them away for free.
An old-growth forest of noble fir trees at Marys Peak in Oregon’s Coast Range.
Beverly Law
Crowding is increasingly affecting all kinds of public lands. Adjoining communities need to find ways to manage it, or risk harm to the attractions that make them a destination.
Sprinklers water a lettuce field in Holtville, California with Colorado River water.
Sandy Huffaker/AFP via Getty Images
Two decades of drought have reduced the river’s flow by one-third compared to historical averages. The Biden administration is considering mandatory cuts to some states’ water allocations.
An old-growth tree that was cut in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.
Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Protecting old and mature trees is the simplest and least expensive way to pull carbon out of the atmosphere – but proposed logging projects threaten mature stands across the US.
The white ‘bathtub ring’ around Lake Powell, which is roughly 110 feet high, shows the former high water mark.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Every gun and bullet sold in the U.S. generates excise taxes to support conservation. But Americans are buying guns now for different reasons than in the past – and increasingly, not for hunting.
A satellite captured large and small deforestation patches in Amazonas State in 2015. The forest loss has escalated since then.
USGS/NASA Landsat data/Orbital Horizon/Gallo Images/Getty Images
Land grabs spearheaded by wealthy interests are accelerating deforestation, and Brazil’s National Congress is working to legitimize them.
The twin buttes that give Bears Ears National Monument in Utah its name are sacred places to many Indigenous Tribes and Pueblos.
T. Schofield, iStock via Getty Images
If confirmed, US Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico would be the first Native American to run the agency that interacts with tribal nations. But her agenda extends far beyond Indian Country.
Fast electric vehicle charging stations at a rest stop on Interstate 95 in Maryland.
Earth and Main/Flickr
Do public lands in the West belong to Westerners, or all Americans? Moving a federal agency’s headquarters from Washington, DC to Colorado is the latest skirmish in a longtime struggle.
The waters of Quitobaquito in southern Arizona have attracted diverse visitors for thousands of years.
Jared Orsi
Border wall construction through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona is encroaching on a site where people from many cultures have interacted for thousands of years.
Entry to Mount Rushmore along the Avenue of Flags.
Xiao Fang/Wikimedia
Patriotism means pride in country, but what are we proud of? A former national park ranger suggests that visiting historic sites can remind Americans of the heritage, good and bad, that they share.
A polar bear crosses ice In Alaska’s Chukchi Sea area, where a recent court ruling bars the Trump administration from greenlighting offshore drilling.
NOAA/OER/Hidden Ocean 2016:The Chukchi Borderlands
Can presidents undo decisions by their predecessors to protect federal lands from development? A recent court ruling on offshore drilling says no, and could also affect contested lands in Utah.
Dawn on the south rim of the Grand Canyon.
Murray Foubister/Wikimedia
The Grand Canyon, which marks 100 years as a national park on Feb. 26, 2019, is known today as an iconic natural wonder. But early European visitors weren’t impressed.
Elk on the move in Yellowstone National Park.
NPS/Neal Herbert
What is the best way to conserve US national parks in a climate-altered future? One answer is connecting parks and other public lands, so plants and animals can shift their ranges.
The Carr Fire tears through Shasta, California, July 26, 2018.
AP Photo/Noah Berger
Climate change, development, past forest management policies and current firefighting practices are creating conditions for large, costly wildfires.
Wildland firefighters, like this crew heading into New Mexico’s Gila National Forest, in 2012, are equipped and operate differently from urban firefighters.
USFS Gila National Forest
A historian of wildfires explains the difference between urban and rural fire cultures, and what it means for protecting communities in fire-prone rural areas.