“While overall employment in the agency has dropped by 3,500 or 16 percent, since 2011, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, the number of historians in the Park Service has taken a much greater hit, percentage-wise, dropping from 449 in 2010 to just 149 ...

“An official at the Interior Department embarked on a campaign that has inserted misleading language about climate change — including debunked claims that increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is beneficial — into the agency’s scientific reports, according to documents ...

“More than 327 million visitors descended on the National Park System in 2019, a number that is seen as the third-highest single year tally dating to 1904, yet the head count comes at a time when some parks are overcrowded, National Park Service ranks are depleted, and Congress ...

“A career scientist who works for the U.S. government is alleging that her supervisors have retaliated against her for sounding an alarm about biosafety and workplace hazards. Her lawyers claim that she has been unfairly targeted for complaining about a litany of issues at a ...

“The latest idea coming from the City of Durango’s Natural Lands Preservation Advisory Board is to find a future home for the next big thing – e-bikes. At the heart of it all is the idea to create a new system of user-specific, directional trails for electric bicycles, or e-bikes ...

“MONTANA – A proposal by U.S. Sen. Steve Daines to convey the National Bison Range to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes has generated a mixture of excitement, concern and outright opposition in Montana. The provision, included in a broader bill settling the historic water ...

“Philadelphia leaders hope their attempt to ban hydrogen fluoride from oil refinery processes within city limits will spark other regulation of the chemical compound across the country. The city’s proposal comes after a fire and explosion at Philadelphia Energy Solutions’ Girard ...

“U.S. Representative Greg Gianforte came to Missoula Tuesday to learn how state and federal foresters are working together. ‘I’m here to listen,’ the Republican Congressman and gubernatorial candidate told a group of state and federal forest managers at the U.S. Forest ...

“A U.S. Geological Survey lab in Seattle leached pathogen-laced wastewater into a Seattle wetland, possibly endangering salmon and trout, and has attempted to fire an employee who blew the whistle on the lab, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. The USGS ...

“If you’re paying attention, the press release touting the effort of U.S. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico to rebrand Bandelier National Monument as a national park sounds noble. It’s what he’s not publicly promoting in that legislation that you should to pay attention ...

“A proposal by U.S. Sen. Steve Daines to convey the National Bison Range to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes has generated a mixture of excitement, concern, and outright opposition in Montana. The provision, included in a broader bill settling the historic water rights ...

“Law360 (February 20, 2020, 10:09 PM EST) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it’s moving toward setting a drinking water health standard for two common ‘forever chemicals,’ a step environmentalists immediately slammed as ‘too little ...

“The National Park Service today defended its hiring of former acting Director P. Daniel Smith for a job in North Carolina that appeared to be posted just for him. In an official posting, NPS officials described the position as a telework job that paid up to $166,000 a year and was ...

“The Trump administration has gone three years without a Senate-confirmed director of the National Park Service and filled many jobs with ‘acting’ positions, a practice that Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility claims has created a ‘leadership vacuum&# ...

“Every once in a while, I’ll catch a news item that not only justifies, but freshens and hardens my cynicism. This time, the Beltway news site Politico drooled out a 3,600-word epic produced in conjunction with nonprofit Type Investigations, covering exploration for lithium (a ...

“The Department of Interior (DOI) is overriding local decision-making in the rural West to allow expanded mining and resource extraction on federal public land, a report says. According to the DOI’s critics,  documents recently released by an organization that represents public- ...

“When P. Daniel Smith walked away from his job as deputy director of the National Park Service last fall, he didn’t walk back into retirement but rather into a position Interior Secretary David Bernhardt created for Smith that just happened to be based in Smith’s hometown ...

“Easily lost amid the turmoil in the Trump administration last week was the firing of Mike Stoker, the administrator for the EPA giant Region 9. Stoker, a Republican and Trump appointee, blames clashes with EPA headquarters in Washington plus his willingness to work with Democrats— ...

“A federal whistleblower complaint says there are open pits of toxic wastewater, roads bulldozed through protected wildlife habitat, and secret hunting cabins — all on public lands in Nevada. Is Nevada’s BLM — and its Battle Mountain District, in particular — allowing all  ...

“When P. Daniel Smith left his job as acting director of the National Park Service on Sept. 30, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt asked him to take a new role leading the agency’s efforts to celebrate the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence on July 4, 2026. Under the ...