The Valles Caldera National Preserve is a ninety-thousand-acre experiment in democracy and self-governance. This beautiful and complicated high-country landscape has deep intrinsic value of its wildlife, plants and waters. When …
Stop Firing our Rangers
The national parks in New Mexico and beyond are facing a growing crisis because of the Trump administration’s mass firings of federal employees. The first round of firings of rangers …
National Park Service in Crisis
The federal workforce costs taxpayers $350 billion per year. That’s about 5% of the $6.5 trillion budget. The US Department of Interior employs about 63,000 people nationwide. The bulk of the federal budget goes to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the Department of Defense.
Presidential Dishonesty Surrounding SoCal Fires
The recent fires burning suburban areas of Los Angeles have raised political tensions during widespread property damage and human suffering. Trump used the fire disasters as a wedge issue and …
Science Ignorance and the Trump administration
Before scientists developed Covid vaccines, 1.2 million people in the US died of Covid. More than 100 million Americans contracted Covid 19 and hundreds of thousands more would have died …
Trump’s Revealing Renaming of Mt. Denali
Trump ordered the government to rename Mt. Denali in Alaska, angering locals and republicans in Alaska.
Government Efficiency? Really?
Are the cuts significant for cutting the deficit or are they ideological attacks on functions he and Trump don’t value?
Off to a Weak Start
For the first time in American history, Americans elected a convicted felon to the White House.
Valles Caldera, and Other Parks Face Peril Under Trump/Musk
The November 5 election was a disaster for public lands and conservation. Clearly the American voters were focused on widespread economic insecurity and voted their pocketbooks. Other issues like climate …
Biden’s Good and Biden’s Failures
Joe Biden is president for a few more weeks. This is the calm before the storm, the eye of the hurricane, the waiting room before you go into an …