The Issues:
by state
FLIGHTS:
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State: Colorado Description: Colorado's distinctive lodgepole pine trees are under attack from a beetle infestation described by scientists as a "perfect storm" which could destroy 90% of the western American state's pine forests. |
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State: Montana Region: Glacier National Park Description: In Glacier National Park, there were approximately 150 glaciers present in 1850, and most glaciers were still present in 1910 when the park was established. In 2010, there were only 25 glaciers larger than 25 acres remaining in the park. |
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State: Montana, Wyoming Description: The whitebark pine is the main pine tree found at high elevations throughout the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. A beetle epidemic that's killing trees across the Rocky Mountain region has taken an especially heavy toll on whitebark pine trees in the Yellowstone Ecosystem. |
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State: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah Region: Four Corners: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah Description: Existing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the Four Corners region total 29 million tons per year of CO2. With the increased recognition of the impacts of CO2 as a major contributor to climate change and the formation of the New Mexico Climate Change Advisory Group, it is imperative that CO2 emissions be reduced in the Four Corners region. |
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State: Utah Region: Southern Utah - Kane County Description: This new coal strip mine in Alton, Utah has changed signifigantly since our first flight in December, 2010. Photos here were taken in October of 2011 to monitor the development of this mining operation on the outskirts of Bryce Canyon National Park. Recent plans for the mine's expansion have promted concerns from conservation groups, and the threat of legal action should the BLM approve... |
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State: Wyoming Description: As of 2012, the Black Thunder coal mine is the largest producing coal mine in the world. Its dragline excavator is the biggest in the world and cranks out enough coal to load up to 25 miles of railroad cars per day. |
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State: Utah Region: Price, Utah Description: The Huntington and Castle Dale power plants are located in Emery County, Utah. The larger of the two, the Hunter Plant, is located two miles south of Castle Dale, and the mines that supply it are northwest of town in the ledges of the Wasatch Plateau. |
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State: Colorado Region: Craig Description: The Craig Power Station near Craig, Colorado, is the state's largest coal-fired electrical generating station. Craig's primary coal sources are the Trapper and Colowyo mines. The Yampa River, along which the facility is situated, provides water for the turbines. |
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State: New Mexico Region: Near Farmington, New Mexico Description: The Four Corners area is home to two of the highest polluting coal plants in the western United States, the 1,800-megawatt San Juan Generating Station and the 2,040-megawatt Four Corners Power Plant. |
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State: Arizona Region: Page, Arizona - near Grand Canyon Description: The Navajo Generating Station is a 2250 megawatt coal-fired power plant located on the Navajo Indian Reservation near Page, Arizona and about 25 kilometers from the Grand Canyon National Park. |
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State: Montana Region: Southeastern Montana Description: In March 2010, the state of Montana leased 572 million tons of coal for strip mining at Otter Creek in southeastern Montana. The Otter Creek area is home to trophy quality whitetail and mule deer, growing herds of prairie elk and 250 species of birds, including 137 species of songbirds. |
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State: Colorado Region: Somerset Description: EcoFlight flew over the West Elk Mine in Somerset, Colorado. |
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State: Wyoming Region: SE Montana, NE Wyoming Description: The Powder RIver Basin supplies 40 percent of the coal produced in the United States, which is burned to produce 20% of the nation's electricity. 13% of the country's greenhouse gasses come from the Powder River Basin. |
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State: Montana Region: Bitterroot Mountains Description: The Great Fire of 1910 (also commonly referred to as the Big Blowup or the Big Burn) was a wildfire which burned about three million acres (12,000 km, approximately the size of Connecticut) in northeast Washington, northern Idaho (the panhandle), and western Montana. It is believed to be the largest, although not the deadliest, fire in recorded U.S. history. |
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State: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming Description: Wildfires are naturally occurring agents of disturbance in the region's forests. But climate change—hotter and drier conditions and longer fire seasons—is already expanding the natural force of wildfire in Greater Yellowstone. Wildfires in general are now more numerous, larger, and more destructive than they used to be. |
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State: Colorado Region: Glenwood Springs Description: On June 8th, 2002 and underground mine fire ignited vegetation on the surface and started the Coal Seam Fire in Glenwood Springs, CO. |
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State: Nevada Region: Elko Nevada Description: Nevada is the third largest gold producer in the world after South Africa (first) and Australia (second). Current mining operations have disturbed more than 100,400 acres of land in Nevada. Some gold mining pits are so large that they can be seen from outer space. |
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State: Montana Description: The Berkeley Pit is a former open pit copper mine located in Butte, Montana. It is one mile long by half a mile wide and is filled to a depth of about 900 feet with heavily acidic water and dangerous heavy metals. The mine ceased operations in 1982 and has become one of the largest federal Superfund sites. |
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State: Arizona Description: There are as many as 10,000 existing mining claims on BLM and U.S. Forest Service lands near the Grand Canyon for all types of hard-rock exploration. On January 9th 2012, Secretary of the Interior Salazar ordered a 20-year moratorium on thousands of new mining claims that threaten to industrialize watersheds, which drain directly into Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. |
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State: Colorado Region: Crested Butte Description: For more than 30 years, the small mountain town of Crested Butte has been battling the prospect of a large scale molybdenum mine in their area. View a short film about this mine by our friend Jeremy Rubingh at Snow Lion Productions. |
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State: Idaho Region: Airport - Owyhee, Oregon to near Boise, Idaho Description: The DeLamar Mine is an inactive open pit gold mine. The 2,014-acre site is currently undergoing reclamation. |
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State: Alaska Region: southwest Alaska, near Lake Iliamna and Lake Clark Description: The proposed Alaska Pebble Mine project is an extremely large and controversial copper, gold, and molybdenum open-pit mine proposed for development within one of Alaska’s Crown Jewel watersheds draining into Bristol Bay in southwest Alaska. |
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State: Utah Region: Salt Lake City, Oquirrh Mountains Description: Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Mine is situated directly east of the Great Salt Lake in Salt Lake City, Utah. The largest open pit mine in North America, Bingham has supplied more than 6 billion tons of rock yielding copper, gold, silver and molybdenum and not surprisingly, a tremendous amount of pollution. |
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State: Idaho Description: Thompson Creek Molybdenum Mine is Idaho's largest mine and is a serious concern for Idahoans who care for Salmon RIver country. |
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State: Idaho Description: A proposed moybdenum mine threatens clean water in the Boise River headwaters. |
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State: New Mexico Region: near Las Cruces, New Mexico Description: Conservation groups have worked successfully to safeguard Otero Mesa from oil and gas development for over a decade, but there is a new and even more volatile threat to this wild desert grassland - hardrock mining. A 2010 USGS study indicates that the region contains deposits of rare earth minerals, used in the electronics, medical imaging, high tech and even green industries. |
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State: Idaho Region: Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Description: The Blackfoot River valley is part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, home to hundreds of species of wildlife. The region has seen impacts from dozens of phosphate mines, around half of which are Superfund sites. Proper cleanup and halting of future development are essential. |
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State: Utah Region: West of Moab, Utah Description: The Moab or Cane Creek potash mine is located 20 miles west of Moab. The mine began underground excavation in 1964 and was converted in 1970 to a solar evaporation system. This mine produces between 700 and 1,000 tons of potash per day. Potash refers to potassium compounds which are found naturally occurring on areas where ancient oceans once covered the landscape. The main use for Potash is for agricultural fertilizer... |
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State: Arizona Description: Arizona is ranked 5th among the 19 states with toxic emissions from the metal mining industry. Eighty-nine percent of the total reported toxic emissions in Arizona come from the mining industry, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory. |
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State: Texas Region: near El Paso, Texas Description: Just 60 miles south of Otero Mesa in Hudspeth County, Texas, a rare earth mine is already in the early stages of what will likely become a vast open-pit mine. |
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State: Utah Region: Cedar City, Utah Description: Cedar Breaks National Monument is a canyon located on the west side of the Colorado Plateau. This area is significant for its external beauty but also contains a treasure chest of information due to it's geological characteristics. |
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State: Colorado Description: Rocky Mountain National Park is the living showcase of the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains, but it is under from people and the pine beetle. |
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State: Arizona Description: On January 9th 2012, the Obama administration officially announced a ban on new mining on lands near Grand Canyon National Park. The 20-year ban will not affect any existing claims but will prevent any new mining claims in the area which have increased 2,000 percent in the past seven years. |
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State: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah Region: Four Corners States - American Southwest Description: EcoFlight's 2011 Flight Across America Student Program was a three day intensive study of iconic national parks in the American southwest and the environmental pressures being imposed on them. EcoFlight and four students from CU Boulder and Colorado Mountain College flew over the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Canyonlands and Bryce Canyon National Parks. |
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State: Wyoming Region: Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Description: The park is part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which includes the remarkable Teton mountain range, magnificent Snake River corridor, and the incredible and diverse wildlife in the Grand Teton and Yellowstone region. |
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Region: Southern Utah Description: Bryce Canyon, famous for its unique geology, consists of a series of horseshoe-shaped amphitheaters carved from the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The erosional force of frost-wedging and the dissolving power of rainwater have shaped the colorful limestone rock of the Claron Formation into bizarre shapes, including slot canyons, windows, fins, and spires called "hoodoos". |
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State: Kansas Description: The Wolf Creek Generating Station is Kansas' first nuclear power generating station and provides energy for three utility owners in Kansas and Missouri. |
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State: Utah Region: Near Hanksville, Utah Description: Off-road vehicle (ORV) use on Utah’s public lands is an enormously controversial public lands issue, and ORV-caused damage – erosion, water pollution, noise, air-borne dust, crushed and looted archaeological sites — continues to increase. |
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State: Colorado Description: EcoFlight helped the Hidden Gems Campaign determine snowmobile use in winter which helped with boundary decisions for the wilderness proposal. |
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State: Wyoming Region: Upper Green River Valley Description: EcoFlight’s mission in this area is to protect and preserve the clear air, clean water and abundant wildlife that define the extraordinary Upper Green River Valley in Western Wyoming. There is substantial energy development on BLM lands here. |
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State: Wyoming Region: Bridger-Teton National Forest Description: The Wyoming Range is one of Wyoming’s lesser-known gems. In the southern part of the Bridger-Teton National Forest, this 150-mile range is home to prized herds of big game, native cutthroat trout populations and threatened species like Canada lynx. The area is at risk because energy companies have targeted it for new oil and gas development. |
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State: Wyoming Description: The Greater Yellowstone Coalition is initiating a proactive landscape-scale conservation campaign to protect the Absaroka-Beartooth Front, which constitutes the northeasetrn boundary of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and is critical habitat for all the iconic species in the Ecosystem. |
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State: Colorado Region: Western Slope Description: The Roan has become the premier symbol of the pitched battle between the oil and gas industry and the growing alliance of local communities, hunters, anglers and conservation groups fighting for the future of Western Colorado. |
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State: Colorado Region: Western Slope Description: EcoFlight has been flying Colorado’s spectacular Vermillion Basin for many years to protect it from damaging oil and gas leasing. In June 2010, the BLM’s Little Snake Field Office announced that the Vermillion Basin will be closed from all future oil and gas leasing and drilling.... |
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State: Colorado Region: Western Slope Description: Efforts are being made to protect the Thompson and Divide Creek watershed from potential oil and gas drilling, near Carbondale and Glenwood Springs, Co. |
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State: Colorado Region: Western Slope Description: In May 2009, Antero Resources announced a proposed Comprehensive Development Plan that would include constructing ten well pads and drilling over 200 natural gas wells within the residential area of Battlement Mesa. Some pads could be as close as 400 feet from homes and recreation areas. |
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State: New Mexico Region: southern New Mexico Description: Energy development on this vast Chihuahuan Desert grassland -- inhabited by New Mexico's most robust pronghorn herd, black-tailed prairie dogs and some 250 songbird species -- has been hotly disputed since 1997, when an exploratory well drilled by the Harvey E. Yates Company hit gas. |
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State: Wyoming Region: Sheridan Description: Coalbed methane development in the Fortification Creek area in the Powder River Basin has been a challenge to environmental groups. |
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Region: Tavaputs Plateau Description: Promoted as "the world's longest art gallery",NIne Mile Canyon contains one of the nation's greatest collections of prehistoric Indian rock art. It has also been under threat of the oil and gas industry. |
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State: Montana Description: Congress has enacted legislation that prevents all future leasing of federal oil and gas minerals on the Rocky Mountain Front. |
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State: Wyoming Description: Wyoming's Powder River Basin is experiencing the largest mineral boom in Wyoming history. |
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State: New Mexico Region: San Juan Basin, Farmington and Aztec Description: San Juan Basin, one of the worlds largest coal-bed methane deposits. |
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State: Colorado Region: North Park Description: Plans to drill the Niobrara Formation in Colorado's North Park are drawing concerns from local sportsmen, anglers and conservation groups about the area's delicate resources. |
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State: Wyoming Description: A 2011 EPA report links groundwater contamination to fracking. |
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State: Colorado Description: Flaring is a technique used by the oil and gas industry to burn off unused natural gas. Though better than simply venting the gas into the air, flaring releases huge amounts of greenhouse gasses and as many as 250 hazardous air pollutants, including carcinogens such as naphthalene and benzene... |
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State: Colorado Region: Western slope Description: 30,000 acres of land have been nominated for oil and gas leasing in the Paonia, Somerset, Hotchkiss and Crawford areas of the North Fork Valley region, home to organic farms, orchards, vineyards, ranches and excellent hiking and fishing. Some of these 22 lease parcels would be in vital watersheds and in viable agricultural areas. |
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State: Utah Region: Uinta Basin Description: The Desolation Canyon area is one of the largest roadless areas in the U.S. It's also sitting on top of a lage oil formation, making it a target for drilling. |
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State: Utah Region: Utah/Colorado Description: The western United States holds some of the world’s richest deposits of oil shale. The states of Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah together represent more than a third of the earth’s supply. Red Leaf Resources, Inc. is currently field testing technology to bring this fuel to the market. |
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State: Colorado Description: For decades, energy companies have attempted to unlock the large, domestic oil shale resources of northwestern Colorado’s Piceance Basin. For more than a quarter of a century, Shell has conducted laboratory and field research on its, In situ (in-ground) Conversion Process to recover oil and gas. |
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State: Idaho Region: Boise Description: Conservation groups support responsible development of renewable energy projects, provided there is a requirement for comprehensive, ecologically sound, science-based analysis in determining where those projects should be sited. |
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State: New Mexico Region: Eastern New Mexico Description: The Argonne Mesa Wind Farm consists of 90 wind turbines located 40 miles south of Santa Rosa in eastern New Mexico. |
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State: Colorado Region: Southwest Colorado Description: The Alamosa Photovoltaic (PV) Solar Plant is an 8.2 megawatt-dc installation located on roughly 80 acres of land in the San Luis Valley, near an Xcel substation in Alamosa, Colorado |
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State: Wyoming Description: It is important to have an understanding of potential impacts of wind development on affected wildlife in Wyoming. |
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State: Arizona Region: Phoenix, Maricopa County Description: Tour around the Phoenix area and see future solar sights as well as proposed wilderness and conservation areas. |
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State: California Description: This wind farm on the San Gorgonio Mountain Pass in the San Bernadino Mountains contains more than 4000 separate windmills and provides enough electricity to power Palm Springs and the entire Coachella Valley. Developed beginning in the 1980s, it is one of three major wind farms in California, along with those at Altamont and the Tehachapi passes. The gateway into the Coachella Valley, the San Gorgonio Pass is one of the windiest places in Southern California. |
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State: California Description: To truly tap solar energy's enormous potential, many of the nation's energy, environmental and economic experts are addressing the challenge of speeding solar energy development while minimizing impacts on the land. For public lands that means building a program that guides projects to low-conflict solar energy zones (SEZ's) - areas with great solar resources that do not contain critical wildlife habitat, wilderness quality lands or sensitive cultural resources. |
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State: New Mexico Region: Guadalupe County (40 miles southwest of Santa Rosa, New Mexico) Description: This is the Aragonne Mesa Wind Farm at the eastern end of New Mexico near Santa Rosa. This wind farm is owned by the Pinnacle West Capitol Corporation. The potential for electricity generation from wind is enormous in New Mexico, especially on the eastern plains, with annual wind energy potential estimated to be 435 billion kWh. |
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State: California Region: Mojave Desert Description: Thousands of “Heliostat” mirrors are programed to track the sun and point toward a solar receiver filled with water on top a 400 foot high tower. The high temperature turns the water into steam which is piped into a turbine, generating electricity. |
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State: Arizona Region: Sun Corridor Description: Arizona has some of the best solar resource potential in the nation. The state's Sun Corridor stretches from its southern border into Yavapai County several hundred miles north. This migration includes the Phoenix/Tucson "megapolitan" area which has been one of the fastest growing regions in the nation for the past several decades. |
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State: Nevada Description: EcoFlight worked with the Nevada Wilderness Project to survey the Southwest Intertie Project (SWIP), a massive transmission line slated to run from Idaho to Las Vegas. |
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State: Idaho Region: Boise Description: The federal government has identified public lands in Idaho for renewable energy development and smart grid infrastructure and EcoFlight has worked with the Idaho Conservation League to minimize the potential adverse effects. |
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State: Montana Region: outside of Bozeman Description: The Gallatin Mountains, a wild rugged range bordered by the Gallatin River to the west and the expansive Yellowstone Valley to the east, directly links the community of Bozeman, Montana with the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the world's first national park. As urban populations grow, increasing demands on our environment call for proper planning of urban development, as well as protection for these wild lands. |
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State: New Mexico Region: Albuquerque Description: One of the faster growing cities in the United States, Albuquerque has not been immune to the negative consequences of growth and urbanization that plagues other cities. Albuquerque's loosely planned sprawl is on a collision course with its finite water supply. |
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State: Arizona Description: Since 1960, Arizona has tripled in population and it continues to grow three times faster than the nation as a whole. Pima County is seen as a leading region in efforts to protect natural resources while planning for growth. |
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State: Nevada Region: Las Vegas County Description: Las Vegas, the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the United States, exemplifies the problems of rampant urban sprawl. |
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State: Colorado Description: The Crystal River Valley, between Carbondale, CO and Redstone is a place where the safeguarding of the natural environment and the protection of its rural character is valued. The Crystal River Valley Master Plan, implemented in 2000, is a community based Master Plan intended to be used by Crystal River Valley residents, Pitkin County staff and decision-makers to guide future development, inform land use decisions and enhance the public amenities that abound within the valley. |
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State: Wyoming Description: The Town of Jackson and Teton County are jointly updating their 1994 Comprehensive Plan — the long-range plan that guides policy, investment, program, and land use decisions — to make sure it reflects the current needs and vision of everyone involved. EcoFLight provides flights give the aerial perspective of this special landscape and land use proposals. |
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State: Colorado Region: Superior Description: Boulder, Colorado’s surging job growth and limitations on residential growth have had a significant impact on housing demand in adjoining communities. |
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State: Colorado, Utah Description: The White River Basin contains some of the best fish and wildlife habitat in the Colorado River Basin. |
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State: Colorado Region: Southwest Colorado, Canyon County Description: The Dolores River Canyon is a pristine desert area containing some of the most outstanding canyon scenery in Colorado. It includes benchlands and mesa uplands, portions of five tributary canyons, and a segment of the Dolores River recommended as a wild river under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1976. |
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State: Arizona, Nevada, Utah Region: Arizona, Nevada, Utah Description: The Colorado River is the major water artery in the Southwest, a region that is drier than the deserts of North Africa. In spite of the lack of rainfall and very high summer temperatures, this dry desert is now home to tens of millions of people and includes some of the major agricultural areas in the United States.... |
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State: Wyoming Region: Southern Wyoming Description: The headwaters of the Little Snake River, a tributary of the Yampa River, lie east of Baggs, Wyoming and north of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The Little Snake River Valley is one of the few remaining intact river valleys in the West that has not experienced rampant development. The area is critical wildlife habitat for many species including the largest and most robust population of Columbian sharp-tailed grouse found anywhere in the central Rockies. |
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State: Utah Description: The Green River below Flaming Gorge Dam in far northeastern Utah has world class trout fishing which is a big part of our Western culture and heritage. The river is targeted for a trans-basin water diversion project which could certainly threaten this magnificent river and the fishing there. |
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State: Missouri Description: The Missouri River is a major river of central North America. At over 2,540 miles, it is the longest river on the continent and is the second largest tributary of the Mississippi River. |
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Description: The Clark Fork watershed is a 22,000 square mile area that drains northern Idaho and nearly the entire western portion of Montana. It is home to over a third of Montana's population. The river and its tributaries have a biological, economic, and cultural impact on the entire Northern Rockies. |
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State: Arizona, Utah |
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State: Oregon Region: Southeast Oregon Description: The Owyhee Canyonlands region consists over 1.9 million acres and is home to a thriving diversity of plant and animals species, including sage grouse, pronghorns, big horn sheep, and golden eagles. This area provides rich recreational opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts of all types, from hikers and hunters to river runners who paddle the Wild and Scenic River. |
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State: Utah Description: The Greater Canyonlands area extends beyond Canyonlands National Park over 1.4 million acres. This area is threated by off-road vehicle abuse, oil and gas, nuclear and tar sands mining. |
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State: Montana Description: The Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act is a collaborative effort to add further protections to this magnificent landscape. |
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State: Colorado Description: The San Juan National Forest and stakeholders in southwest Colorado are crafting plans for the future of the 150,000-acre Hermosa Roadless Area, and over 62 miles of Hermosa Creek and tributaries. |
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State: Colorado Description: The Hidden Gems Wilderness Campaign, a citizen-generated plan, is seeking designation of major new wilderness additions to the wilderness system in Colorado. |
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State: Colorado Region: Colorado's White River National Forest Description: U.S. Rep. Jared Polis has introduced a wilderness bill and Senator Mark Udall is working with citizens to craft a wilderness plan to protect proposed Hidden Gems wilderness in Summit, Eagle and Pitkin counties. |
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State: Colorado Description: With newly announced interest from Senator Mark Udall, Hidden Gems lands in Summit, Pitkin and Eagle counties are one step closer to becoming Wilderness! |
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State: New Mexico Description: Otero Mesa, located in rural southern New Mexico, lies south of the Sacramento Mountains and west of the Guadalupe Mountains. This 1.6 million acre basin is the largest and wildest Chihuahan Desert grassland left on public lands in the U.S. |
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State: Montana Description: This remote beautiful landscape, with 149 miles of the Missouri River corridor designated as a National Wild and Scenic River, has begun to be recognized as a national treasure. |
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State: Nevada Description: The Pine Forest Range in Northern Nevada has long been a point of destination for anglers, hunters and outdoor enthusiasts. |
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State: Colorado Region: Pitkin County Description: The Hidden Gems Wilderness Campaign, a citizen-generated plan, is working with stakeholders and congressional leaders, seeking designation of major new wilderness additions to the wilderness system in Colorado. |
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State: Colorado Description: EcoFlight has been flying Colorado’s spectacular Vermillion Basin for many years to protect it from damaging oil and gas leasing. In June 2010, the BLM’s Little Snake Field Office announced that the Vermillion Basin will be closed from all future oil and gas leasing and drilling... |
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State: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming Region: Northwest Wyoming, Southern Montana and Southeastern Idaho Description: There is no place on earth like Greater Yellowstone. The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is one of the last remaining large, nearly intact ecosystems in the northern temperate zone of our planet, and includes Yellowstone National Park... |
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State: California Region: Southern California Description: The California Desert Protection Act of 2011 hopes to create new national monuments, add acreage to the wIlderness preservation system and increase the size of several parks in the area. |
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State: New Mexico Region: northwestern New Mexico Description: Chaco National Historical Park is designated as a World Heritage Site and is one of the finest examples of Puebloan culture centers in the southwest United States, yet it too is impacted by intensive energy development. |
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State: Colorado Region: Arkansas River Description: This proposed wilderness area’s low elevation provides rich species diversity, year-round recreational access and opportunities for hunting, hiking, wildlife viewing, backpacking and camping. |
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Description: Another gold mine of history and culture is threatened by military expansion. |
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State: Montana Description: A vast watershed and series of pristine mountain lakes that feed the Clearwater and Blackwater Rivers (of Robert Redford fame), the Seeley-Swan Valley is surrounded on all sides by towering peaks, intact ecosystem and abundant wildlife. It is a landscape that epitomizes western American wilderness. |
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State: Idaho Description: The Pioneer Mountains region of south-central Idaho is one of the West's most unique and unspoiled landscapes. The region supports tremendous wildlife populations, large working farms and ranches and a wide diversity of ecosystem types. The vast relatively untouched sagebrush habitat is a stronghold for sage grouse, a refuge for the pygmy rabbit and a key migration corridor for pronghorn antelope. |
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State: Colorado Description: The Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area is Colorado's third National Conservation Area (NCA). |
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Region: west-central Description: The Gunnison Gorge NCA is a diverse landscape with a Gold Medal trout fishing. |
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State: Colorado Region: Mamm Creek, Currant Creek, Kannah Creek, Flat Tops Description: After a decade of litigation, rulemaking and public input, Colorado's Roadless Areas are still the topic of much discussion. |
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State: Wyoming Region: Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Description: The Wyoming Wilderness Association is involved in the Shoshone National Forest Management Plan revision process, currently underway, to draw attention to high-priority wild areas in need of permanent protection. |
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State: Montana Description: The Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park is a designated World Heritage Site and is part of a large preserved ecosystem known as the "Crown of the Continent." Virtually all the plants and animals which existed at the time European explorers first entered the region are present in the park today. |
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State: Wyoming Region: Jackson Area Description: Bruce Gordon narrates an informative video about pronghorn migration in Wyoming. This video also covers the potential problems associated with natural gas drilling in Wyoming's Pinedale and Jonah regions and how that could affect animal migration corridors. |
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State: Wyoming Region: The McCullough Peaks Herd Management Area - Near Cody, WY Description: The BLM manages herd populations under the direction of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971... |
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State: Colorado, New Mexico Description: EcoFlight's 2010 Flight Across America Student Program studied renewable energy and transmission and wildlife corridors in Colorado and New Mexico. |
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State: Colorado Region: Pitkin County Description: In November 2010, high school students from the Roaring Fork Valley took part in a study of the Hidden Gems Wilderness proposal areas. |
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State: Wyoming Region: Jackson Description: EcoFlight's 2009 Flight Across America Student Program studied the pine beetle infestation occurring in the Rocky Mountain region, specifically in Colorado and Wyoming. |
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State: Colorado Description: In May 2011, high school students from the Roaring Fork Valley, Colorado, took part in EcoFlight's Kestrel Program on Natural Gas Drilling. |
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State: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah Region: Four Corners States - American Southwest Description: EcoFlight's 2011 Flight Across America Student Program was a three day intensive study of iconic national parks in the American southwest and the environmental pressures being imposed on them. EcoFlight and four students from CU Boulder and Colorado Mountain College flew to the Four Corners region and conducted overflights of Mesa Verde National Park and the adjacent Four Corners coal-fired power plants, two of the dirtiest and most polluting power plants in the country. |
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State: Belize Description: Belize, a severely impoverished Central American country, but with one of the world’s richest habitats for diverse fauna and flora is at a crossroads with the dual problems of trying to preserve its natural heritage while both succumbing to and fending off wealthy developers. EcoFlight has a history of working with wildlife and conservation organizations in Belize. |
