Kate and Aaron are joined by James Kenna, a 40-year Interior Department veteran who wore a number of hats over his decades of public service, including a stint as the California state director at Bureau of Land Management. That gave him a front row seat to land management decisions that would shape America’s energy future. […] The post A BLM veteran weighs in on the agency’s proposed conservation leasing rule appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Jun 13, 2023•35 min
Kate and Aaron are joined by filmmaker John De Graaf to talk about his new documentary Stewart Udall and the Politics of Beauty. De Graaf has been producing and directing PBS documentaries for 45 years, 32 of which he spent at KCTS, the Seattle PBS affiliate. His new film recounts former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall’s […] The post Stewart Udall and the politics of beauty appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Jun 07, 2023•30 min
Aaron and Kate are joined by Grace Wu, an assistant professor in the Environmental Studies Program at UC Santa Barbara, to talk about her research on balancing renewable energy development and conservation in the West. The study examined the potential habitat loss and land use impacts of developing the complete set of onshore wind, offshore […] The post Can renewable energy and conservation coexist? appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
May 24, 2023•38 min
Kate and Aaron are joined by journalist Danielle Prokop and photographer Diana Cervantes to talk about their recent series documenting drought on the Rio Grande River, which runs from Colorado, through New Mexico, to Texas. Danielle and Diana produced the series for Source New Mexico, a statewide non-profit journalism outlet. News Credits Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss […] The post Why you should care about the Rio Grande River appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
May 11, 2023•35 min
Kate and Aaron are joined by Alli Henderson, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, and Blaine Miller-McFeeley, a senior legislative representative at Earthjustice, to talk about the recently-introduced Mining Regulatory Clarity Act—or, as Miller-McFeeley has renamed it, the Dirty Mining Trumps All Other Uses Act. They talk about what prompted Senator Catherine […] The post A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad mining bill appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
May 02, 2023•33 min
Kate and Aaron are joined by clean energy consultant Rob Gramlich, founder and president of Grid Strategies LLC, to talk about the need to ramp up renewable transmission capacity in the U.S. Gramlich tells us what the Inflation Reduction Act did and didn’t do when it comes to transmission, as well as how Congress can […] The post What’s really holding up renewable energy transmission construction appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Apr 19, 2023•32 min
Kate and Aaron are joined by the co-chairs of the America the Beautiful for All Coalition, a new group that came together to ensure conservation benefits marginalized and overly burdened communities. Nse Witherspoon, executive director of the Children’s Environmental Health Network, and Mark Magaña, founder and CEO of GreenLatinos, talk about their coalition’s 2023 policy agenda […] The post Making conservation more inclusive appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Apr 06, 2023•41 min
The announcement of two new national monuments formed the centerpiece of the White House Conservation in Action Summit on March 21, 2023. Biden designated Avi Kwa Ame and Castner Range national monuments using his authority under the Antiquities Act, protecting over half a million acres in perpetuity. Center for Western Priorities Campaigns and Special Projects […] The post Biden designates two new national monuments appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Mar 21, 2023•23 min
Aaron and Kate are joined by author and professor Natalie Koch, whose new book—Arid Empire: The Entangled Fates of Arizona and Arabia—explores the ways in which Arizona and Saudi Arabia have worked together to promote desert agriculture, and how that work is connected to a global obsession with engineering our way out of ecosystem collapse. Koch […] The post The tangled fates of Arizona and Arabia appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Mar 16, 2023•54 min
Kate and Aaron are joined by pollsters Lori Weigel and Dave Metz to talk about the most interesting and important statistics from the recently released 2023 Colorado College State of the Rockies Conservation in the West poll. The poll found that voters care just as much about protecting public lands and waters, as well as […] The post What Western voters think about conservation appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Mar 02, 2023•28 min
Kate and Aaron are joined by water scientist Brad Udall to talk about the current state of the Colorado River. Water levels are dropping and something has to give or the river’s main reservoirs—Lake Powell and Lake Mead— are going to run dry. But states aren’t anywhere close to an agreement on how much each […] The post What’s going on with the Colorado River? appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Feb 17, 2023•42 min
Aaron and Kate are joined by two mining reform experts to talk about the need to update our century-old mining laws and regulations in order to protect vulnerable communities and public lands as interest in mining grows thanks to electric vehicles and renewable energy needs. Roger Flynn is the director and managing attorney at Western […] The post Why we need mining reform on public lands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Feb 10, 2023•43 min
Mining expert Ian Lange joins Kate and Aaron to talk about critical minerals and mining in the West. Lange directs the mineral and energy economics program at the Colorado School of Mines and is an expert in mining economics. He discusses what’s going on in the world of critical minerals—specifically those used in electric vehicle […] The post Are we about to see a mining boom for EV minerals in the West? appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Jan 26, 2023•49 min
On this episode of The Landscape, Kate and Aaron are joined by Grand Canyon Trust staff attorney Michael Toll to discuss a plan to mine hundreds of thousands of barrels of waxy crude oil in Utah near Dinosaur National Monument, using billions of gallons of Colorado River Water. A loophole in Utah law enabled an […] The post Fighting a plan to mine oil in Utah using billions of gallons of Colorado River water appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Jan 05, 2023•33 min
On this episode of The Landscape, Center for Western Priorities Executive Director Jennifer Rokala and CWP Director of Campaigns and Special Projects Lauren Bogard join Aaron and Kate to go over the past year in public lands. From the passage of the largest climate bill in U.S. history (which includes major oil and gas leasing […] The post The past year in public lands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Dec 22, 2022•1 hr
Renowned nature photographer Pete McBride joins Aaron and CWP’s Director of Campaigns and Special Projects Lauren Bogard on the pod to discuss his work documenting the Colorado River. Pete is a photographer, filmmaker, and writer who has been to more than 75 countries on assignment for clients ranging from the National Geographic Society to the […] The post Photographer Pete McBride on the Colorado River appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Dec 08, 2022•49 min
This week on The Landscape, Aaron and Kate talk to Drew McConville and Sam Zeno from the Center for American Progress about their new report, which identifies the top 8 actions Biden can take to meet his America the Beautiful goal of protecting 30 percent of American lands and waters by 2030. Drew McConville is […] The post The top 8 actions Biden can take to protect 30×30 appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Dec 02, 2022•33 min
CWP Executive Director Jennifer Rokala and Colorado-based political consultant Curtis Hubbard join Aaron to break down the 2022 election results and what they mean for public lands across the West. Producer: Aaron WeissMusic: Purple PlanetFeatured image: @POTUS The post What the 2022 election means for public lands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Nov 16, 2022•25 min
This week on The Landscape, Aaron and Kate talk to forest scientists Megan Cattau and Nayani Ilangakoon to find out what’s up in the world of wildfire risk reduction and forest recovery. Specifically, they ask about the U.S. Forest Service’s plan to plant a billion trees over the next decade, as well as how climate […] The post What the science says about national forest management appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Nov 02, 2022•39 min
Author and outdoors enthusiast McKenzie Long joins Aaron and Kate to chat about her new book, This Contested Land: The Storied Past and Uncertain Future of America’s National Monuments. The book is an exploration of national monuments—why they matter, what it takes to create them, and how they impact nearby communities. McKenzie visited 13 national […] The post What makes national monuments special? appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Oct 19, 2022•43 min
University of Utah law professor Jamie Pleune joins Kate and Aaron on the Landscape to talk about the National Environmental Policy Act and permitting reform. Pleune and her colleagues analyzed over 40,000 Forest Service NEPA decisions to determine the mean and median time it takes to complete reviews, as well as what causes the majority of delays […] The post An evidence-based look at permitting reform appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Sep 30, 2022•49 min
Just in time for National Public Lands Day on Saturday, September 24, a conversation with Janessa Goldbeck, CEO of Vet Voice Foundation. VVF is one of the groups sponsoring a hike and rally for the proposed Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument on Saturday. News Manchin’s permitting bill sets up clash over government funding National Park […] The post Is Camp Hale our next national monument? appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Sep 23, 2022•19 min
The proposed Western Riverside National Wildlife Refuge would protect around 340,000 acres southeast of Los Angeles in southern California, helping preserve habitat for around 150 native species—over 30 of which are endangered—as well as green space for the county’s largely Latino population. Riverside County is currently one of the fastest growing regions in the country, […] The post BONUS: Closing the Nature Gap in Southern California (en español) appeared first on Center for Western Prioritie...
Sep 15, 2022•11 min
The proposed Western Riverside National Wildlife Refuge would protect around 340,000 acres southeast of Los Angeles in southern California, helping preserve habitat for around 150 native species—over 30 of which are endangered—as well as green space for the county’s largely Latino population. Riverside County is currently one of the fastest growing regions in the country, […] The post Closing the Nature Gap in Southern California appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Sep 15, 2022•28 min
Collin O’Mara joins Aaron and Kate to talk all things Inflation Reduction Act, including: what’s in it, how the bill came together behind the scenes, how his group and others got Senator Joe Manchin on board with some of the bolder provisions in the bill, whether it’s ultimately a good or bad thing, how it […] The post National Wildlife Federation president Collin O’Mara on the IRA appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Aug 31, 2022•35 min
Author Nate Schweber joins Kate to talk about his new book This America of Ours, which chronicles the lives of forgotten 20th century conservation heroes Avis and Bernard DeVoto. The literary couple thwarted a plot to privatize millions of acres of public land, then successfully fought off an attempt to dam the Green River inside […] The post This America of Ours: The story of public land champions Avis and Bernard DeVoto appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Aug 11, 2022•46 min
Kate and Aaron run down the surprise climate legislation unveiled last night and talk about what it means for public lands, as well as whether or not the package can actually make it to President Biden’s desk. Then, Evergreen Action‘s chief of staff Lena Moffitt joins Kate and Aaron to talk about what President Biden […] The post Manchin came to the table on climate. Now what? appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Jul 28, 2022•43 min
On this episode of The Landscape, Leah Sottile joins Kate and Aaron to talk about the connections between the Bundy family standoffs and the January 6th insurrection, as well as her new book, “When the Moon Turns to Blood,” a wild and tragic case of two murdered children and religious extremism out of Idaho. Sottile […] The post Leah Sottile on the Bundy-January 6 connection and her new book appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Jul 21, 2022•45 min
Pollster Lindsay Vermeyen joins Aaron and Kate to talk about CWP’s new Winning the West poll numbers. The poll, which was conducted in Western swing states in May 2022, found that Western voters still care a lot about conservation, despite everything else going on in the world right now. Notably, it found that Westerners are […] The post What it takes to win the West appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Jul 15, 2022•19 min
Grassroots Wildland Firefighters vice president Lucas Mayfield and advocate Michelle Hart come on The Landscape to talk about what it's like to be a wildland firefighter and what the federal government can do to attract new people to the profession. The post Wildland firefighters just got a raise… but is it enough? appeared first on Center for Western Priorities ....
Jun 24, 2022•44 min
