The Landscape

Kate and Lilly talk to two veterans about a new organization entering the fight for public lands—the aptly named Veterans for Public Lands. They are Chappy Chappell, a U.S. Navy veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom who directs the Arizona Trail Association’s Veteran Engagement and Trail Stewardship program and serves as Veterans for Public Lands’ senior advisor for Arizona, and Nick Borrelli, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, licensed clinical social worker, and surf therapist based in Southern California, who serves as a senior advisor for Veterans for Public Lands in California. Kate and Lilly also discuss the mi...

In this episode, Kate and Aaron talk to Robert Lull, author of the book Our Natural Lab: Remarkable Stories of Science from America’s National Parks, about the amazing discoveries that have come out of science that took place in our national parks. Kate and Aaron also talk about the negative impacts the Senate permitting bill, also known as the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, could have on public lands.

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Aaron and Kate talk to Lexi Tuddenham, executive director of HEAL Utah, about Utah’s push to promote nuclear development and how it intersects with public lands. We also cover the Roadless Rule comment period results and a sketchy-sounding proposal to build over 450 nuclear reactors in Utah to power data centers on public lands.

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Kate and Aaron talk to Nick Holshouser, a data analyst with Wandering Nature, LLC, who is analyzing the public comments coming in on the Trump administration’s proposal to repeal the 2001 roadless rule in real-time at roadless.org, and Blaine Miller-McFeeley, a senior legislative representative at Earthjustice, about public comment periods under the Trump administration. We cover why you should still submit public comments (even though the Trump administration probably isn’t interested in your opinion) and how to write a comment that requires an agency response and helps build the legal record against bad agency actions.

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Recorded live at Scoundrel and Scamp Theatre in Tucson as part of CWP’s Keep Parks Public campaign, Aaron interviews four experts about the current state of Arizona’s public lands: Matthew Nelson with the Arizona Trail Association, Russ McSpadden with the Center for Biological Diversity, Emily Burns with Sky Island Alliance, and Amy Juan from the Tohono O’odham Nation.

We discuss the impacts of border wall construction on wildlife corridors and Indigenous sites, along with staffing and funding cuts at land management agencies and rollbacks of environmental protections, from Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Cabeza...

Kate and Aaron run through the weekly news, including the Trump administration’s plans to repeal the Roadless Rule and upend the Forest Service’s travel management planning process. Then, we play the first episode of On Common Ground: An American Inheritance, a new podcast from Eleven Dollar Bill studios, for you.

In this first episode, host Bill Hedden traces how the fight we were allowed to win concealed the one we lost. Bill has spent half a century defending the public lands in southeastern Utah. He is joined by co-host John Leshy, former Solicitor of the Depa...

Kate and Aaron are joined by Professor John Leshy,

Recorded live at Nuckolls Brewing in Santa Fe as part of CWP’s Keep Parks Public campaign, Kate interviews four experts about the current stakes for New Mexico’s public lands. Charlotte Overby (Conservation Lands Foundation), Keegan King (Native Land Institute), Andrew Black (National Wildlife Federation/Earthkeepers 360), and Elaine Leslie (Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks) discuss the importance of defending New Mexico’s land, water, and wildlife from the current threats coming out of the Trump administration. Thank you to Nuckolls Brewing, REI Santa Fe, and New Mexico Wild for joining us at this event!

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Kate and Aaron talk to Heather Hansman about her new book, Fierce Country: The Untold Story of Three Women Who Ignited America’s Love for the Wild. Plus, mining companies are staking an unprecedented number of claims in New Mexico. And we’re going on tour! Come see us in Santa Fe and Tucson.

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Produced by Aaron...

Forum of Fargo-Moorhead columnist Mike McFeely joins Aaron and Kate to trace Doug Burgum’s path from software tycoon to “opportunist” politician. McFeely outlines how Burgum abandoned his once-moderate image to become a die-hard Trump loyalist as Interior Secretary, all while chasing his future political ambitions and defending indefensible policies.

In the news: On Monday, Trump slashed Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante by about 90% each (3 million acres total). SUWA’s Scott Braden joins the pod to explain the unlawful basis for the cuts, the elimination of the Bears Ears Commission, Tribal exclusion, and plans to challenge the reductio...

Aaron talks with Tracy Stone-Manning, president of The Wilderness Society, former director of the Bureau of Land Management, and three-time guest on The Landscape, about how to rebuild federal land agencies after years of political disruption and why the current moment may be a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rethink public lands law from the ground up. […]

The post Tracy Stone-Manning on the future of public lands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron talk to Jayson O’Neill, a longtime public lands watchdog and Montanan who previously led the Western Values Project and now heads up a campaign called Save Our Parks. Jayson explains how the Trump administration is using the National Park Service to funnel money into Trump’s vanity projects in DC, as well as […]

The post How Trump and Burgum hijacked the Park Service and America’s birthday party appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron are joined by Dr. Steve Feldgus, an independent consultant who served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the Interior Department under President Biden. Dr. Feldgus talks about how to improve mine permitting in the US, a topic he worked on while at Interior. News Falling behind: Forest […]

The post A former Interior department official explains what’s wrong with mining on public land appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Floodlight News reporter Evan Simon joins Aaron and Kate to break down a controversial Forest Service land swap in Montana’s Crazy Mountains that quietly gave Yellowstone Club — a private club for billionaires — near-exclusive access to what should be public land, and how Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s involvement in the club raises serious questions. […]

The post How a private billionaires’ club took over the Crazy Mountains appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

In this special episode of The Landscape, the entire Center for Western Priorities team joins us for an interview with Jennifer Rokala, CWP’s outgoing executive director, to celebrate her 11 years leading the organization. Jen reflects on key victories throughout her tenure at CWP, the organization’s evolution as a communications-driven conservation hub, and her advice […]

The post Jennifer Rokala on 11 years fighting for public lands at CWP appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

In the second part of our series on the borderlands, Aaron and Lilly are joined by Bob Krumenaker, former superintendent of Big Bend National Park and current chair of Keep Big Bend Wild. They discuss the proposal for a border wall through one of America’s national treasures, the bipartisan coalition rallying to stop it, and […]

The post Borderlands part 2: The fight against a border wall at Big Bend appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

In the first installment of a two-part series on the borderlands, Aaron and Lilly are joined by Laiken Jordahl, National Public Lands Advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, to discuss his work protecting public lands along the U.S.-Mexico border. Laiken shares a boots-on-the-ground perspective on what makes these places special and how border wall […]

The post Borderlands part 1: The threats to public lands at the border appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Producers Lauren Bogard and Lilly Bock-Brownstein are joined by Timothy Ingalsbee of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE). Timothy explains why the Trump administration’s rushed reorganization of federal firefighting is so risky, what it means for the firefighters already heading into a dangerous season short-staffed, and why he sees the whole effort as […]

The post The dangerous rush to consolidate America’s wildfire response appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

In this week’s episode, Aaron is joined by guest co-host Lauren Bogard for a conversation with Jonathon Klein, editor-in-chief of RideApart, an online news source for the motorized vehicle community. Jonathon makes the case that the OHV and powersports community has more at stake in the public lands fight than many of its members realize. […]

The post What the off-road community stands to lose on public lands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Aaron is joined by Alan Spears from the National Parks Conservation Association to discuss his recent testimony before Congress about the Trump administration’s efforts to erase difficult histories from national parks and historic sites. As America approaches its 250th anniversary, Alan makes the case that telling the full story of our past is patriotic. He […]

The post America’s 250th anniversary and why history matters in our parks appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

In this episode, Aaron and Kate are joined by Jesse Chakrin, Executive Director of the Fund for People in Parks. They discuss how his organization supports smaller, overlooked national park sites across the West through philanthropy and partnerships. From multilingual signage to junior ranger programs in American Samoa, Jesse shares how they’re making parks more […]

The post Why America’s lesser known national parks matter now more than ever appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Aaron and Kate speak with Jim Pattiz of the More Than Just Parks newsletter about public lands news after the first year of the second Trump administration

The post 2025 was awful for public lands. Is there hope? appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

In this episode of The Landscape, Aaron welcomes pollsters Lori Weigel from New Bridge Strategy and Miranda Everitt from FM3 to discuss the 16th annual Colorado College Conservation in the West Poll. The bipartisan polling team breaks down voter attitudes across eight Western states on public lands, conservation priorities, and the Trump administration’s funding cuts […]

The post Unpacking the 2026 Conservation in the West Poll appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

In this episode, Kate and Aaron are joined by Professor John Ruple, a public lands law expert at the University of Utah and former attorney at the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), to discuss the Trump administration’s dismantling of the CEQ’s authority over NEPA regulations. He breaks down what the Trump administration means when it […]

The post What gutting the Council on Environmental Quality means for public lands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

In this episode, Kate and Aaron discuss how Congress is using the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to overturn public land management plans, creating chaos and uncertainty for federal lands. Steve Bloch from the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance explains that the CRA, originally designed to review agency rules, is now being weaponized to repeal resource management […]

The post Weaponizing the Congressional Review Act against America’s public lands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Aaron and Kate speak with Zachary Fort, president of the New Mexico Shooting Sports Association, about his opposition to Steve Pearce’s nomination to lead the Bureau of Land Management. Fort, a former Republican and gun rights advocate, explains why hunters and shooting sports enthusiasts are concerned about Pearce’s track record on public lands. He discusses […]

The post Why a New Mexico gun rights leader opposes Trump’s pick to lead the BLM appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron talk to Kelly Mitchell, executive director of oil industry watchdog FieldNotes, about what Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro’s capture by the US means for oil and gas producers here in the West. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has also been making the rounds on Fox cheering on Trump’s actions in Venezuela and calling on […]

The post Will Maduro’s capture lead to an American oil rift? appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

In this episode of The Landscape, Aaron and Lauren ask veteran wildland firefighter Bobbie Scopa about the state of America’s wildfire response. Bobbie, who is a retired firefighter with the organization Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, shares insights from her five-decade career, exploring how recent federal layoffs and policy changes are impacting fire mitigation, hazardous fuels reduction, […]

The post Burnout and bravery: Fighting fire on America’s public lands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

In this episode of The Landscape, Aaron and Sterling talk to Cody Perry, a filmmaker and founder of Rig to Flip, and Professor Mark Squillace, an expert in public lands and environmental law at the University of Colorado, about the ongoing battle to change Colorado’s restrictive stream access laws. The conversation centers around Perry’s documentary […]

The post Common waters: Inside the fight for stream access in Colorado appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

On this episode of the Landscape, Kate and Aaron are joined by filmmaker Annie Ersinghaus, rancher Don Schreiber, and Gail Evans, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, to talk about the impact poorly regulated oil and gas extraction has on New Mexico’s environment. Gail and Don appear in Annie’s new film, The Land […]

The post The dirty truth about oil and gas drilling in New Mexico appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

In this episode of The Landscape, Aaron and Kate discuss the Trump administration’s plan to roll back oil and gas bonding rates designed to protect American taxpayers from the cleanup costs of abandoned wells. The episode features insights from David Jenkins, president of Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship. His group recently released a report finding the […]

The post Trump bonding rates could cost taxpayers billions appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Join us on The Landscape as we dive into the resurgence of uranium mining in the American West. Hosts Aaron Weiss and Kate Groetzinger speak with Land Desk author and public lands expert Jonathan Thompson about whether the current uranium hype signifies a boom or a bubble. We explore the history of uranium production, the […]

The post Uranium boom or bubble? Exploring the future of uranium mining in the West appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Aaron talks to Rep. Jared Huffman, ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, about the government shutdown, whether Adelita Grijalva will ever get sworn in, and what he tells people who ask what’s bringing him hope in this dark time.   Produced & hosted by Aaron Weiss (Kate’s back next week) Feedback: [email protected] Music: […]

The post What the shutdown means for public lands w/ Rep. Jared Huffman appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

This Saturday is National Public Lands Day, and in honor of that, we’re bringing you a special behind the scenes episode about our Keep Parks Public tour featuring the team here at CWP.  As many listeners or Look West subscribers may know, the CWP team embarked on a 10-day journey that took us from Denver […]

The post How people across the West are fighting to protect public lands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron talk to former Montana gubernatorial candidate, public lands hunter, and Substack author Ryan Busse about how billionaires are cutting off access to the outdoors in Montana and a whole lot more. We also briefly touch on the news that the Trump administration is repealing the Public Lands Rule and give an update […]

The post Ryan Busse on how billionaires are locking up land in Montana appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate hosts a live episode in Grand Junction on CWP’s Keep Parks Public tour! Guests discuss the importance of keeping our parks and monuments staffed and funded. Guests: Ken Mabery, former superintendent of Colorado National Monument, Cole Hanson, Grand Valley Outdoor Recreation Coalition board member and Gear Junction co-owner, Jessy Nuckolls, public lands advocate and […]

The post LIVE in Grand Junction: Public land advocates take Trump attacks personally appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate hosts a live episode in Salt Lake City on CWP’s Keep Parks Public tour! Guests: Erika Pollard, National Parks Conservation Association; Davina Smith, Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and Grand Staircase Escalante Partners; Scott Braden, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance; Doug Tolman, Save Our Canyons. Resources Keep Parks Public: Tell us why you love public lands […]

The post LIVE: Utah conservation all-stars on how to Keep Parks Public appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Aaron hosts a live episode in Denver, kicking off CWP’s Keep Parks Public tour. Scott Fitzwilliams, former supervisor of the White River National Forest in Colorado, Kelly Nordini, CEO of Conservation Colorado, and Kara Matsumoto, public lands director at the Conservation Lands Foundation, join us to discuss threats to Colorado’s public lands posed by the […]

The post LIVE: Colorado’s public lands are under attack. Keep Parks Public tour highlights threats and ways to fight back appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

What the heck is Utah up to now that it’s land grab lawsuit has been snubbed by the Supreme Court and Senator Mike Lee has made public land sell-off untouchable in Congress? Kate and Aaron put that question to John Ruple, a Professor of Law and Stegner Center Fellow at the University of Utah, and […]

The post What’s next for Utah after SCOTUS snub and Mike Lee flame out? appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Kate and Aaron interview author Barret Baumgart about his new book Yuck: The Birth and Death of the Weird and Wondrous Joshua Tree. Baumgart became obsessed with Joshua trees during the pandemic and ended up uncovering some interesting facts and stories about them. News Trump admin to ink deals with states for forest management – […]

The post The strange and mysterious history of the Joshua tree appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.