A cherished landscape gained a measure of new protection this month when Interior Secretary Deb Haaland signed an order creating a 10-mile buffer zone around Chaco Culture National Historical Park that precludes future oil and gas leasing. The decision culminates a yearslong campaign initiated by Puebloan tribes, local Navajo communities, archaeologists, and conservation advocates.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 14, 2023 DOLORES, Colo.— Forest advocates sued the U.S. Forest Service today for violating environmental laws when it approved a nearly 23,000-acre timber sale that would cut large, century-old ponderosa pine trees and threaten wildlife in…
Our work protecting the lands and forests across the San Juan Basin is ever-changing. Here is a quick summary of what we’re working on right now: Bootjack Ranch/Valle Seco Land Exchange The Decision Notice for this sordid and coordinated effort…
The Forest Service’s recent decision to approve using chain saws to cut out downed trees in wilderness areas might strike some as no big deal. But for longtime advocates for the wilderness concept generally, and supporters of the Weminuche and…
Photo: Wikipedia Commons We’ve been advocating for wildlife, quiet use and watershed protections within the Rico West Dolores Travel Management Plan for a decade. Many of you have joined us in demanding that the region be managed for the those…
The Trump administration unabashedly promotes energy dominance above all else on America’s public lands. But even knowing that, it’s hard not to be astonished by the latest onslaught to prioritize oil and gas development on our national forests. We are…
Recently, Senator Gardner told a group gathering in Norwood, Colorado that he wouldn’t stand in the way of the San Juan Mountains Wilderness Act moving forward. We’re looking to him now to make to good on his commitment to move…
Our beloved Animas River has taken a shellacking the past few years, the most recent insults a combination of record low flows and wildfire induced mudslides. The Animas might be the blaring alarm bell for our society’s failure to act…
Photo: Wikipedia Commons By the time Scott Pruitt resigned as the Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator, he was the poster child for bungling personal entitlement. As Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa put it, Pruitt was the swampiest of the Washington,…
Collaboration key in fighting fires in the West It’s summer, it’s hot and dry, and forest fires will burn. Here’s the kicker: That may be a good thing. To unpack this claim, let’s look at two things legions of…
It’s 3 weeks into January and here at the Alliance we’re finally taking a moment to clear the papers off our desks, breathe, and reflect on the past year. We started 2015 knowing there were thousands of people in the region…
This holiday season I’d like to propose a corollary to Durango’s well-loved buy local movement: give local. December is a month awash in fundraising requests, and let’s face it: being on the receiving end can get tiresome. But let’s face…
The day before the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Tres Rios Field Office (TRFO) released its Resource Management Plan (RMP), the Alliance drafted a list of 10 things to watch for in the final document. I’d like to think that…
If you’ve been following the multi-year saga of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Tres Rios Field Office (TRFO) Resource Management Plan (RMP), then you know a lot is at stake. As we highlighted in a previous post, this planning…
Ever wonder what the Alliance has been up to? Or how we put your donations to work? If so, this blog is for you. As we head into 2015, we thought we’d take a moment to recap some of our…
Wow. A new and really hard-hitting storyline from Conservation International. Nature Doesn’t Need People, People Need Nature. Check out the storyline – told through a series of short vidoes – at natureisspeaking.org. Here’s one narrated by Julia Roberts:
Here’s a pic from our archive of the type of beetle kill that is advancing throughout the region.
Here is a recent blog post from the San Juan Headwaters Forest Health Partnership (SJHFHP). The Alliance is a proud member of this collaborative effort to bring best-available science and forest management practices to play throughout the San Juan Headwaters….
