Glen Canyon Dam was built primarily to store excess Colorado River water during wet years, so it could be released during dry spells and used to generate power. Now, with aridification depriving the river of those excess flows, both functions are imperiled.
“The American West is primed for a summer of fire,” warns Popular Science. The magazine reported in May that more than 1.2 million acres of the U.S. burned from wildfires so far this year.
The famous Havasu Falls near Grand Canyon National Park will remain closed to tourists for at least the rest of 2022.
All entrances to Yellowstone National Park are closed temporarily due to heavy flooding, rockslides and extremely hazardous conditions, the National Park Service reports.
Despite year-over-year decreases, recent population estimates of wild horses and burros roaming BLM-managed public lands are still too high, the bureau says.
Yellowstone National Park’s Mount Doane is now First Peoples Mountain. According to the National Park Service, the announcement comes after a 15-0 vote affirming the change by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.
This spring, Oregon enacted emergency measures to close three controlled deer hunts in the state, losing nearly 1,000 deer tags. Wyoming and Utah have similar measures of their own.
The Bureau of Reclamation announced in early May urgent drought responses that will help prop up Lake Powell by nearly 1 million acre-feet through April 2023.
