White House

 

Hot Gas Summer. According to Politico, “As drivers are preparing to hit the roads en masse for the Memorial Day weekend later this month, the Interior Department’s decision to scrap its remaining federal oil and gas lease sales for the year has set the stage for a season of bitter fighting over gasoline prices. U.S. pump prices hit their latest all-time record on Thursday, averaging $4.418 per gallon. Prices have been climbing this week, surpassing the highs reached in March by nearly a dime. The previous time gas prices hit a record high was in 2008. There’s no telling when the increases will end, since they are not closely tracking oil prices. Analysts largely attribute high gasoline prices with the country’s reduced refining capacity and the loss of Russian oil on the global market — and that’s likely to get worse as the summer driving season comes around. Seasonal measures to cut down gasoline costs, such as proposed gas tax holidays and the extended use of higher ethanol blended fuels, offer only limited relief for consumers. Critics of gas tax breaks say that move would only benefit the oil and gas industry and the impact from the Biden administration’s recent E15 waiver is largely limited to a few Midwestern states. The criticisms already started piling on Thursday after the Interior Department’s announcement. Sen. Bill Cassidy called the move the latest in an ‘all-out assault on American energy, Louisiana Jobs, and families’ pocketbooks.’ Sen. Joe Manchin dismissed it as ‘just awful.’ A federal court in Wyoming is hearing oral arguments today on a lawsuit by the Western Energy Alliance against the administration for its delayed lease sales. (The pro-fossil fuel group sued the administration last year when President Joe Biden first put a hold on federal oil and gas lease sales.)” [Politico, 5/13/22 (=)]

 

Offshore Move Highlights Biden's Mixed Message On Oil. According to Politico, “The federal oil and gas program has plagued Biden since he took office and quickly ordered a halt on new leasing that seemed consistent with his campaign promise to throttle federal oil. The moratorium — meant to freeze the sale of new drilling rights while his Interior Department conducted a review of the federal oil program — would later be blocked by a federal judge. But the political fallout with supporters of the oil and gas industry was already done. The report, issued months later, flagged numerous issues with the federal oil program, calling for longtime reform measures like increasing royalty rates to account for climate impacts, higher fees, less speculative leasing and higher bonding rates. But it stopped short of the campaign promises Biden had made to end federal drilling by cutting leasing and permitting on public lands. Instead, the report represented a shift to a more moderate approach that was expected by many experts who say the White House is hamstrung by federal laws. For example, Interior will hold several onshore oil auctions next month, in compliance with the court injunction, mostly in the mountain West. But those sales have angered both industry groups and environmentalists, with oil and gas companies complaining that the leases on offer — a dramatic reduction from what prospectors had asked to be offered at sale — are a relative drop in the bucket and activists demanding that Biden take unabashed steps to retire the oil and gas program for good.” [Politico, 5/12/22 (=)]

 

Biden Cancels Two Gulf Of Mexico Oil Gas Leases Amid Court Battle, High Gas Prices. According to New Orleans Advocate, “Citing conflicting court rulings on the subject, the Biden administration has canceled a pair of upcoming offshore oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico. A Department of the Interior statement confirmed the federal government ‘will not move forward’ with the two Gulf leases ‘as a result of delays due to factors including conflicting court rulings that impacted work on these proposed lease sales.’ The Department of the Interior also canceled sale for the Cook Inlet in Alaska ‘due to a lack of industry interest in leasing the area.’ President Joe Biden has taken aim at oil and gas leases on public lands and waters ever since he took office in January 2021. As part of a climate change agenda intended to curb drilling, Biden issued an executive order halting the leases, saying they needed further environmental review. Republican attorneys general sued, including Louisiana’s Jeff Landry. The attorneys general won an injunction from a federal judge in Lafayette that paved the way for a November lease sale in the Gulf, but another federal judge in Washington invalidated the sale. A federal appeals court in New Orleans on Tuesday heard arguments on whether Biden legally suspended the sale. Future onshore lease sales are on tap, but the Biden administration has scaled back the amount of land available and raised the royalty rates for the sales.” [New Orleans Advocate, 5/12/22 (=)]

 

Biden Admin Cancels Massive Oil And Gas Lease Sale Amid Record-High Gas Prices. According to Fox Business, “The Biden administration canceled one of the most high-profile oil and gas lease sales pending before the Department of the Interior Wednesday, as Americans face record-high prices at the pump, according to AAA. The DOI halted the potential to drill for oil in over 1 million acres in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, along with two lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico. The move comes as Biden has taken a few actions to combat high gas prices, despite his administration’s generally hostile approach to the oil industry. ‘Due to lack of industry interest in leasing in the area, the Department will not move forward with the proposed Cook Inlet OCS oil and gas lease sale 258,’ a DOI spokesperson told FOX Business in a statement Thursday. ‘The Department also will not move forward with lease sales 259 and 261 in the Gulf of Mexico region, as a result of delays due to factors including conflicting court rulings that impacted work on these proposed lease sales,’ the spokesperson added. The spokesperson also told FOX Business that ‘there are 10.9 million acres of offshore federal waters already under lease to industry,’ and ‘of those, the industry is not producing on more than three-quarters (75.7% or 8.26 million acres).’ … ‘The Biden-Harris administration is moving forward at the pace and scale required to help achieve the President’s goals to make offshore wind energy a reality for the United States,’ DOI Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. ‘Together with an all-of-government approach, we can combat the effects of climate change while creating good-paying union jobs that can benefit underserved communities.’” [Fox Business, 5/12/22 (-)]

 

White House Scraps Oil, Gas Lease Sales As Fuel Prices Hit New Highs. According to New York Post, “The Biden administration has canceled oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Cook Inlet — dealing a blow to potential domestic fuel protection as gas prices reach new highs across the country. The Interior Department told The Post Thursday that the Cook Inlet lease sale would not move forward because of a ‘lack of industry interest in leasing in the area.’ In the Gulf of Mexico, the department canceled two lease sales, citing ‘conflicting court rulings that impacted work on these proposed sales.’ As of Thursday morning, the national average price of a gallon of regular gas stood at $4.418, according to AAA — the highest on record and $1.41 higher than at this time last year. Biden imposed a moratorium on the sale of new leases one week after his inauguration, but the order was later blocked by a Louisiana federal judge who granted a preliminary injunction to 13 states that claimed they would suffer ‘irreparable injury’ from the White House move.” [New York Post, 5/12/22 (-)]

 

Biden Canceled An Alaska Oil And Gas Lease Sale. What's The Impact On Gas Prices? According to CBS, “Gasoline prices in the U.S. hit a new record on Thursday — the same day the Biden administration canceled three oil-and-gas lease sales. Republican lawmakers are pointing to surging fuel costs as a rationale for selling more leases to drill on federal lands, with some criticizing President Biden’s decision as hurting America’s energy independence. Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy tweeted that the decision ‘proved their lack of commitment to oil and gas development in the U.S.’ Gas prices are rising due to a confluence of several trends, including an economic recovery that pushed up demand for energy as well as Russia’s war in Ukraine. Against that backdrop, it’s no wonder that many lawmakers, consumers and businesses want to see the U.S. energy sector ramp up production. But even if the three lease sales had proceeded, it would have taken years for production to hit the market, experts say. In other words, the impact on gas prices today ‘means literally nothing,’ according to Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis. Here’s what to know about the canceled lease sales and their impact on gas prices.” [CBS, 5/12/22 (=)]

 

Biden Administration Cancels Drilling  Sales In Alaska And Gulf Of Mexico. According to The New York Times, “The Biden administration is canceling oil drilling lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Cook Inlet, triggering furious responses from Republicans, who are blaming President Biden’s energy policies for high gas prices. A spokeswoman for the Interior Department, Melissa Schwartz, said in a statement that the Cook Inlet lease sale would not proceed because of a ‘lack of industry interest.’ She said the planned sale of two leases in the Gulf of Mexico was being scrapped because of ‘conflicting court rulings,’ which she said affected the agency’s ability to work on the leases. The decisions come at a challenging time for the Biden administration. The average price for a gallon of gas nationwide hit $4.37 on Tuesday, a record according to the AAA. Surging prices at the pump have compounded inflationary pressures for consumers, which Mr. Biden this week said will be his top domestic priority. The leasing program presents a dilemma for Mr. Biden. He has promised progressive Democrats and environmental groups that he would propel the country away from its dependence on the fossil fuels that are driving climate change. At the same time, he has taken steps to increase oil supplies to try to bring down gas prices, including calling on the oil industry to pump more crude.” [The New York Times, 5/12/22 (=)]

 

Biden Calls Off Oil And Gas Leases In Alaska And Gulf Of Mexico — But Not For The Climate. According to Grist, “The Department of the Interior will not hold sales of oil and gas leases for millions of acres off the coast of Alaska and in the Gulf of Mexico, the agency confirmed on Wednesday. That’s good news for the climate, but experts warn that the U.S. is still not doing nearly enough to limit new oil and gas production to keep warming below catastrophic levels. The department dropped its plan to lease about a million acres in Cook Inlet in Alaska due to a ‘lack of industry interest,’ Interior spokesperson Melissa Schwartz said in an email to the Washington Post. Two more lease sales planned for the Gulf of Mexico will also be canceled, she added, due to a lack of time and legal issues. The federal government’s current offshore development plan expires at the end of June. Once it lapses, the Department of the Interior cannot issue any new offshore leases until a new plan is in place. The federal government is legally required to create a new plan, but the Biden administration hasn’t proposed one yet, meaning lease sales likely won’t resume until 2023 at the earliest. Before the election, President Biden promised voters: ‘No more drilling on federal lands, period.’ In January 2021, he signed an executive order pausing oil and gas leasing on public lands and offshore waters. But then 13 states with Republican attorneys general sued the administration, and a federal judge in Louisiana blocked the temporary moratorium.” [Grist, 5/13/22 (=)]

 

Interior

 

FWS

 

Klamath Tribes To Sue Federal Government Over 2022 Irrigation Project Allocation. According to KTVL-TV, “The Klamath Tribes announced Wednesday, May 11 their plan to sue the Federal Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), saying the federal government’s decision to allocate water to the Klamath Basin Irrigation Project violates the Endangered Species Act and their obligation to protect endangered fish in the Upper Klamath Lake. ‘It was not an easy decision it was something we did reluctantly, we are not a rich tribe and legal fights are expensive but we really saw that we had no choice,’ said the tribe’s newly elected chairman, Clayton Dumont during an interview on Thursday. ‘The Endangered Species Act is being violated repeatedly by the Bureau of Reclamation decisions, our fish populations continue to decline precipitously.’ The Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), which manages the Upper Klamath Lake and its outflows, announced on April 11 that they will allow 50,000 acre-feet to flow from the lake through the A canal to Klamath Basin irrigators this year. BOR cited data from the National Resource Conservation Service predicting inflows into the Upper Klamath Lake and water-level recommendations from the United States Fish and Wildlife Services.” [KTVL-TV, 5/13/22 (=)]

 

Congress

 

Senate

 

Coal Miners Want More Help From Manchin On Black Lung. According to Politico, “Coal miners and their allies want West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin to work harder at resurrecting an industry tax to help workers suffering from black lung disease. Leaders from the National Black Lung Association gathered at the West Virginia Coal Miners Memorial yesterday to demand a 10-year extension on the black lung excise tax for the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund. Advocates want pending bills on the issue — Manchin’s S. 2810 and H.R. 6102 from Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) — to be included in a year-end spending package if the stalled budget reconciliation bill fails to become law. Manchin has long been an advocate of both coal mining and miners, forging ties with industry executives and labor. But it was the Energy and Natural Resources chair who killed momentum on reconciliation in December. ‘We can’t get him to do what we need him to do. We need somebody working for us,’ said Gary Hairston, a retired miner with black lung and president of the association. ‘We can’t fight the lobbyists, they got all kinds of money, and we ain’t got nothing.’ … A single miner with black lung requires a stipend of less than $700 per month, an amount that widows and families left behind rely on as one of their primary sources of income, the report said.” [Politico, 5/13/22 (=)]

 

Manchin Rips Biden For Canceling Offshore Oil Lease Sales: 'Just Awful'. According to Politico, “Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin ripped the Biden administration on Thursday for canceling its remaining offshore oil and gas lease sales for the year. ‘It’s just awful,’ Manchin told POLITICO in his first comments on the decision announced by the Interior Department Wednesday night. ‘I am looking for security for our nation and reliability for the energy we need for our nation, and the administration seems to be going another way.’ The Interior Department cited lack of interest from oil and gas companies for the canceling the planned sale in Alaska’s Cook Inlet. And it said ongoing court cases were forcing it to halt work on two scheduled lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico. But Manchin challenged those justifications. ‘That’s a very lame excuse for us not having a reliable energy program for our country and helping our allies,’ Manchin said. ‘It makes no sense.’ President Joe Biden had campaigned on ending new federal oil and gas leases, but he has pivoted in recent months and urged the oil and gas industry to ramp up production to combat high prices and help European countries end their dependence on Russian energy shipments. However, Republicans and Manchin have blamed the administration’s reluctance to hold federal lease sales and efforts to speed the transition to clean energy for high prices. … The cancellations of this year's auctions mean that Interior will have held only one offshore oil lease sale during the first two years of the Biden administration. The results of that November 2021 sale were overturned by a court that said the Trump administration had not conducted a sufficient environmental review.” [Politico, 5/12/22 (=)]

 

House – Mining

 

Hearing Shows Uphill Fight For Progressive Mining Reform. According to Politico, “Momentum is building toward a potential deal to reform the nation’s mining law, but a House hearing yesterday made evident that progressives aren’t the ones driving that discussion. The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources met yesterday to discuss the ‘Clean Energy Minerals Reform Act,’ H.R. 7580, which would fundamentally overhaul how U.S. mining law operates. Supporters have said it would make long overdue changes to the General Mining Act of 1872, the nation’s primary mining law. The bill, from full committee Chair Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), would create new requirements for mineral exploration and permitting, and enact a first-ever gross royalty on new and existing hardrock mines on federal lands. The meeting showed that bipartisan consensus may exist to change the country’s 150-year-old mining law — but the Natural Resources Committee under Grijalva probably isn’t where that deal will come to fruition. At the hearing’s outset, the progressive Arizonan said, ‘There’s a lot of interest in Congress and in the administration right now about critical minerals.’ ‘That’s why I think it’s as important as ever to put this [bill] into law,’ Grijalva said. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) offered her view as a lawmaker from the heart of the U.S. auto industry: The nation needs more mining, but it has to be done responsibly. ‘If the next century is to be another American century where we’re leading, it’s essential that we secure a reliable and sustainable supply of critical minerals and materials for EVs as well as other advanced industries,’ Dingell said.” [Politico, 5/13/22 (=)]

 

House – Bernhardt

 

Democrats Seek Criminal Charges Against Trump Interior Head. According to Associated Press, “Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee asked the Justice Department on Wednesday to investigate whether a Trump administration interior secretary engaged in possible criminal conduct while helping an Arizona developer get a crucial permit for a housing project. The criminal referral says David Bernhardt pushed for approval of the project by developer Michael Ingram, a Republican donor and supporter of former President Donald Trump, despite a federal wildlife official’s finding that it would threaten habitats for imperiled species. Bernhardt led Interior from 2019 to 2021. In 2017, he was the No. 2 official at the department when the Fish and Wildlife Service, an Interior Department agency, reversed its opposition to the Villages at Vigneto, the proposed 28,000-home development in southern Arizona, and allowed it to move forward. Democrat Reps. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, the committee chairman, and Katie Porter of California, who leads a subcommittee on oversight and investigations, made the referral in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland. They said the committee has conducted an extensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding the 2017 decision. … Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the left-leaning Center for Western Priorities, called the allegations against Bernhardt ‘extremely serious,’ adding that the Justice Department should launch a full investigation. ‘We said all along that David Bernhardt was too compromised and too corrupt to be a cabinet secretary. This is damning evidence of a straight up pay-for-play favor,″ she said.” [Associated Press, 5/11/22 (+)]

 

House Committee Refers Former Interior Secretary Bernhardt To DOJ On Allegations Of Criminal Bribery. According to Daily Kos, “David Bernhardt, former Interior Secretary under President Donald Trump and a lobbyist for the Westlands Water District and Big Oil who oversaw the creation of the environmentally devastating Trump Water Plan in California, is back in the news over alleged bribery he engaged in during his tenure as Secretary. Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chair Katie Porter (D-Calif.) today made a criminal referral to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) outlining evidence of a likely criminal quid pro quo between Trump administration officials, including former U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary David Bernhardt, and real estate developer Mike Ingram. Ingram is the owner of El Dorado Holdings, which proposed to build the Villages at Vigneto (Vigneto), a 28,000-unit housing and commercial development spanning more than 12,000 acres near the endangered San Pedro River in Benson, Arizona, according to a press release from Grijalva and Porter. Evidence from the Committee’s investigation strongly suggests that Ingram and several other Arizona donors gave nearly a quarter of a million dollars to the Trump Victory Fund and the Republican National Committee in exchange for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) changing its position about a Clean Water Act permit for Vigneto. … ‘We said all along that David Bernhardt was too compromised and too corrupt to be a Cabinet secretary,’ said Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities, in a statement. ‘This is damning evidence of a straight up pay-for-play favor.’” [Daily Kos, 5/12/22 (+)]

 

Trump-Era Official Sees Criminal Referral Over Alleged Quid Pro Quo In Arizona. According to The Center Square, “The House Natural Resources Committee announced its first-ever criminal referral to the Department of Justice on Wednesday this week. Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl M. Grijalva, D-Arizona, and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chair Katie Porter, D-California, made the criminal referral showing what they believe is a likely criminal quid pro quo between Trump administration officials, including former U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary David Bernhardt, and real estate developer Mike Ingram. The committee’s investigation found a series of donations made by Ingram to the Trump Victory Fund and Republican National Committee totaling $241,600. … Jennifer Rokala, executive director for The Center for Western Priorities, issued a statement on the matter on Wednesday. ‘These are extremely serious allegations against one of the highest officials in the Trump administration,’ she said. ‘The Department of Justice must quickly follow up on this evidence and conduct a full investigation, including interviews with the political appointees and career attorneys who carried out Bernhardt’s orders. ‘We said all along that David Bernhardt was too compromised and too corrupt to be a cabinet secretary. This is damning evidence of a straight up pay-for-play favor. Mike Ingram got a secret meeting with David Bernhardt early in the Trump administration. Then the very same day that Bernhardt flipped the career officials under him, the cash flowed in to the Trump campaign.’” [The Center Square, 5/12/22 (+)]

 

Investigation Sought Over Approval Of Benson Development. According to Arizona Daily Sun, “A House committee chaired by Rep. Raúl Grijalva wants the Justice Department to investigate ‘potentially criminal conduct’ by the Trump administration over a proposed master-planned community near Benson. In a letter sent Wednesday to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the House Committee on Natural Resources cites what it calls strong evidence of an illegal ‘quid pro quo’ between senior administration officials and the developer of the 28,000-home Villages at Vigneto. For years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Arizona argued that the project should undergo a full-scale analysis of its environmental impacts, including those on protected species and the imperiled San Pedro River. But in 2017, the agency abruptly changed its position, effectively clearing the way for the Army Corps of Engineers to issue a Clean Water Act permit that would allow the housing development to go forward. … ‘These are extremely serious allegations against one of the highest officials in the Trump administration,’ said Jennifer Rokala, executive director for The Center for Western Priorities. ‘The Department of Justice must quickly follow up on this evidence and conduct a full investigation, including interviews with the political appointees and career attorneys who carried out Bernhardt’s orders.’” [Arizona Daily Sun, 5/12/22 (+)]

 

States

 

"Heartbreaking" Report On Native American Schools. According to Axios, “A federal study released this week on Native American boarding schools nationwide found that students were severely mistreated, and in some instances died, including at five schools in Colorado. What they found: The Interior Department report says that from 1819 to 1969, hundreds of Native American children died at the schools. Kids at 408 federal boarding schools endured sexual and physical abuse, manual labor and malnourishment, Axios’ Shawna Chen writes. At least 21 children died at a school in Grand Junction, according to research from Colorado Mesa University archaeologist John Seebach, who concluded there may have been more undocumented deaths. The study identified both marked and unmarked burial sites at 53 schools in 37 states and territories. Details: Most Native American boarding schools in Colorado opened in the late 1880s. At least one stayed open until 1981. The schools are: Fort Lewis Indian Boarding School in Hesperus (1892-1956) Good Shepherd Industrial School in Denver (1886-1914) Grand Junction Indian School in Grand Junction (1886-1911) Southern Ute Boarding School in Ignacio (1886-1981) Ute Mountain Boarding School in Towaoc (1907-1942)” [Axios, 5/13/22 (=)]

 

Five Native American Boarding Schools Operated For Decades In Colorado, Federal Investigation Finds. According to KGMH -TV, “Five Native American boarding schools designed to strip indigenous children of their culture, heritage and language operated in Colorado for decades, part of a centuries-long federal effort to subjugate the tribes and people that lived on this land for thousands of years. The list of Colorado schools, which spanned the Ute Mountain Ute reservation in the southwest corner of the state all the way to Denver, is part of a first-ever federal inventory and investigation from the U.S. Department of the Interior to identify federally-run boarding schools from the Florida Everglades to the Alaskan tundra. The report’s 106-page first volume, released Wednesday, was commissioned last year by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native cabinet member in U.S. history. It says the investigation found evidence of more than 500 deaths of Native children. The findings, which list the locations and years of operation of 408 of these boarding schools across 37 states and territories, mark a somber acknowledgment of the cultural genocide authorized and encouraged by Haaland’s predecessors at the Department of the Interior, and across all three branches of government, for generations.” [KGMH-TV, 5/12/22 (=)]

 

See The Western Conservation Projects Getting Infrastructure Act Money This Year. According to High Country News, “On May 12, the Biden administration announced that $68.4 million from Infrastructure Act funds were earmarked this year for conservation projects across the country, a majority of which are based in the Western United States. The money is the first installment of $1.4 billion allocated for ecosystem restoration efforts to be spent over five years. The funding will be dispersed across participating agencies including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey. ‘President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a once-in-a-generation investment that will allow us to restore healthy ecosystems across the country,’ said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in a statement. ‘This is a strong step towards building a better America for people and wildlife, for generations to come.’ According to a press release from the Department of the Interior, the conservation projects receiving funding this year will ‘boost local economies, advance environmental justice and serve disadvantaged communities.’ One of the key efforts, a representative of the Interior Department said in an interview, is working with Indigenous nations and communities on building native seed-saving capacity, a fundamental aspect of successful restoration projects.” [High Country News, 5/12/22 (+)]

 

Analysis & Opinions

 

Op-Ed: Join The Effort To Make A Positive Impact On Public Lands. According to an op-ed by David Taft in The Durango Herald, “Carl Sagan once mused, ‘who are we, if not measured by our impact on others,’ and as members of a thriving community and a dynamic ecosystem, we all have impacts on our surroundings and society. In the context of public lands, which are so essential to our economy and sense of place, these impacts can vary wildly from restorative to devastating. Ultimately, we all must strive to understand the negative impacts so we can design effective solutions to maximize positive impacts. Recent years have taught us profound lessons about what can happen when the balance starts to tip toward negative impacts. We saw this through the unexpected public lands boom of 2020, the desperate need for educational outreach throughout heavy-use areas, the Ice Fire and the ways in which all of these affect the watershed, forests, trails and surrounding communities. Fortunately, the lessons learned from recent years have guided new and innovative approaches toward land management, invigorated partnerships and spurred community members toward a level of engagement commensurate with challenges at hand. This year at the San Juan Mountains Association, we will be working closely with land management agencies and community partners to amplify the positive impact we have on public lands.” [The Durango Herald, 5/12/22 (+)]

 

 

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