Inside Climate Talks: A Tumultuous Moment for Public Lands and All Who Rely on Them

Some 640 million acres of the United States are owned by the federal government for the benefit of the people. These public lands, widely loved by Americans, are being pulled in multiple directions over questions of who gets access, how the land is used and managed, and what values should guide those choices. Managing editor Jamie Smith Hopkins sits down with three ICN journalists who’ve been tracking these questions closely: Wyatt Myskow, who covers the Southwest; Jake Bolster, who covers Wyoming and the West; and senior editor Michael Kodas, who has deep expertise about both public lands and wildfires, subjects that frequently intersect. Watch as they explain what’s happening with public lands right now under the Trump administration, what role these lands play in climate change, and whose voices are being heard in the debates, from tribal nations to businesses and the American public.