Environment
Archive
In the 1990s, thousands of bones and bone fragments mysteriously went missing from Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa, the continental epicenter of Native American burial remains. In December 2015, a detective with the National Park Service tracked down the artifacts—and the man who stole them.
If the budget is a political document that reflects a president’s priorities, Trump’s priorities are clear—and the environment, wildlife, and the Great Outdoors don’t rank particularly high
Upon entering UC Merced, Jessica Rivas applied for the Yosemite Leadership Program. What she experienced during that summer changed the course of her entire life.
For a week in March, photographer Ben Kraushaar shadowed the WMI folks as they captured and collared 35 Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and 220 mule deer throughout Wyoming. From the Red Desert to eastern Greater Yellowstone, Kraushaar documented the steps involved in WMI’s efforts to better understand the migrations and health of these animals.
Unplugging Lake Powell is a beautiful dream, but it would hurt the river more than it would help
Atlantic bluefin tuna are among the most hunted species on the planet and one of the best ways to see the effects of an increasingly industrialized food chain. But for a few short weeks during early summer on Spain’s southern coast, an ancient ritual known as the almadraba still plays out—an intense, intimate, and violent tradition that strives to harvest some of the world's most valuable seafood in a sustainable manner.
The folks at Bivy documented a recent trip to Bears Ears and produced this film, 'Bears Ears Is a Place, Not an Opinion.'
NOAA’s new satellite will make forecasting devastating storms (and epic powder days) more accurate than ever
A Canadian company is suing Greenpeace for $220 million—and it might have a case
Lula Lake has served many used including a sanctuary for Union soldiers, a dumping zone for people's trash, and most recently a protected natural area.
Long before he moved into the White House, the country’s most ruthless businessman-cum-reality-TV- personality bought a chunk of upstate New York, toyed with turning it into a golf course, and then donated it—for the tax write-off, of course
A former Microsoft CEO launched a new website to answer a single question: What does the federal government really do with the trillions of dollars it spends every year? We wanted to know how much of that is going toward public land and renewables.
Paragliding high above a beautiful landscape is already a bucket list item, but doing it alongside an Egyptian vulture might bump it up to the top of the list. Pioneered by Scott Mason, who has been training birds since he was ten, parahawking consists of a trained vulture or hawk guiding a paraglider through thermals or air pockets in the sky for long, bird-like flights.
The long-term impact of the president's first 100 days could destroy an industry with more jobs than oil and gas and automotive combined. Yep, you guessed it: outdoor rec.
We added up the miles we drove and flew to ski this year—and discovered just how terrible our obsession is for the planet
Conservationists don’t have enough money to save all the endangered species. How do we decide which ones live and which ones die? A controversial ranking system to answer that question may be coming to the U.S. soon.
Humans are on the brink of technologies that can control the weather and possibly save us from climate change. But playing God is risky business.
The Outdoor Industry Association tacks on another $200 billion in direct consumer spending to their 2012 estimate, but we won't get the official number until 2018
Wildlife Filmmaker Alex Goetz is on a mission. He values wildlife conservation to a degree that he's dedicated his life to it.
The 2017 Goldman Environmental Prize winners fight mining, poaching, and deforestation—sometimes at great personal risk
After Michael Coleman debuted his last film 'John Muir - Coming Home', Robert Hanna, Muir's great-great-grandson reached out over their mutual love of conservation. They began chatting about a new project which became this film 'The Last Oasis'.
When forecasts called for a massive tornado in central Oklahoma in 2013, storm chasers flocked to the area. Then all hell broke loose.
For the last 30 years, American Rivers, a nonprofit advocacy group out of Washington, D.C., has been calling attention the plight of the country’s rivers. Today, the group released its annual Most Endangered Rivers report, a catalogue of the ten rivers in America most threatened in 2017.
Watch to see how activist and lawyer Tara Houska answered.
The curious and backpacking-friendly life of Brent Nearpass, whose art is antlers and mounts
Wandering the Sonoran Desert in search of the chiltepin—the ancestor to domesticated chile peppers—with MacArthur genius Gary Paul Nabhan
Some days it's a paradise and others it's a jungle of hell. Yet for Dr. Scott Saleska and his students, that's just the reality of conducting science in the rainforest.
With the help of Kris Tompkins, Chile is setting aside more parklands than the U.S. has in a long time. The Trump administration should pay attention.
Several recent bear attacks on riders have public lands managers working out solutions to prevent more of the brutal encounters
For almost 40 years, Don MacGorman has launched truck-sized data balloons into storms while enduring drenching rain and potentially lethal hail. For the National Severe Storms Laboratory physicist who literally wrote the book on lightning, it's all just another day's work.
Ranchlands is a Colorado-based ranching and land management company that stewards more than 300,000 acres of rangelands across the American West in partnership with landowners. While meat is often considered the primary product of ranchers, conservation is the product for Ranchlands. Since 2000, the organization’s management style, which focuses on restoring vegetation and wildlife—primarily cattle and bison—in addition to community engagement and education, has been celebrated as a model in conservation circles.
A former EPA administrator breaks down what’s at stake with the president’s proposed 31-percent cut to the agency’s budget
The Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit is a group of women who patrol this reserve and surrounding communities, unarmed, in search of poachers.
In South Florida, cane toads are so numerous that they seem to be dropping from the sky. They're overtaking parking lots and backyards, can weigh almost six pounds, and pack enough poison to kill pets. Why the surge?
The fight for Standing Rock took the media by storm in November 2016. From cell phones to news cameras, images of violence, protest, and unrest surfaced on every major media outlet.
From filmmaker Tom Welsh, The Problem of the Wilderness is a film set to the poem of environmental activist Bob Marshall.
The Dakota Access protests made headlines, but there’s a bigger war being waged against pipelines across the country that threaten our favorite parks and forests
Longtime storm chaser and timelapse director, Mike Oblinski decided to remove all color except for black and white in his video, 'Pulse'.
From We Are The Arctic, this film brings to light the beauty and wilderness within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
What used to be a trickle of seemingly minor policy stories has become a weekly firehose of significant developments, all of which we're committed to covering in a clear-eyed, authoritative way
"Birthright", a film from Trout Unlimited, shares how the threat of "transferring" public lands is much more than just an innocent exchange.
Mike Olbinski is a photographer with an obsession—chasing storms throughout the southwest. It sounds crazy, but when you see his photos you'll understand.
Outdoor brands are becoming a politically active force. Now that the battle for Outdoor Retailer is over, what's next? We spoke with a dozen industry leaders to find out what battles are shaping up.
On February 22, the last of the Dakota Access pipeline protestors in North Dakota were ordered to evacuate. We look back at the best reporting on the months-long saga.
The company is urging thousands of Utah voters to call the state's governor in support of the new monument
In her new book, the writer explains why getting outside cures so many of our problems
From filmmaker Ryan Peterson, The Super Salmon, is a story of one fish's determination to reach the origin of the Sustina River.
Nansen Weber grew up spending years Canada's Arctic region. With wolves as his neighbors, he continues to feel a strong connection to the area.
Thousands of firefighters, trail crews, and rangers will be able to get back to work this summer
When John Muir sauntered through the condensed grove of what is now known as Sequoia National Park, he would have never envisioned the devastation that has occurred since 2011.
Federal lands belong to all of us—it's time to unite to fight crooked politicians
Denver-based photographer Theo Stroomer is in the middle of his third winter photographing tumbleweeds. Here, he shares some of his favorites images of the invasion from the last three years.
The company that runs the industry's largest trade show is listening, but more brands need to speak up if they really want to make Utah feel the hurt
Janette Brimmer works for the nonprofit environmental law firm Earthjustice, where she defends vital regulations that keep our lands healthy
For Wendy Baxter, being a field researcher of giant Sequoia trees is the ultimate balance between athletic ability and scientific exploration.
Trump's executive orders don't have environmental lawyers particularly worried—but that could change depending on how the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rules on a handful of cases
House Bill 621 is dead, but 622 would do much to undermine protections for our most treasured public lands
A massive outcry killed a bill that would have sold off millions of acres of public lands—but don't expect that to be the last fight between the Republican Congress and the outdoor industry over their fate
Elk sightings and waterfall hikes are all part of a day's work for Grand Canyon park ranger Perri Spreiser
The Army Corps of Engineers has been directed to grant the final easement that stands in the pipeline’s way, presenting the Standing Rock movement with its first real challenge
Located in the small town of Gothic, Colorado in an even smaller cabin, billy barr has collected snow data for over 40 years.
Four takeaways from the administration’s first week
On a trip to Alaska, the filmmakers at Aura ran into a small town outfitter with a large story.
Our 45th president's contempt for environmental protections is well documented. So what will his first 100 days look like? Here's our educated guess on what could happen, based on what he's already said and done.
Denmark's Faroe Islands have a brutal tradition in which men publicly butcher hundreds of pilot whales by hand. But why?
And they're not the only species that should be afraid
Every gun sold gets taxed—and those taxes go directly to wildlife and land conservation
Trump's pick for Secretary of the Interior gets grilled in the confirmation hearing about federal land management, resource extraction, and Smokey the Bear
Heather Wilson monitors migratory bird populations for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from the captain seat of her amphibious Cessna 206
Most of us hit the outdoors seeking calm and quiet, but Chuck Thompson prefers to blast a little 38 Special by his campfires. Still, even a rustic headbanger like him has to wonder if the coming age of total connectivity in otherwise wild places is good for bees, beasts, and man.
The latest pictures, videos, and statistics from the epic winter storm, which has brought record flooding and dramatically assuaged the drought
During his life in marine parks, Tilikum killed three people, and the troubled whale sparked big changes at SeaWorld
Has a young Dutchman found the solution to all that plastic in our oceans?
When a creature mysteriously turns up dead in Alaska—be it a sea otter, polar bear, or humpback whale—veterinary pathologist Kathy Burek gets the call. Her necropsies reveal cause of death and causes for concern as climate change frees up new pathogens and other dangers in a vast, thawing north.
The careers of Reagan cabinet members Anne Gorsuch Burford, who led the EPA, and Interior Secretary James Watt ended in scandal. Though their modern counterparts act similarly, Congress and the White House don't seem to care.
We’re going to make your first smart decision of the new year a quick and easy one
Australian conservationists want to lease animals to private landowners. Environmentalists are not convinced.