Environment
Archive
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.
Trump's order to review the national-monument designations of the past 21 years seems to be the first concrete intimation of rolling back the protections all together
Pro adventurer Eric Larsen, who's spent the past 20 years exploring the Arctic, on why the President's move to protect the Arctic and Antarctic came just in the nick of time
Vogelkinderen, which translates to “bird children,” is Buter’s portrait series of the children training under falconer Karel Geurts.
What environmentalists hope to accomplish before the 44th president leaves office
The decision by the Army Corps of Engineers to block the Dakota Access Pipeline arrived just as internal tensions threatened to fracture Standing Rock's Oceti Sakowin camp
President Obama signed a bill that would finally measure the size of the industry—and lobbyists can't wait to flex that muscle
Even if protesters resist evacuation orders and police actions, they’ll still face the difficulty of living outside in North Dakota
The governor of Oklahoma—and front-runner for the Secretary of the Interior position—is aggressively pro-extraction. Uh oh.
During her four-year tenure as Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, a former oil-industry engineer and CEO of REI, has helped designate 18 new national monuments, increase youth engagement in the national parks, and limit access for energy exploration. As a Trump administration with very different views on conservation prepares to take the reins in Washington, Christopher Keyes sat down with the secretary to discuss her legacy—and the uncertain future of America’s public lands.
Filmmaker Octave Zangs was deeply troubled political developments threatening Oregon's public lands. He decided to highlight it's value in making this film Our Land.
It’s too early to know for certain what a Donald Trump presidency means for the environment and public-lands policy. But we have some ideas.
Secretary of the Interior tells all: what's next for the Department of the Interior and the environmental movement?
Fresh off their acquittal in Oregon and emboldened by the election of Donald Trump, the Bundy brothers are promising more extremist takeovers across the West
On November 11, a 30-foot swell rolled across the Pacific, setting in motion the first-ever all-women big-wave surfing contest in the World Surf League. It was one for the record books.
Across the country, in local and state elections, Americans voted to preserve and expand outdoor spaces
A number of recent bloody encounters with aggressive birds of prey in the Pacific Northwest has frightened residents enough that they've started arming themselves with sticks and flashlights and strapping on hard hats before going out at night
If you needed one more reason to have anxiety about November 8, we found it: the outcome could have a profound impact on the fight over America’s open spaces
After a hard-charging start the Libertarian candidate bonked bigly, thanks to a series of gaffes and a rather sad(!) lack of preparation. On the eve of a historic election, a onetime supporter wonders about what might have been.
Two impassioned mass protests: one led by white people with guns, the other by nonviolent Native Americans. Taken together, they shed light on the centuries-old myth of the valiant cowboy and savage Indian—and on white privilege and institutional racism in America.
There is an evolutionary death match under way in Hawaii, where half a million feral cats, some of them infected with a terrifying zombie parasite, are wreaking havoc on endangered species. Some people call them the "kitties of doom." Others will do anything to save them.
The fact that a jury found the Bundy brothers not guilty is baffling, and could embolden other anti-government extremists who think the federal government shouldn't own land
Beginning in 2014, in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service, I immersed myself with Wildland Fire Incident Command Teams throughout the country. I slept in tents, on the grass, and in trucks with the many different units responsible for fire abatement, from the glamorous hotshots to the unsung radio dispatchers. Fires are remembered by the scope and scale of their destruction. My goal was to show the army that stopped them.
The former Secretary of State could inherit a number of ambitious eco-commitments established by President Obama. Here’s where she stands on each one.
Climate change and ocean acidification have killed off one of the most spectacular features on the planet.
The final holdout at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge occupation earlier this year wasn't a dyed-in-the-wool rancher or hardened militiaman. He was a young, half-Japanese kid from the Midwest who had no affiliation with the Bundy brothers or the Patriot movement. This is why David Fry drove across the country to join a group of extremists he'd never met.
Everything from airplanes to your cell phone leaves audible marks on plants and wildlife. So sound specialists in parks around the country are working on setting a baseline for how noisy we're allowed to be.
The terrorist group typically ramps up attacks during the country's stormy winter
Climate change is affecting America’s recreation meccas—from Yosemite to Yellowstone—in profound ways. As the planet heats up and weather patterns shift, so will the ways we interact with the outdoors.
What does the GOP's big orange machine think about issues like climate change, energy development, and federal control of public lands? We rounded up Trump's surprising (and sometimes shocking) set of views.
Filmmaker Karim Iliya spent more than a year and a half shooting drone footage in fourteen different countries to assemble this film, and the results are astounding.
Deploying genetically modified mosquitoes to stop the spread of Zika is just the tip of the iceberg. Scientists are cooking up all kinds of DNA changes to insects and animals that could benefit humanity.
Gracie has two jobs: To keep animals a safe distance away from visitors, and to teach visitors how to interact with animals.
In some states, individuals who start forest fires, even accidentally, are facing multimillion-dollar fines
The ocean is a dynamic and shifting energy that greatly impacts the makeup of our world, where whole undiscovered ecosystems still exist.
Two of our country's biggest issues, racism and climate change, have collided on a North Dakota reservation. This week, I loaded up my station wagon with water and supplies and drove down for a look at a historic demonstration that could shape the national dialogue going forward.
The government contractor's latest filing indicates that the future of wildfire fighting could involve artillery shells
Last week, I flew down to Chile to spend a week at Ski Portillo, arguably South America’s most iconic ski area. Surrounded by tall Andean peaks, sitting next to the much-photographed Laguna del Inca, and home to the iconic Super C Couloir, it’s a bucket-list spot for many of us in North America who are not-so-patiently awaiting the return of winter.
The tech company is launching apps, virtual tours, and online exhibits designed to virtually immerse you in our natural heritage
A stranger-than-fiction mystery in Norway has physicists scratching their heads
Team Rubicon began in 2010 with a unique dual mission: providing disaster relief and giving struggling American veterans a vital sense of purpose. The program has a reputation for ignoring best practices and obliterating red tape, and it has already disrupted the aid industry. Now founder Jake Wood wants to take on the Red Cross.
While the nation freaks out over the presidential race, a climbing legend is quietly helping the industry become a powerful force
A movement to imbue land, rivers, and entire ecosystems with legal personhood status is gaining ground in the U.S.
You’ve never seen a museum like this. The Wild Walk is the latest addition to the Wild Center, a museum which promotes the education of the natural history of the Adirondacks, in upstate New York.
An incredible timelapse from filmmakers Joel and Jesse Edwards
The Republican Party's justification for selling off public lands holds no water. Just ask President Reagan.
The next evolution of topographic maps will be 3-D interactives that show how rivers change and landscapes erode with centimeter precision
Maine’s North Woods would make the perfect addition to the parks system—with mountains, streams, and stunning views. So what’s taking the government so long?
When Cecil, the magnificent, 13-year old, black-mane lion was killed by an American dentist on an illegal trophy bow hunt last year, the world responded with shock and horror. Photographer Brent Stapelkamp, 38, was the last person to fit Cecil with a GPS satellite collar and to photograph him, just a month before he was killed.
'Living Refuge' is a series of upcoming short documentary films that highlight the work of biologists who study, manage, and protect the biodiversity and wilderness of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge
Insurers face $2.8 billion in claims, industry group says
At just 19 years old, Alex Mason is one of the youngest phenoms in slacklining. He’s traversed the globe to compete, winning the Teva World Cup and the Slackline World Championships, all before he graduated high school. For his biggest project yet, he teamed up with his mentor, “Sketchy” Andy Lewis, and a Redbull film crew to trickline his way through the world’s first “slackladder” — a term coined by Redbull.
'Douglas Tompkins: A Wild Legacy' is a film about the life, work, and passions of The North Face and Esprit co-founder Douglas Tompkins
Sasquatch, Yeti, MoMo, Nape—the creature goes by different names around the world. A sort of pseudoscience has emerged to suss out the biology and behavior of this animal. Here’s what it says.
A new study paints a grim picture of how vulnerable open areas in the West are to all types of developments. Stopping it is out of the question. But maybe we can slow it down.
Can one man’s pie-in-the-sky idea save one the West’s most iconic and underloved rivers?