SUMMARY: In the American West, recreational and tourist activities on public lands can conflict with agriculture, ranching, and mining. Despite this potential clash between leisure and livelihood, the people of Grand Junction, Colorado, have found a way to share their state’s precious resources. Iowa Public TV’s Josh Buettner reports on a Western community where coexistence has triumphed over conflict.
SUMMARY: President Trump is expected to sign a sweeping bipartisan lands bill into law this week, with broad implications for development of wilderness areas, state conservation funding and hunting and fishing on public lands. Judy Woodruff sits down with Lisa Desjardins to discuss the details of the landmark legislation, including its unusually high level of support in both chambers of Congress.
SUMMARY: President Trump took aim at two different national monuments in Utah, announcing a plan to downsize them in order to rectify what he says were instances of overreach by prior administrations. With the full support of the state's all-Republican congressional delegation, Trump proposed shrinking Bears Ears by 85 percent and reducing Grand Staircase-Escalante by almost half. William Brangham reports.
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): Now to the second in our two-part look at land disputes in the American West.
Last night, Jeffrey Brown looked at a fight between local residents and the federal government over closing down a canyon rich in archaeological treasures to motorized vehicles.
Tonight, Jeff has the story of a very different split over how to enjoy and experience the natural beauty.
JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour): Stretch a high-tech nylon line some 400 feet above a canyon near Moab, Utah.
HAYLEY ASHBURN: Do you want to tighten it before we walk?
SCOTT ROGERS: It’s really tight, actually.
JEFFREY BROWN: Strap on a harness.
SCOTT ROGERS: I’m going to go barefoot. I like feeling the line between my toes.
JEFFREY BROWN: And step out into the air.
HAYLEY ASHBURN: Whew!
JEFFREY BROWN: It’s called highlining, done on public lands, a perfectly legal activity that most of us, including your correspondent, who stayed far back from cliff’s edge, would never dream of undertaking.
HAYLEY ASHBURN: I’m always a little bit nervous no matter how many I do.
JEFFREY BROWN: But Hayley Ashburn and Scott Rogers, members of a group called the Moab Monkeys, do this sort of thing several times a week.
