Ben enjoying the views at Red Rock Canyon. Photo by Kevin Mack.

As someone who grew up on the East Coast, words that characterize the West sound like poetry to me. Creosote. Gypsum. The Loggerhead Shrike. Bajada. The Virgin River. Even the word “arid,” which very generally describes the climate of Southern Nevada, had not been tossed around much where I grew up. These words are far more than poetic though, they represent a vast landscape that is part of ongoing discussions about the future management of the public lands in the west. Read more

Canyons of the Ancients in Colorado. Courtesy BLM.

Canyons of the Ancients National Monument — a treasure trove of Puebloan artifacts in Colorado, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument — the last place mapped in the Lower 48 States, Las Cienegas National Conservation Area — where the history of ranching and protection of grassland bird species come together in Arizona. These are a small sample of the vast landscapes in the National Landscape Conservation System (Conservation Lands). Read more

Tony microsaur amphibian tracks discovered at the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument. Photo by Jerry Paul MacDonald.

I recently arrived home after a week in the Land of Enchantment, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Several of my Wilderness Society colleagues gathered for a week long symposium, organized by the Bureau of Land Management, to discuss science within the National Landscape Conservation System. Read more