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.

Proper Protection or Perverse Incentive? Orgs Challenge ESA Process

March 14, 2025 // NEWS: Dispatch

by Robert Chaney

Centennial Valley, Montana, west of Yellowstone National Park

Two Montana nonprofits have filed suit against the Endangered Species Act’s ‘Blanket Rule.’

MSU Lyme Disease Research Squeaks Through NIH Funding Freeze

March 11, 2025 // NEWS: Dispatch

by Robert Chaney

MSU's microbiology lab received a $2.8 million grant for Lyme disease research

Montana scientists join protests across the U.S. against White House interference.

Trump Administration Seeks to Unravel NEPA

March 7, 2025 // NEWS: Dispatch

by Robert Chaney

Trump delivered a joint address to Congress: "Drill, baby, drill."

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 kept all agencies following the same guidelines. An expedited rule change could dismantle that system by April 11.

Labor Board Temporarily Reinstates Laid-off Forest Service Workers’ Employment

March 7, 2025 // NEWS: Dispatch

by Amanda Eggert

Hundreds of Forest Service and Park Service employees lost their jobs in a sweeping round of layoffs implemented at the behest of a Department of Government Efficiency

The order by the Merit Systems Protection Board gives USDA five days to comply with a stay on the workforce reduction.

Will Federal Freeze Stymie Wildland Fire Fights?

March 4, 2025 // NEWS: Dispatch

by Robert Chaney

Firefighters hold the line at the September 2018 Roosevelt Fire near Bondurant, Wyoming

Delays in hiring crews and funding hazardous fuels projects worry officials as the 2025 fire season approaches.

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.

The Fight For Wild Lands: Part 3

February 19, 2025 // MoJo Special Series

by Robert Chaney

A packed Capitol rotunda in Helena, Montana, for the February 19 Rally for Public Lands

The U.S. Constitution gives citizens the right to “petition the government for a redress of grievances.” As a blizzard of public lands change sweeps out of Washington, D.C., activists around Greater Yellowstone ponder tactics to help them keep what they hold dear.

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.