The Land Desk

This newsletter focuses on Place—the unique area where people and nature come together. The main area we cover is the Four Corners Country and the Colorado Plateau, home to the Ute, Diné, Pueblo, Apache, and San Juan Southern Paiute tribes. Our coverage will expand to include other parts of the "public land states" in the Interior West.

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Articles

Trump's DOJ takes aim at the Antiquities Act

1 week ago | landdesk.org | Jonathan Thompson

ūüĆĶ Public Lands ūüĆ≤Somewhat lost among the hubbub over Republicans‚Äô efforts to sell off and otherwise deface public lands was a legal opinion by the Trump administration‚Äôs Justice Department published on May 27. In it, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lanora C. Pettit argues that a president has the authority to alter or eliminate a national monument designated under the Antiquities Act.
Sen. Mike Lee revives public land sell-off bid

2 weeks ago | landdesk.org | Jonathan Thompson

ūüĆĶ Public Lands ūüĆ≤It is not hyperbole to say we are living in dark times. The U.S. President is about to hold a multi-million-dollar, taxpayer-funded, dictator-style military parade ‚ÄĒ for his frigging birthday. He activated the national guard and the marines to violently quell non-violent protests in Los Angeles.
Spring runoff peaks, winners announced

2 weeks ago | landdesk.org | Jonathan Thompson

đ„” Aridification Watch đ«Iâm calling it! Spring runoff appears to have peaked on most Western streams â and almost definitely has done so on the streams in this yearâs Land Desk Super Predict the Peak Contest. The good news is, the runoff was later and bigger than a lot of folks â including myself â predicted it would be.
MAGA intensifies its assault on public lands

3 weeks ago | landdesk.org | Jonathan Thompson

šµ Public Lands š²Even before public lands lovers were still celebrating one small victory ā i.e. killing a budget bill amendment that would have sold off a half-million acres of federal holdings in Nevada and Utah ā the MAGA/Trump/GOP launched a multi-pronged assault on the places Americans hold dear.
Foto Friday: Western roaming

4 weeks ago | landdesk.org | Jonathan Thompson

š¦« Wildlife Watch š¦Nearly a century after being extirpated from the region, it appears as if the wolf is returning to the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado. Colorado Parks and Wildlife just released its latest map showing watersheds into which radio-collared wolves have roamed, and it includes the San Miguel and Upper Animas watersheds in the San Juans.
Bureau of Livestock and Mining is back!

1 month ago | landdesk.org | Jonathan Thompson

⛏️ Mining Monitor ⛏️On May 23, the Bureau of Land Management’s Monticello field office approved the operating plan for Anfield Resources proposed Velvet-Wood uranium mine in southeastern Utah.
Foto Friday: Memorial Day Weekend edition

1 month ago | landdesk.org | Jonathan Thompson

I started writing a dispatch about how the House budget reconciliation bill still really sucks for public lands even though the public land-selloff amendment was stripped from it. I also had a piece lined up about how Kanab, Utah, seems to aspire to become the next St. George, as in it’s growing rapidly with huge, upscale, master-planned “resorts” and “communities,” even as the region aridifies and the water supplies are all tapped out.
Mining Monitor: Velvet-Wood, Anson royalties, South32 Hermosa Mine

1 month ago | landdesk.org | Jonathan Thompson

The weather in the Four Corners Country was normal for May, which is to say it was absolutely abnormal. Following a long, hot and dry spell, the winds moved in, whipping the orange dust of the Colorado Plateau into a sand-blast to the face — and the rapidly melting snowpack. The airborne dust turned the sky into an orange veil that captured light. Then rain. And in the morning, the air was crisp and clean, and the Abajos and La Sals in southeastern Utah were dusted with snow.
When "disposing" of public land isn't the end of the world

1 month ago | landdesk.org | Jonathan Thompson

šµ Public Lands š²The debate over selling off public land has become more serious, and consequential, than ever. While the urge to transfer public land out of the American publicās hands has flared up many times over the last century or so, never has the concept gained so much support among establishment politicians and pundits. Neither James Watt, the notoriously anti-conservationist Interior Secretary under Ronald Reagan, nor the fossil fuel-loving officials of the George W.
Public land sell-off amendment is a test

1 month ago | landdesk.org | Jonathan Thompson

šµ Public Lands š²It appears that Republicans are actually serious about taking Americaās public lands out of the publicās hands. During a late night-early morning move this week, Republican Reps. Mark Amodei of Nevada and Celeste Maloy of Utah sneakily added an amendment to the House reconciliation bill that would open the door to selling off thousands of acres of Bureau of Land Management parcels (and some U.S. Forest Service land) in Utah and Nevada.