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By Kathleen Shannon - Producer, Contact - News
Big Sky Connection - A new study maps mining claims on federal public lands and shows more than 15,000 in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming are within 30 miles of a national park or monument. Public lands advocates say it's too easy to get a claim and that mining activity would be detrimental to nearby environments. Comments by Beau Kiklis (BOE KICK-liss), associate director for landscape conservation and energy policy, National Parks Conservation Association.
Click on the image above for the audio. Of the nearly half million mining claims on federal public lands across the U.S., more than 120,000 are within 30 miles of a national park or monument. (Billy Clay Myers/Adobe Stock)
Kathleen Shannon
April 9, 2025 - The number of mining claims on U.S. public lands is growing. A 27% increase since 2019 has brought the total to nearly a half-million.
A new study showed many are in close proximity to, and could threaten, national parks. In Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, more than 15,000 mining claims are within 30 miles of a national park or monument, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.
Beau Kiklis, associate director of landscape conservation and energy policy for the association, said claims are easy to get, based on a system dating back to 1872. He added a bill now in the U.S. Senate Committee of Energy and Natural Resources could make it even simpler.
"We're seeing agencies and institutions being dismantled and protections for landscapes being reviewed and compromised," Kiklis pointed out. "When we look at this data, our parks and our monuments, they are threatened from the possibility of future mining."
Kiklis noted mining claims are not held to the same standards of review and public process as other public land uses, and residents receive no royalties from the claims. According to the report, holders of mining claims in 2023 paid less than $10 per acre.
Kiklis emphasized it takes, on average, just three years to permit a mine.
"That's pretty fast when you think about the potential threats that are associated with mining, like impacts to groundwater and water supply for communities, wildlife migration and habitat, air impacts," Kiklis outlined. "You think about other public land uses, like recreation and conservation and so forth."
Across the northern Rockies, there are 141 mining claims within the boundaries of national parks and monuments, including Yellowstone National Park and Big Horn Canyon National Recreation Area.
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PNS - Wednesday, April 9, 2025 - The North Carolina Supreme Court pauses a purge of legally cast ballots. Labor unions protest student visas lost over protesting. And, Texas lawmakers want proof of citizenship for both new and existing voter registrations.
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PNS - Wednesday, April 9, 2025 - Judge rules White House violated the First Amendment in banning Associated Press from President Trump's events; MA labor unions rally for public colleges, universities; ND farmers back push in Congress to rein in tariffs; NC state workers oppose health plan changes; and PA retirees fear Social Security cuts under Trump.
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By Kathleen Shannon - Producer, Contact - News
Big Sky Connection - A DAILY YONDER/BIG SKY CONNECTION COLLABORATION – A map of Montana news outlets shows people living rurally have fewer sources of local news, which can impact community engagement and accountability. Continued news consolidation disproportionately threatens more rural states. Comments from Daniel Read (REED), research analyst, LOR Foundation.
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Kathleen Shannon
By Ilana Newman for The Daily Yonder.
Broadcast version by Kathleen Shannon for Big Sky Connection for the Public News Service/Daily Yonder Collaboration
April 8, 2025 - A new study from the LOR Foundation, an organization focused on rural community development, maps local news outlets in Montana to provide a look at demographics and gaps in coverage. Efforts to map local news have become popular in states like Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, and beyond.
Mapping local news provides valuable information about where the coverage is lacking and helps funders identify places most in need of support. Daniel Read, research analyst at the LOR Foundation, said the study matters because "data can drive action towards places that are typically underserved by local media or just underrepresented generally in the media landscape."
Read spent two months calling people in Montana to inquire about their local news environment for the study. This included "the librarian and the county clerk, and maybe the manager of a history museum, people who were just likely to pick up the phone," said Read, as well as, contacting every obvious news source. By reaching out to local leaders embedded in the communities, they were able to identify local news sources that might not be obvious from an internet search.
"If they're providing original local news, we wanted them included," Read said. "We were very agnostic to the medium that was being provided." This means they included radio stations that primarily play music but might also include news and podcasts providing original reporting, like Hello Whitefish, a long-form podcast out of Whitefish, Montana.
LOR did not include sources like Reddit, Facebook, and civic news sources like a local chamber of commerce newsletter. Read said that they could see doing another study looking at these more social versions of news, which can be a primary source of information for rural communities without many traditional news sources.
