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Mike Lee, GOP colleagues move to permanently kill the Roadless Rule

Lee's amendment would strip existing rulemaking and bar the Forest Service from ever issuing similar roadless protections in the future
Sen. Mike Lee at the June 10, 2026 Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing (Image: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources).

On Wednesday morning, in Room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, with no hearing, no public notice beyond a leak the night before, and all the legitimacy of a pickpocket working a crowd, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved an amendment to kill the 2001 Roadless Rule. Not weaken it. Not “modernize” it. Not return it to the states.

'Absolutely crazy': Trump administration to dismantle crucial ocean monitoring system

The advanced, global instrumentation network was slated to deliver data and empower scientific research for at least a quarter century
Ocean Observatories Initiative research gliders waiting for deployment (photo: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute).

In what a number of scientists suggested was the Trump administration’s latest effort to stop tracking the changing climate in hopes of convincing the public that the climate emergency isn’t happening, the National Science Foundation announced Monday that it was dismantling a crucial deep-ocean monitoring system that for years has helped researchers understand the impacts of the crisis on the world’s oceans.

50 years after the flood: Could the Teton Dam be rebuilt?

Detractors argue a rebuilt Teton Dam would harm native trout and fail to make economic sense
June 5, 1976. 80 billion gallons (220,000 acre feet) of water were released by the failure of the Teton Dam (photo: waterarchives.org).

The morning of June 5, 1976, bulldozer operators at the newly minted Teton Dam site on the border of Madison and Fremont counties in eastern Idaho worked feverishly to shore up seeping leaks in the giant rock and earthen berm that were discovered two days earlier. Behind the ill-fated dam, some 230,000 acre-feet of stored irrigation water destined for more than 100,000 acres of farmland pushed against the 10 million cubic yards of silt, soil, sand, gravel and rockfill used to build the structure, gathering energy with every drop the Teton River pushed into the new reservoir.

The trout angler's guide to fishing through drought

How to navigate the coming low water summer both on the river and off
Photo: Tim Romano.

On Colorado’s Front Range, essentially a high desert, longtime trout anglers tend to be more tuned into the realities of drought, low water, and rising temperatures — all things that are fundamentally bad for trout fishing and, more importantly, the fish themselves. Many anglers around the country may have never experienced a “real” drought firsthand or simply haven’t been fishing long enough to understand what prolonged heat and shrinking flows actually mean for a species that craves as much cold, oxygen-rich water as it can get. Over the years, there are a few things I’ve learned that can help not only the fisheries but also help anglers continue to enjoy getting outside during conditions like these.

New fly fishing gear: May 2026

What's new on and off the water this month
Photo: Umpqua.

With the summer season upon us, fly-fishing manufacturers are prepping their customers for better weather. This month’s offerings includes a new streamer fly reel, new sunglasses from a well-known lens crafter, a new collaborative inflatable boat offering, a new line of on-the-water packs, and a somewhat surprising entry into the flip-flop market from a company likely best known for its efforts to protect anglers from inclement weather.

Looking for the latest in gear? Here’s the rundown.

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