Work for the National Park Service in Utah and you best be prepared to serve the best interests of Utah politicians. Why else, after Park Service staff at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area spent nine years working on the requisite environmental studies and public comment periods to allow ATV use in the NRA, would the agency's regional director issue a directive that all parks in the state open their dirt and paved roads to ATVs without similar studies?

A memo that acting National Park Service Director David Vela sent out recently has raised concerns that park officials in the field will be muzzled when it comes to expressing concerns about energy and infrastructure development on lands adjacent to their parks.

As Midwest states struggled with record spring flooding this year, the Southwest was wrestling with the opposite problem: not enough water. On May 20, 2019, federal officials and leaders from seven states signed the Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan, a sweeping new water management agreement for this arid region.