On a hot summer day last week, a group of forest scientists and managers hiked up a cool Idaho mountain ridge to look at trees in trouble. Whitebark pines are hardy, gnarly and long-lived trees at high elevations across the Pacific Crest, western Canada and the Northern Rockies of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. While these trees have long withstood wind, snows and freezing temperatures for millennium, on slopes from 5,000 to over 12,000 feet — today, a combination of conditions puts the species at risk. more

We’re about to set foot in Wyoming where we’re going to see some beautiful countryside and talk about two of the things that make the Omnibus Public Land Management Act so important: The land this act would save is land you can explore, just like we’re about to do, and includes places that broad coalitions have come together to support. You’ll meet some of those folks up ahead. By Jared White more

French satirist Voltaire once cautioned against hasty action saying, “Burn not your house to frighten away the mice.” Pushing a scorched Earth energy policy during its last days in office, the Bush Administration is prematurely rushing toward commercial leasing and production of oil shale resources in the Rocky Mountain West. The Department of the Interior Nov. more