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.
Several oil projects are active in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
Bob Wick/Bureau of Land Management
The Trump administration is opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas leasing – a step that’s as much about politics as it is about energy.
A red fox listening for prey under the snow in Yellowstone National Park. Noise can affect foxes and other animals that rely on their hearing when they hunt.
Neal Herbert/NPS
A recent study finds that noise from human activities is intruding into many parks and other protected areas. Creating quiet zones and noise corridors can help reduce impacts from noise pollution.
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah.
Achill Family/Flickr
Behind the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon lie decades of controversy over federal control of public land in western states.
The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is part of a complicated history of land in the western US.
US Fish and Wildlife Service
Like much federal land in the US West, the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge has a long history tied to Native Americans’ plight and conflicts between settlers and the federal government.