Special thanks
to our supporters

  • Martina OBrien
  • Rose-Mary Grzasko & Bill Vaughn
  • Stephen Martinek
  • Jim & Shirley Kiser
  • Mike Coxon
  • Chuck Huckelberry
  • David & Joy Schaller
  • Lester Bangs
  • Ida B. Wells
  • Ernie Pyle
  • Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation
  • & many more!

We rely on readers like you. Join them & contribute to the Sentinel today!

Hosting provider

Proud member of

Local Independent Online News Publishers Authentically Local Local First Arizona Institute for Nonprofit News
 1 2 >
U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, displays the same kind of spike used in a 1989 tree-spiking incident involving Tracy Stone-Manning, President Joe Biden’s nominee to head up the Bureau of Land Management.

In a contentious meeting that distilled a weeks-long fight, the U.S. Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee deadlocked 10-10 along party lines Thursday on approving Tracy Stone-Manning’s nomination as head of the Bureau of Land Management. Read more»

U.S. President Joe Biden signed a raft of executive orders to launch his administration, many aimed at reversing decisions by his predecessor, including a decision to rejoin the Paris climate accord; reversing the process of leaving the World Health Organization; ending the ban on entries from mostly Muslim-majority countries; bolstering environmental protections; and strengthening the fight against COVID-19.

President Joe Biden's plan to protect 30% of U.S. land and water, over 720 million acres, by 2030 - what’s become known as the “30 by 30 plan” - has lofty ambitions, but what’s happening on the ground tells a different story of how it might play out. Read more»

A Bureau of Land Management sign near Elbow Canyon Road and Lime Kiln Canyon Road near Mesquite, Nevada.

Environmental groups voiced their support of Tracy Stone-Manning, a Montanan who led conservation and public lands policy at the National Wildlife Federation and President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management, prior to her Tuesday confirmation hearing. Read more»

Vermillion Cliffs National Monument in Northern Arizona.

In a preview of the arguments likely to be repeated as the Biden administration and Congress work toward conservation goals, Democrats on a U.S. House panel Tuesday outlined what they say is a need for aggressive action on climate. Read more»

Under the order, the secretary of Interior would be directed to pause all new oil and natural gas leases on public lands and offshore waters and initiate a review of all leases and permits related to fossil fuel. Some environmental groups argue that the executive order to pause new leases doesn’t go far enough to curb greenhouse gases.

President Joe Biden is set to sign a host of executive orders on climate that will put a hold on new oil and gas leases on federal property, place environmental justice in the center of climate reform and set goals of conserving nearly a third of the nation’s land and water. Read more»

1K, young California condor, leaves the release cage after receiving its wing tag, which will help biologists monitor its travels and health.

About 1,900 people watched online Saturday as, one-by-one, four young California condors flapped through a hole in their release cage to take to the skies above Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, casting shadows on the windswept rocks below. Read more»

Visitors at Mather Point in the Grand Canyon in this 2019 photo, taken during the partial government shutdown.

Major environmental legislation sailed through Congress Wednesday while the nation’s political leaders were stuck in intense negotiations over the contours of a fifth coronavirus relief package. Read more»

Arizona had an estimated 530 wild horses last year, while states like Nevada had thousands.  To reduce their impact on the environment, the animals are rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management and offered for adoption.

Thousands of wild horses and burros roam millions of acres of public land in 10 Western states, including Arizona. The Bureau of Land Management estimated last year that there are more than three times as many as there should be. Read more»

Waterfowl stop at Cibola National Wildlife Refuge in La Paz County. A new poll claims that most Western voters would oppose proposals to shift federal lands, like Cibola, to state governments.

A poll says 52 percent of voters in eight Western states don't think federal lands should be shifted to state control. An Arizona bill to do that was vetoed in 2012, but Utah law calls on the federal government to cede lands there by Dec. 31. Few expect that to happen. Read more» 2

Republican Rep. Ken Ivory, who authored Utah’s law declaring the state’s sovereignty over its public lands, urged Arizona lawmakers Thursday to follow suit.

The Utah lawmaker who authored a law calling for the federal government to relinquish authority over public lands said Thursday that devastating wildfires are one reason for Arizona to follow suit. Read more»

As every schoolchild once learned, South Carolina precipitated the nullification crisis in 1832 by passing a law that said it could, essentially, pick and choose which federal laws would apply within the state. Today in Arizona, talk of trampled state rights and infringed "sovereignty" helps keep the base agitated and angry. Read more» 3

The entrance to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Most Americans know our public lands as the places we go to get away from it all and enjoy ourselves in the outdoors. Conservation, however, also has enormous economic value, supporting a specific economy in recreation, restoration, and renewable energy development, all of which support numerous jobs. Read more»

Vice President Joe Biden, with son Hunter Biden, and granddaughters Naomi, Finnegan and Maisy Biden, tour the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park on July 27, 2010.

Beginning Saturday, active-duty military can receive a free annual pass that gives service members and their dependents access to more than 2,000 public land sites, including America's national parks. Read more»

Navajo Nation Oil and Gas Co. CEO Wilson Groen said federal regulations on “fracking” would result in even more red tape delaying tribal projects.

Tribal leaders Thursday pushed for greater input on government decisions over “fracking" and stressed the importance of eliminating red tape from energy resources programs on Indian lands. Read more»

The Bureau of Land Management has identified 237,100 acres of public land in Arizona that might be suitable for large-scale solar power development. The site above is already operating at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

The Bureau of Land Management has recommended 237,100 acres of public land in Arizona are suitable for renewable energy development, part of an effort to speed up the process for clean-energy companies looking to set up shop in the state. Read more»

 1 2 >