Natural Resources

"The Trump administration pushed out thousands of veteran U.S. Forest Service staff. An ‘extraordinary’ fire season is testing those who are left."

"About a month after President Trump sharply reduced the size of two national monuments in Utah, at least nine mining claims have been staked on land that is no longer protected from development, public records show."

"A proposal to expand hunting and fishing access within wildlife refuges advanced this week to the White House review stage." "The Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed opening 14 refuges to new hunting or sport fishing access."

"A recent hearing meant to inform the public about a new uranium mine proposal near Church Rock instead exposed wounds around the legacy of mining’s impacts on Navajo communities, as well as fresh concerns about whether technology that promises to safely extract the mineral is as clean as the industry claims."

"The Trump administration has pulled federal funding for an annual report chronicling the changing environment of the Arctic, where rapid warming is upending ecosystems, reconfiguring trade routes and scrambling Great Power strategy."

"House Democrats are investigating whether executives at a uranium company operating in Utah engaged in possible insider trading by making investments days before President Donald Trump opened a nearby national monument to mining."

"The five-car caravan crept down a gravel logging road as the day’s last beams of golden light filtered through the trees. About 20 forest defenders were making a stand in southwest Vancouver Island, at a spot where a logging company was expected to cut old-growth trees the following morning. They made camp in tents and the backs of cars."

"Interior Department staffers were optimistic after Doug Burgum was confirmed to lead the agency in 2025... . But since he took over at Interior last year, that hope has been replaced by confusion and concern that the agency is poorly run, has devolved into secrecy and has lost thousands of the staff needed to manage the national park systems and millions of acres of public lands."

"The Trump administration plans to rescind an EPA rule requiring states to consider tribes’ rights to fish, hunt and gather wild plants when establishing water quality protections — a policy the administration argues went beyond the agency’s authority."

"President Trump has nominated a former White House official and Project 2025 author to be the Interior Department’s internal watchdog, a move that critics say could hurt the integrity of the office’s investigations."