How Deep Does It Go? Future of Area Water Monitoring in Question

March 21, 2025 // NEWS: Dispatch

by Robert Chaney

The future of Greater Yellowstone water monitoring USGS performs may be in jeopardy

With USGS offices in Greater Yellowstone among dozens of regional government buildings on the chopping block, DOGE savings efforts leave anglers wondering if streamflow monitors will survive.

If the Forest Falls

March 17, 2025 // NEWS: Dispatch

by Robert Chaney

Trump's March 1 executive order calls for "immediate expansion of timber production"

Timber industry analysts wonder if they can keep up with Trump logging orders.

Sowing Uncertainty from DC Beltway to Yellowstone Gateways

March 13, 2025 // NEWS: Feature

by David Tucker

Workers install a fire ring at a campground for Friends of Bridger-Teton

How the federal budget purge is impacting regional landscape conservation and stewardship.

Grizzlies: Double Vision

February 25, 2025 // NEWS: Dispatch

by Robert Chaney

Approximately 2,100 grizzlies currently inhabit the Lower 48

With the Endangered Species Act comment period ending March 17, states and advocates are at odds over the future of grizzly bears.

‘A Cascading Effect’: Forest Service, Park Service Workers who Lost Jobs Amid Mass Layoffs Explain Rippling Fallout

February 20, 2025 // NEWS: Feature

by Joseph T. O'Connor and Amanda Eggert

In a lawsuit seeking to halt federal employee firings, the NFFE union said layoffs will threaten 500,000 federal employees

Five nationwide unions representing federal employees have gone to court in an attempt to stop workforce reductions.

The Fight for Wild Lands: Part 2

February 18, 2025 // MoJo Special Series

by Robert Chaney

The federal government employs as many as 10,000 wildland firefighters each year. With hiring freezes in place nationwide, fire season is in limbo

Executive orders coming from the White House could transform a range of core issues affecting Greater Yellowstone. From Forest Service and BLM priorities to national park staffing cuts, public lands advocates must brace for a long season of conflict.

The Fight for Wild Lands: Part 1

February 17, 2025 // MoJo Special Series

by Robert Chaney

Axolotl Lakes southwest of Ennis, Montana, in the foothills of the Gravelly Range

As organizers prepare for the biennial Rally for Public Lands, the conservation world faces down a changing climate, an administration determined to dismantle environmental protections, and its own internal contradictions.

Grizzly Bear ESA Status in Question as FWS Cancels Public Meetings

January 27, 2025 // NEWS: Dispatch

by Robert Chaney

FWS announced this month its decision to retain protections for grizzlies under the ESA

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pulls out of all four meetings intended to explain its decision to retain grizzlies’ threatened status.

Fighting for Survival

January 14, 2025 // NEWS: Analysis

by Robert Chaney

FWS on Jan. 8 announced its decision to keep grizzlies protected under the Endangered Species Act

At a charged time for grizzly bears, MoJo takes you inside the complex U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to keep grizzlies on the endangered species list.

Feds Look to Expand Montana’s Largest Coal Mine

January 14, 2025 // NEWS: In Short

by Amanda Eggert

The Spring Creek coal mine complex in Decker, Montana

The 19-million-ton expansion is estimated to extend Spring Creek Mine’s operational life by five years.

Feds Buy Kelly Parcel, Conserving Last of Unprotected Land in GTNP

January 6, 2025 // NEWS: Dispatch

by Sophie Tsairis

Elk herd on the Kelly Parcel, gateway to the Path of the Pronghorn

‘Decades-in-the-making’ $100 million purchase adds 640 acres to Grand Teton National Park, while protecting a key Greater Yellowstone wildlife migration corridor.

The Year of the Wolves

January 3, 2025 // FEATURE: History

by Amanda Eggert and Mike Koshmrl

The 1995 reintroduction of gray wolves, in the words of those who were there

Thirty years ago this month, gray wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho. Today, the people who made it happen remember the mayhem and magic of one of the 20th century’s most controversial acts of ecosystem management.