Uploaded June 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Republicans were once instrumental in passing landmark conservation laws like the 1964 Wilderness Act and the 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Today, the party’s approach to public lands is much different, exemplified by the Trump administration’s rollback of many public-land protections. But in Idaho, one of the West’s most conservative states, hunters and anglers are demanding state policies that protect access and voting down candidates who threaten public lands.
American West(s) explores the issues of the vast region between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains through the reporting of High Country News and the eye of documentary filmmaker Forrest Pound.
High Country News is a nonprofit 501(c)3 independent media organization that covers the important issues and stories that define the Western United States. Our mission is to inform and inspire people – through in-depth journalism – to act on behalf of the West’s diverse natural and human communities. We do this by providing unblinking journalism that shines a light on all of the complexities of the West.
Republicans were once instrumental in passing landmark conservation laws like the 1964 Wilderness Act and the 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Today, the party’s approach to public lands is much different, exemplified by the Trump administration’s rollback of many public-land protections. But in Idaho, one of the West’s most conservative states, hunters and anglers are demanding state policies that protect access and voting down candidates who threaten public lands.
American West(s) explores the issues of the vast region between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains through the reporting of High Country News and the eye of documentary filmmaker Forrest Pound.
High Country News is a nonprofit 501(c)3 independent media organization that covers the important issues and stories that define the Western United States. Our mission is to inform and inspire people – through in-depth journalism – to act on behalf of the West’s diverse natural and human communities. We do this by providing unblinking journalism that shines a light on all of the complexities of the West.
