Many of the trails and roads that lead into Forest Service land traverse private properties. These access points have been used for decades but “No Trespassing” signs are popping up with increasing frequency. By controlling the access points to these public lands, landowners are turning tens of thousands of acres of federal land into extensions of their ranches.

The fight over preserving public land during the Trump era is taking a strange, angry twist in Montana’s Crazy Mountains. Both sides are armed.

LINK  (via: Bloomberg)

These shuttered public lands dramatically reduce opportunities for outdoor recreation, such as hiking, hunting, fishing and horseback riding, and stymie the United States’ burgeoning $646 billion outdoor recreation economy.

LINK (via: Center for Western Priorities)