Sawtooth National Recreation Area, July 16, 2016

Can We Think About this Privatization of Federal Land Idea?


Americans, and international visitors, love federal lands. Idahoans pack the federal parks, national forests, national recreation areas and other federal lands all summer. Everything from dirt bike racing in the Owyhee Mountains to rafting Wild and Scenic Rivers to backpacking Forest Service trails to filling up all the campgrounds in the state on weekends. Hunting…

…And Sometimes the Guilty Go Free


As we struggle to understand how the Bundy defendants were acquitted by the jury, there’s a key fact you need to understand: the criminal justice system is imperfect, Sometimes the innocent are convicted; sometimes the guilty go free. In United States v. Bundy, it’s not clear whether the acquittal of all seven defendants on all charges was…

Muir and Roosevelt, Yosemite Valley

Happy 100th, National Park System


It’s surely one of the most important camping trips in American history. In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt accompanied John Muir on a visit to Yosemite. Muir joined Roosevelt in Oakland, California, for the train trip downstate to Raymond. The presidential entourage then traveled by stagecoach into the park. While traveling to the park, Muir told the president about state mismanagement of…