Public Lands

The updated bill targets Bureau of Land Management land near population centers. But hunters say these areas are important for recreation — and wildlife.

Despite public land making up about 63% of Idaho, it will not be affected by the latest Trump administration attempt to rollback regulations related to roads and logging on forest service acreage.

It’s Friday, which means it's time for our Reporter Roundtable when Idaho Matters gets you up to date on all the news that made headlines this past week, including the latest on the threats to public lands and the expansion of a Valley County mine.

Proponents say the land would be used for much-needed housing, but environmental groups say eligible areas could include those treasured by communities in the Mountain West.

Thanks to a new initiative, private landowners in Colorado and Wyoming are now letting people cross through their property for free to access these acres.

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson is putting his foot down when it comes to the federal government selling public lands.

City Club of Boise forum panelists discussed Idaho's public lands and how potential changes to oversight and ownership of these lands may impact access and ways in which they are used.

Idaho’s public lands are under threat from development, climate change and the push to privatize land, putting wildlife habitats and outdoor space at risk. One organization is trying to protect those public lands for future generations.

Note: This is an encore edition of Reader's Corner. The episode originally aired in November 2022.An interview with Nate Schweber, author of the new book, This America of Ours: Bernard & Avis DeVoto and the Forgotten Fight to Save the Wild. In the book, Schweber tells the story of the extraordinary couple who rescued national parks from McCarthyism, and inspired a future of conservation.

A bipartisan team of researchers leads Colorado College's annual "Conservation in the West" poll of about 3,300 voters in eight western states: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.