• Land

Haaland Met with State and Tribal Leaders to Talk Future of Bears Ears National Monument

• #30x30
• artifacts
• Bears Ears Monument
• Grand Staircase-Escalante
• grazing
• Hopi
• Navaho
• off-road vehicles

Days after announcing a $1.6 billion investment into national parks, reserves, and Indigenous schools, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland visited Bears Ears National Monument to speak to Utah state and Tribal leaders about the future of the monument.

Why This Matters: In 2017, the Trump administration reduced the Monument by nearly one million acres and opened the land up to cattle grazing and off-road vehicles.

• Land

Interior Invests $1.6 Billion in Parks, Preserves, and Indigenous Schools

• 30 by 30
• Bears Ears
• BLM
• Deb Haaland
• Department of Interior

by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer The Department of the Interior announced Friday that it will use funds allocated by a conservation bill passed last year to fund 165 national park improvement projects that will create nearly 19,000 jobs.  The Biden administration has pledged to protect 30% of public lands and waters by 2030, but accomplishing that means completing deferred maintenance […]

• Land

FEMA Announces Flood Insurance Rate Changes to Improve Equitability

• climate change
• cost
• FEMA
• flood insurance
• Flooding

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced late last week a new pricing structure for its federal flood insurance program.  The federal government has been subsidizing flood insurance for people in areas defined by the government as flood-prone — the new pricing takes into account the actual risk to people’s homes.

Why This Matters:  The prior system was inequitable and FEMA says its new system will mean that low-income people with less valuable homes will pay only their fair share.

• Land

Green Groups Urge Haaland to Reject Drilling in the Everglades

• Deb Haaland
• Department of Interior
• drilling
• Everglades
• Florida

by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer On Tuesday, a coalition of conservation organizations signed a letter to the Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland, urging her to deny Burnett Oil Company’s requests to drill for oil in Big Cypress National Preserve which is a part of the Greater Everglades.  “The proposed oil extraction activities would be […]

• Land

Government Forecast Finds Nearly Two-Thirds of U.S. Experiencing Drought

• climate change
• Drought
• hurricane
• severe weather
• wildfire

A new government climate forecast found that nearly two-thirds of the continental U.S. is in a moderate to exceptional drought that is expected to grow more severe over the coming months. 74 million people will likely experience the most significant spring drought since 2013.

Why This Matters: Experts say these conditions may be here to stay. In January, water experts announced that the entire American west is experiencing a “forever drought” that exacerbates wildfires, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, and more.

• Land

WWF and AirWick Team Up to Reseed 1B Square Feet of Native Grassland

• grassland
• prairie
• WWF

Since 2009, the United States has lost 33 million acres of grassland and wildflower habitats in the US Great Plains, which equates to half the size of Colorado. For more than seven years, grasslands in this region have been plowed-up at an average rate of four football fields per minute, prioritizing row-crop agriculture over the […]