GRAND JUNCTION — The Bureau of Land Management announced that a Colorado attorney who previously worked on issues for environmental groups will serve as the agency’s new deputy director. The U.S. Department of the Interior said Nada Culver, who was appointed to the position, will effectively run the BLM for the short term, replacing former […]
Interior Department
Posted inClimate, Energy, Environment, News, Politics and Government
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, a Colorado native, latest Trump official to catch coronavirus
WASHINGTON — Interior Secretary David Bernhardt has tested positive for the coronavirus, an agency spokesman said. Bernhardt’s test results Wednesday make him the latest administration official, including President Donald Trump, to test positive for the virus. Trump was hospitalized for three days in October. Interior spokesman Nicholas Goodwin said Bernhardt has no symptoms. He “will […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Politics and Government
Trump administration plans would ease protections for sage grouse in West
By Nicholas K. Geranios, The Associated Press SPOKANE, Wash. — The Trump administration announced plans Thursday that ease protections for sage grouse in the West, prompting an outcry by critics who say the move paves the way for widespread mining and drilling and ignores a federal court ruling. U.S. officials plan to formally publish what […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
U.S. Forest Service approves protection of Colorado’s Sweetwater Lake, but big questions remain
The White River National Forest’s request for Land and Water Conservation Fund money to permanently protect Garfield County’s Sweetwater Lake — a pristine oasis surrounded by public lands — has been granted. But the agency did not say how much of the requested $8.5 million from the fund will be distributed. That’s just one of […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Newsletters, Outdoors, Outsider, Politics and Government
States, land managers still waiting for details on conservation funding under Great American Outdoors Act
Funding details promised by the Great American Outdoors Act were due Nov. 2, but state and federal land managers are still waiting for specifics of what is supposed to be a record amount of money for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and deferred maintenance projects. The Great American Outdoors Act — brokered in part […]
Posted inEnvironment, Growth, News, Politics and Government, Water
Colorado, five other states promise lawsuits if feds fast-track approval of Utah’s Lake Powell Pipeline project
For more than 20 years, negotiations among the seven states that rely on the Colorado River have avoided lawsuits, even as drought and population growth threaten the river’s flows. That may change as a promise to rush the environmental review of a diversion project between the Colorado River’s upper and lower basins has six states […]
Posted inOutdoors, Politics and Government
Cory Gardner touts public lands but won’t say if he supports Trump’s pick to oversee them
U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner helped lead a push to move the Bureau of Land Management headquarters to Colorado. And he is the sponsor of a bill to provide money to acquire public lands and improve national parks. But the Republican is refusing to discuss how the nation’s public lands should be managed. President Donald Trump […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors
E-bike access riling Colorado public lands users as BLM plans rule to open non-motorized trails
After a couple days of hard hiking last fall, Tim Brass thought it was time to track down a motor. He was bowhunting in a trophy unit near Creede, and plenty of other hunters were using a motorized trail for swift access. His friend offered an e-bike. Brass got his elk. “Best hunting experience of […]
Posted inAnnotated, Energy, Environment, News, Politics and Government
Watchdog faults Bureau of Land Management for sending jobs to Colorado, the West
BILLINGS, Mont. — A U.S. government watchdog agency said Friday that 81 Bureau of Land Management employees have declined to relocate to Western states or left their positions as the Trump administration pursues a broad reorganization of the bureau’s headquarters staff. The Government Accountability Office issued a report that faulted the administration for failing to […]
Posted inBusiness, Energy, Environment, News, Politics and Government
Wyoming and Idaho join Interior Department to appeal court ruling blocking rollback of sage grouse protections
By Keith Ridler, The Associated Press The Interior Department, Idaho and Wyoming are appealing a court ruling that halted a Trump administration plan to ease land-use restrictions in seven Western states that protect struggling sage grouse. The notices filed Monday say the agency and states will seek a review by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court […]