Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging the right of the public to “corner cross” between parcels of public land—a feature common across the West. By not taking up the case, justices let stand an appeals court ruling that made it clear corner crossing is legal—at least in the six states covered by the 10th Circuit.
The latest episode of the 99% Invisible podcast tells the story of the hunters who got arrested by a Wyoming sheriff, then sued by a pharmaceutical executive who claimed that allowing the public to access public lands adjacent to his ranch would cause him millions of dollars in damages.
In the wake of the 10th Circuit decision, the mapping company OnX laid out the implications for hunters, anglers and other users of public lands.
With no one in charge, BLM shuffles the deck chairs
Even though the Bureau of Land Management has been operating without a Senate-confirmed director for nearly a year, the Interior department reassigned senior staff across the agency this week. E&E News’s Scott Streater obtained a recording of the call announcing the changes, which include relocating the assistant director who oversees the management of national conservation lands and national monuments. As part of the reshuffling, BLM will temporarily install new state directors in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and the Oregon-Washington office.
Quick hits
Vistas painted by Georgia O’Keefe to be protected with new conservation plan
New York Times | Associated Press
Key Senate dems oppose permitting bill to shorten NEPA deadlines
White House adviser Stephen Miller sold stock in Nevada mining company after Trump aministration deal
Editorial: Higher national park fees for international visitors risks Utah’s recreation economy
Have Colorado’s moose restoration efforts been too successful?
Texas oil company broke federal rules cleaning up Colorado gasoline spill near Animas river
Will wolves and ranchers ever be able to coexist?
Grand Canyon hotels remain in limbo due to broken water line
Quote of the day
It’s just the worst-case scenario. People appreciate the animals, but the bigger story of the ecosystem decline and what’s gone along with it needs to be told more clearly.”
—David Cooper, Colorado State University senior researcher emeritus, on the effects of moose re-population in Rocky Mountain National Park, CPR News
Picture This
Why don’t mountains get cold in the winter?
They wear snow caps.
You’ll get that one on the hike down. Please don’t leave. Come back! Come back! Phew. We knew better with that one, but mountains sure can be hill-areas. We can’t stop. Peak humor for sure! Help us. TGIF.
But seriously, snow caps? Snow on mountain peaks isn’t just for aesthetics. It’s pretty though! As moist air is forced upward along a mountain’s slope, a process called orographic lift, it cools rapidly. At higher elevations, temperatures drop low enough for water vapor to condense and fall as snow. Mountains therefore receive more precipitation and experience colder conditions than surrounding lowlands. Peaks that rise above the permanent snow line, typically around 4,500–6,000 meters, or 14,760–19,685 feet (we don’t know how many bananas that is), retain snow and ice year-round, forming the “snow caps.”
Image: @rockynps