This is the first of a series of occasional posts looking at at how the West would have changed if a major historical event had – or had not – occurred. Here, we look at the implications of a different Supreme Court decision in the 1963 Arizona v. California case.Continue readingWhat If California Had Won the 1963 Case Over the Division of the Colorado River?
The fishing rights promised to the Pacific Northwest’s Native Americans 160 years ago are proving the sharpest knife the region’s environmentalists possess. So far in 2016, these rights have undergirded decisions to block two planned terminals to ship coal to Asia. Another decision could cost Washington state a billion dollars in highway repairs aimed at protecting salmon.Continue readingIn the Pacific Northwest, Native Fishing Rights Take on a Role as Environmental Protector
A vineyard in Paso Robles. Mattyshack via Flickr By Felicity Barringer A hidden treasure, groundwater has long sustained agriculture through California’s cycles of drought. Decades ago, state water officials started researching the geological formations that hold groundwater. By the 1950s, hydrogeologists had created an atlas showing the boundaries of more than 500 groundwater basins or…Continue readingTo Manage Groundwater, California Must First Get Basin Boundaries Right
The Butler petroglyph panel in what would be Bears Ears National Monument. Vandalism and theft at archeological sites have been an ongoing problem. Tim Peterson By Winston Hurst Crow Canyon Archaeological Center Winston Hurst is a archaeologist based in Blanding, Utah who has frequently published scholarly works on the artifacts of the prehistory of the…Continue readingNot On Board With the Bears Ears Crusade
Tim Peterson By Joe Lyman Joe Lyman is a member of the Blanding, Utah town council, and the great-grandson of one of settlers who came in 1879. Massive tracts of land being declared National Monuments violates the very Antiquities Act used to enact them as they are to be “confined to the smallest area compatible…Continue readingWhy Oppose the Bears Ears National Monument?
The Bears Ears region, home to some of our nation’s earliest antiquities, can open the eyes of people who want to learn about a past that is older than what is usually taught, and if protected, can help create a more informed national citizenry.Continue readingNative Experience Can Help Inform the American Citizenry
Photo courtesy Anna Elza Brady By Anna Elza Brady Gavin Noyes Anna Elza Brady is the Policy & Communications Strategist for Utah Diné Bikéyah, a Native-led nonprofit organization that has been working to protect Bears Ears since 2010. In the wake of this week’s deeply fractured general election, millions of Americans are grasping to figure…Continue readingAn Unprecedented Coalition of Five Sovereign Tribal Nations
After months of anticipation, the Obama Administration has designated 1.3 million acres of southeastern Utah as the Bears Ears National Monument. The decision, announced 22 days before the end of the administration, has been met with praise and criticism. Here, we present several perspectives on this momentous decision.Continue readingThe Bears Ears National Monument