Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front is one of the best remaining American wildlands. It is a window into the wild heritage that makes the United States unique.
In this report, The Wilderness Society examines the real price this country is paying for unfettered energy development. It focuses on national forest roadless areas and national monuments administered by the BLM and estimates the actual amount of gas and oil available in these sites.
Over the past few years, the Rocky Mountain region has experienced explosive growth in drilling, especially in the number of natural gas wells. Benefiting from increases in gas price and new technologies, operators have embarked on a wave of development of gas resources that is breathtaking in magnitude, comprising increases of thousands of wells. While the region has previously experienced booms in drilling, this one has a different character. Natural gas resources are being developed at an unprecedented density, with wells spaced every 20, 10 or even 5 acres.
Given the early onset of wildland fire this season, combined with the heightened awareness of carbon storage and its relationship to global warming, this fact sheet explores the interaction of fires and climate change.
As President Obama gives his annual State of the Union address, those of us at The Wilderness Society feel the timing is urgent to give our own “State of Public Lands” briefing.
As the nation's premiere public lands conservation organization, we’re happy to report that the Obama administration has begun to correct the most industry-centric land policies of the Bush era, a time when vast tracks of the nation’s wildlands were offered on a platter to oil and gas development.
Editor’s note: This story originally appeared in Wilderness Magazine, our annual publication that features in-depth coverage and features about the day’s most pressing conservation issues. Become a member and receive a free copy!
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.
I’m looking out my window right now and savoring a magnificent view of the Rockies — it’s just one of the perks of living in Colorado. Recently, though, many Coloradoans have been seeing the familiar hilltops and mountainsides turn from green to red, as the mountain pine beetle continues its spread throughout the West.
As more people become aware of the challenges raised by the pine beetle outbreak it is vital that citizens and policymakers understand the ecology behind the outbreak.
