WEST-ERN US states

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wow 220</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">521 biden puts 1bill$ in fund for climate season disasters</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">tool: <a href="https://moneytrails.org/">https://moneytrails.org/</a></font></div><div><h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 52.8px; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-color: rgb(250, 248, 245);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Money Trails</font></h2><div class="description" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-color: rgb(250, 248, 245);"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; font-weight: bolder;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Follow the trails of special interest influence on our public lands.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Money Trails was created by </span><a href="https://westernvaluesproject.org/" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Western Values Project</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"> — an Accountable.US project based in Montana, defending America’s public lands — to document the influence that special interest groups, industry executives, and anti-public lands front groups exert on public lands issues and policy throughout the West.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Money Trails provides research on anti-public land front groups’ influence on public lands, public officials, and public policy, with a focus on Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah. Money Trails seeks to expose conflicts of interest and connections between anti-public lands groups, state and federal lawmakers, and public lands policy.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The depth and breadth of influence that special interest groups have on America’s public lands run wide and deep. Money Trails is intended to be a resource for the public and policymakers alike in our collective pursuit to expose corruption, combat attacks on our public lands, and protect America’s outdoor heritage. </font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The public deserves to know how these groups are attempting to affect public land decisions to benefit corporations and monied special interests. Contact us below if you have information on special interest influence or anti-public lands front groups in your state.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Groups</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Special interest groups, industry executives, and anti-public lands front groups have unprecedented influence over America’s public lands. Money Trails aims to document and expose the conflicts of interest between those groups, the policies they push, and the legislators doing their bidding.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Arizona</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Arizona Cattleman's Association</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Arizona Mining Association</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Colorado</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Coloradans For Responsible Energy Development</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Protecting Colorado’s Environment, Economy, And Energy Independence</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Vital For Colorado</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Frontier Women's Job Council</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Montana</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Montana Group</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Montana Outdoors Coalition</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nevada</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New Mexico</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New Mexicans for Freedom</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New Mexico Habitat Conservation Initiative/ Chama Trout Stalkers</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Western Energy Alliance</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Utah</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Foundation For Integrated Management</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Sutherland Institute</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Western Energy Alliance</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Multi-State</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mountain States Legal Foundation</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Independent Petroleum Association of America</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">State Solutions, Inc.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Energy Citizens</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The American Lands Council</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Property and Environment Research Center</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Power the Future</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Western Energy Alliance</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Noble Energy</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Anadarko</font></p><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"<a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/06/salmon-climate/" aria-label="'It's a climate catastrophe': Most of the salmon in California's 2nd largest river dead or dying" data-type="text" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" word-break="word-break" break-word="break-word" overflow-wrap="overflow-wrap" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height">It's a climate catastrophe': Most of the salmon in California's 2nd largest river dead or dying</a></font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div class="social-author clearfix" style="margin-top: 10px; display: inline-block; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="social-authorname" href="https://www.alternet.org/author/walter-einenkel" data-type="text" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.4; display: inline; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">Walter Einenkel</a> <a class="social-authorname" href="https://www.alternet.org/author/daily-kos" data-type="text" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.4; display: inline; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">Daily Kos</a></font></div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><div class="social-date" style="margin-top: 8px; display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> <span class="social-datetext" style="top: 3px; position: relative; line-height: 1; left: -3px;">June 15, 2021</span></div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2653380944" style="margin-top: 10px; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; text-overflow: ellipsis; overflow: hidden; display: -webkit-box; -webkit-line-clamp: 4; line-height: 31px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Klamath flows from Oregon into Northern California. The second largest river in California is home to marine life like salmon and trout and has served as the life force for many communities around its more...</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>aha/yikes drought fire whammys at same time as wacko rt ascendant?!</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/western-fires/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/western-fires/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">many graf</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Western U.S. appears headed for another <a href="https://www.predictiveservices.nifc.gov/outlooks/outlooks.htm" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">dangerous fire season</a>, and a new study shows that even high mountain areas once considered too wet to burn are at increasing risk as the climate warms.</b></font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><b>Nearly two-thirds of the U.S. West is in <a href="https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">severe to exceptional drought</a> right now, </b>including large parts of the Rocky Mountains, Cascades and Sierra Nevada. The situation is so severe that the Colorado River basin is on the verge of its <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/correction-colorado-river-water-shortage-story-77170840" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">first official water shortage declaration</a>, and forecasts suggest <a href="https://theconversation.com/another-dangerous-fire-season-is-looming-in-the-western-u-s-and-the-drought-stricken-region-is-headed-for-a-water-crisis-160848" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">another hot, dry summer</a> is on the way.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Warm and dry conditions like these are <a style="opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">a recipe for wildfire disaster</a>.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/118/22/e2009717118" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">new study</a> published May 24, 2021, our team of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=S1J4kAoAAAAJ&hl=en" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">fire and</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tGGNDyUAAAAJ&hl=en" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">climate scientists</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=ZaW8ZbsAAAAJ&hl=en" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">and engineers</a> found that forest fires are now reaching higher, normally wetter elevations. And they are burning there at rates unprecedented in recent fire history.</b></font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">While some people focus on <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/08/20/trump-blames-california-for-wildfires-tells-state-you-gotta-clean-your-floors-1311059" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">historical fire suppression</a> and other forest management practices as reasons for the West's worsening fire problem, these high-elevation forests have had little human intervention. The results provide a clear indication that climate change is enabling these normally wet forests to burn.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As wildfires creep higher up mountains, another tenth of the West's forest area is now at risk, according to our study. That creates new hazards for mountain communities, with impacts on downstream water supplies and the plants and wildlife that call these forests home.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><img alt="Map showing how high-elevation forest fires advanced uphill." sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402231/original/file-20210523-21-1xdrd55.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402231/original/file-20210523-21-1xdrd55.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=627&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402231/original/file-20210523-21-1xdrd55.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=627&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402231/original/file-20210523-21-1xdrd55.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=627&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402231/original/file-20210523-21-1xdrd55.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=787&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402231/original/file-20210523-21-1xdrd55.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=787&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402231/original/file-20210523-21-1xdrd55.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=787&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 100%;" /></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Forest fires advanced to higher elevations as the climate dried from 1984 to 2017. Every 200 meters equals 656 feet.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mojtaba Sadegh, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">CC BY-ND</a></font></p><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rising fire risk in the high mountains</font></h2><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/118/22/e2009717118" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">new study</a>, we analyzed records of all fires larger than 1,000 acres (405 hectares) in the mountainous regions of the contiguous Western U.S. between 1984 and 2017.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The amount of land that burned increased across all elevations during that period, but the largest increase occurred above 8,200 feet (2,500 meters). To put that elevation into perspective, Denver – the mile-high city – sits at 5,280 feet, and Aspen, Colorado, is at 8,000 feet. These high-elevation areas are largely remote mountains and forests with some small communities and ski areas.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The area burning above 8,200 feet more than tripled in 2001-2017 compared with 1984-2000.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of Colorado's largest wildfires, 2020's East Troublesome Fire, crossed the Continental Divide and was burning at elevations around 9,000 feet in October, when snow normally would have been falling.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Exchange-ColoradoWildfires-Blow-ups/8e10c8213c3847f3a7ef14e7ff81eddf/photo" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">AP Photo/David Zalubowski</font></a></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Our results show that climate warming has diminished the high-elevation flammability barrier – the point where forests historically were too wet to burn regularly because the snow normally lingered well into summer and started falling again early in the fall. Fires advanced about 826 feet (252 meters) uphill in the Western mountains over those three decades.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6964/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Cameron Peak Fire in Colorado</a> in 2020 was the state's largest fire in its history, burning over 208,000 acres (84,200 hectares) and is a prime example of a high-elevation forest fire. The fire burned in forests extending to 12,000 feet (3,650 meters) and reached the upper tree line of the Rocky Mountains.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We found that rising temperatures in the past 34 years have helped to extend the fire territory in the West to an additional 31,470 square miles (81,500 square kilometers) of high-elevation forests. That means a staggering 11% of all Western U.S. forests – an area similar in size to South Carolina – are susceptible to fire now that weren't three decades ago.</font></p><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Can't blame fire suppression here</font></h2><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In lower-elevation forests, several factors contribute to fire activity, including the presence of more people in wildland areas and a history of fire suppression.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the early 1900s, Congress commissioned the U.S. Forest Service to <a href="https://foresthistory.org/research-explore/us-forest-service-history/policy-and-law/fire-u-s-forest-service/u-s-forest-service-fire-suppression/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">manage forest fires</a>, which resulted in a focus on suppressing fires – a policy that continued through the 1970s. This caused flammable underbrush that would normally be cleared out by occasional natural blazes to accumulate. The increase in biomass in many lower elevation forests across the West has been associated with increases in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1890/ES13-00217.1" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">high-severity fires and megafires</a>. At the same time, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1607171113" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">climate warming has dried out forests in the Western U.S.</a>, making them more prone to large fires.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On average, fires have spread 826 feet (252 meters) higher into the mountains in recent decades, exposing an additional 31,400 square miles (81,500 square kilometers) of forests to fire.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mojtaba Sadegh, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">CC BY-ND</a></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By focusing on high-elevation fires, in areas with little history of fire suppression, we can more clearly see the influence of climate change.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Most high-elevation forests haven't been subjected to much fire suppression, logging or other human activities, and because trees at these high elevations are in wetter forests, they historically have long <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/fire_regime_table/PNVG_fire_regime_table.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">return intervals between fires</a>, typically a century or more. Yet they experienced the highest rate of increase in fire activity in the past 34 years. We found that the increase is strongly correlated with the observed warming.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></p><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">High mountain fires create new problems</font></font></font></font></h2><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">High-elevation fires have implications for natural and human systems.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">High mountains are natural water towers that normally provide a sustained source of water to millions of people in dry summer months in the Western U.S. The scars that wildfires leave behind – known as burn scars – affect how much snow can accumulate at high elevations. This can influence the timing, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/es500130g" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">quality and</a> <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr042_4.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">quantity of water</a> that reaches reservoirs and rivers downstream.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">High-elevation fires also remove standing trees that act as anchor points that normally stabilize the snowpack, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2009.01.050" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">raising the risk of avalanches</a>.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The loss of tree canopy also exposes mountain streams to the Sun, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1890/09-0822.1" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">increasing water temperatures</a> in the cold headwater streams. Increasing stream temperatures can harm fish and the larger wildlife and predators that rely on them.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Climate change is increasing fire risk in many regions across the globe, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1003669107" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">studies show that this trend will continue</a> as the planet warms. The increase in fires in the high mountains is another warning to the U.S. West and elsewhere of the risks ahead as the climate changes.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mojtaba-sadegh-1169953" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Mojtaba Sadegh</a>, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/boise-state-university-1983" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Boise State University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/john-abatzoglou-1228555" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">John Abatzoglou</a>, Associate Professor of Engineering, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-california-merced-2056" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">University of California, Merced</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mohammad-reza-alizadeh-1171214" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Mohammad Reza Alizadeh</a>, Ph.D. Student in Engineering, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/mcgill-university-827" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">McGill University</a></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/western-fires-are-burning-higher-in-the-mountains-at-unprecedented-rates-in-a-clear-sign-of-climate-change-159699" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">original article</a>.</font></font></font></p><div class="around-the-web" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="from-your-siteheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES</font></font></font></div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; width: 589.446px; list-style: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></font><li class="from-your-siteitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/oregon-wildfires/" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; 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</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/ammon-bundy/">https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/ammon-bundy/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">david n kos</font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">One of the consequences of the GOP's sidelong embrace of its extremist elements—from the <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/5/12/2030221/-Republicans-double-down-on-gaslighting-narrative-in-House-hearing-It-was-not-an-insurrection" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">insurrection denialists</a> and <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/5/21/2031502/-The-Big-Lie-isn-t-something-Republicans-are-interested-in-investigating-because-they-made-it" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Big Lie gaslighters</a> to the QAnon cultists like <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/5/24/2031855/-Crickets-from-Kevin-McCarthy-after-Marjorie-Taylor-Greene-compared-mask-wearing-to-the-Holocaust" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Marjorie Taylor Greene</a> and <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/tags/LaurenBoebert" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Lauren Boebert</a>—is that far-right extremists are now perfectly comfortable identifying as Republicans. In some cases, they're demanding the overthrow of the party's establishment—which can't seem to decide whether to fight back or just succumb willingly to the incoming far-right tide.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Establishment Republicans in Western states</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> are particularly under siege from extremist elements among their voting base.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> <a href="https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article251599273.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" title="" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">I<b style="">n Idaho</b></a></span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, for instance</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>, armed-standoff-guru-turned-pandemic-denialist Ammon Bundy filed paperwork to run for governor, in a race already featuring another leading state "Patriot" movement figure.</b> </span><a href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/activists-with-ties-to-proud-boys-may-seek-leadership-of-clark-county-gop-2360444/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">In </a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/activists-with-ties-to-proud-boys-may-seek-leadership-of-clark-county-gop-2360444/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Nevada</a>,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> an insurgent far-right group organized on social media and led by P<b>roud Boys members are attempting an open hostile takeover of the Clark County GOP, the state's largest county-level Republican organization.</b></span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bundy's filing is rich in irony. For starters, he is currently banned from the Idaho Statehouse in Boise after <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/8/26/1972626/-Bundy-s-anti-pandemic-antics-earn-him-two-ejections-from-Idaho-Statehouse-in-two-days" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">his two ejections and arrests</a> for defying masking requirements, for which he is <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/3/16/2021350/-Facing-trial-for-Idaho-Statehouse-disruption-Ammon-Bundy-refuses-mask-is-arrested-once-again" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">currently standing trial</a>. For another, <a href="https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/politics/ammon-bundy-run-idaho-governor/277-aa8a55c1-3998-42ba-958e-b7809547b6bc" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">as KTVB notes</a>, Bundy himself is not even registered to vote in Idaho, and has apparently never done so in the five years or so that he has lived in Emmett.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He also named himself the treasurer of his campaign, which means that he will have to refile the paperwork, according to the Idaho Secretary of State's office, which <a href="https://twitter.com/IDSecOfState/status/1395886582465392646" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">tweeted out an explanation</a>: "Because a treasurer must be a registered Idaho voter, Ammon Bundy will either need to register and refile or name a new treasurer by refiling. IDSOS staff have notified him as such."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Republican field to replace incumbent Governor Brad Little (who has not announced whether he will seek re-election) is already large, and Bundy's competition in the primary already features another leading "Patriot" movement figure, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/5/19/2031242/-Idaho-s-conservative-governor-isn-t-crazy-enough-so-his-far-right-lt-governor-is-challenging-him" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Lieutenant Governor Janice McGeachin</a>, </b>who announced her candidacy last week. While Bundy was probably the earliest far-right figure in Idaho to take up the cause of <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/31/1932782/-Always-paranoid-Patriot-militiamen-push-back-against-coronavirus-social-isolation-measures" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">opposing COVID-19-related public-health restrictions</a>, McGeachin—who has supported Bundy and his fellow standoff-loving "Patriots" steadfastly from her office in Boise—has also been on <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/29/1948687/-Militia-loving-lieutenant-governor-leads-fight-against-Idaho-s-stay-at-home-orders" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">the pandemic-denialist bandwagon</a>.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">McGeachin appeared <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/idahos-lt-gov-janice-mcgeachin-has-gone-rogue-over-coronavirus?ref=scroll" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">alongside Bundy</a> at one anti-restriction rally in Boise. More notoriously, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/10/30/idaho-covid-lieutenant-governor/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">she appeared in a</a> video in which she brandished a handgun and a Bible while sitting in the driver's seat of a pickup, railing against coronavirus restrictions.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The political insurgency inside</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> Clark County'</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">s NV] GOP was reported Friday by </span><a href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/activists-with-ties-to-proud-boys-may-seek-leadership-of-clark-county-gop-2360444/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Rory Appleton at the <em>Las Vegas Review-Journal</em></a><em style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, </em><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">who explained that a group of far-right activists with deep ties to the </span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Proud Boys are positioning themselves to take over the county Republican leadership. Some of its members, meanwhile, are alleged to have threatened a number of prominent Republicans.</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The group, Appleton reported, organized online—primarily using the <b>encrypted chat app Telegram</b>—while reveling in anti-Semitic and white-nationalist memes and rhetoric. "Two Republican women in public office told the <em>Review-Journal</em> they've been threatened by leaders of the fringe movement, as did the current board of the Clark County party, which is hiring security for a crucial meeting Tuesday," the story reads.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Calling itself the "Republican Chamber of Commerce" (despite lacking ties to any known GOP organization), the far-right group first made its presence felt last month when it organized a late surge in votes favoring <a href="https://knpr.org/knpr/2021-04/lee-leaves-cegavske-censured-do-political-parties-matter-nevada" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">the censure of Barbara Cegavske</a>, the state's Republican Secretary of State, for refusing to play along with attempts to overturn the 2020 election results based on Donald Trump's false claims of election fraud.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Since then, it has been preparing to provide a similar wave of votes to sweep three of their three leading figures—Rudy Clai, Matt Anthony and Paul Laramie—into the leadership of the Clark County GOP</b>. The group has no record of doing business anywhere in the state of Nevada, and has no connection to any of the known chamber or Republican groups already established in Nevada.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yet its website appears to be a nominally mainstream GOP group. Its primary emblem resembles the Republican National Committee's logo but inverted, with a red elephant on a white background encircled in red with the letters "RCC" and "Republican Chamber of Commerce" within.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Anthony has achieved a level of media notoriety as one of Las Vegas' <a href="https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/a-post-insurrection-pep-talk-from-a-las-vegas-proud-boy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">most prominent Proud Boys</a></b>, though he insists the local chapter is nonviolent and nonracist. After the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, <a href="https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/a-post-insurrection-pep-talk-from-a-las-vegas-proud-boy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">he defended the people arrested</a> and <b>warned against a law-enforcement crackdown on "Patriots": "They're basically going all in on tyranny, guys. … They're watching. It's to be expected. They're the enemy. They're going to shut down our ability to communicate."</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As it happens, Anthony is also a fugitive: He is the subject of an arrest warrant from the state of Michigan after he broke probation by moving to Nevada and then refusing to return after Nevada declined to oversee his probation, all stemming from his 2012 arrest on a drug charge</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The group's Telegram channel—owned by Anthony, and administered by Clai—is titled <b>"Keep Nevada Open,"</b> apparently an offshoot of a Facebook group with the same name that boasted 17,000 members and organized anti-masking and other pandemic-related protests. Appleton describes a review of the channel's contents by the Clark County GOP executive board, led by chief of staff Richard MacLean:</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.543px; background: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MacLean showed his fellow board members several pictures and videos posted within the group, though not specifically by Anthony and Clai.

<b>One photo blamed the 9/11 terrorist bombings on Jews. Another video featured a long clip of an Adolf Hitler speech and Nazi soldier marches. Some featured cartoon characters with negative Jewish stereotypes, and one photo featured messages written on dollar bills.</b>

A post even poked fun at Republicans, claiming they seemed to be shocked at certain current events while white nationalists were thrilled by them.
</font></blockquote><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The board promptly ejected the three men from the party. However, on Thursday, 10 people including <b>Anthony and Clai filed a lawsuit </b>against both the county and state party central committees, accusing them of illegally boxing them out of Clark County GOP meetings. They claim Clai and Anthony are heading up an alternative leadership slate, and are running against a mainstream ticket headed up by state Sen. Carrie Buck.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Despite the pushback by local Republican officials, the extremist elements remain emboldened in no small part because national-level Republicans have shown their eagerness to ignore the radicalism and even embrace it. Certainly, the local far-right leaders are confident that the party's base supports them, and not the establishment players.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We have the numbers, and they don't, so they have to play dirty," Anthony said in an interview Thursday. "It's that simple."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.idahostatesman.com/article251510548.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" title="" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">McGeachin's campaign signs</a> feature the hashtag #IAmIdaho. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are at a pivotal moment in history, not just for Idaho but for our nation," McGeachin said.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Bundy <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/noted-anti-government-activist-ammon-bundy-running-governor-idaho-n1268317" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" title="" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">told NBC News</a> on Monday that, despite the filings, he hasn't formally announced his candidacy, but is preparing to build a campaign organization.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>"The people of Idaho are very freedom-minded," Bundy said. 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</font></b></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://yyy.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/29/megadrought-us-south-west-fires-water-research</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>
</div><div><b>US south-west in grip of historic 'megadrought', research finds</b></div><div><b>Intensified by climate change, the current 20-year arid period is one of the worst on record, with wide-ranging effects</b></div><div>
</div><div>Samuel Gilbert</div><div>
</div><div> @samuelgilbert1</div><div>Fri 29 May 2020 05.30 EDTLast modified on Fri 29 May 2020 08.31 EDT</div><div>The Enterprise Bridge passes over a section of Lake Oroville that is nearly dry on 19 August 2014 in Oroville, California. The region is in the grip of a 20-year megadrought, research suggests.</div><div>
</div><div>When Ken Pimlott began fighting US wildfires at the age of 17, they seemed to him to be a brutal but manageable natural phenomenon.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div><b>Dust bowl conditions of 1930s US now more than twice as likely to reoccur</b></div><div><b> Read more</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“We had periodic [fire] sieges in the 80s, but there were breaks in between,” said Pimlott, the former head of the California department of forestry and fire protection. But no longer. “That doesn’t really happen any more. Now you can’t even blink” between fires, he said. “We’re seeing the kinds of fires we have never seen before.”</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>A recent study published in the journal Science helps explains why, revealing that the south-western US is in the grip of a 20-year megadrought – a period of severe aridity that is stoking fires, depleting reservoirs and putting a strain on water supplies to the states of the region.</b></div><div>
</div><div><b>“You see impacts everywhere, in snowpacks, reservoir levels, agriculture, groundwater and tree mortality,</b>” said co-author Benjamin Cook, of Columbia University’s Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. “Droughts are these amazingly disruptive events. Water sits at the foundation of everything.”</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Researchers compared soil moisture records from 2000-2019 to other drought events from the past 1,200 years. They found that the current period is worse than all but one of five megadroughts identified in the record.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Unlike past megadroughts – brought on by natural fluctuations in the Earth’s climate – this current drought has been heavily influenced by human-induced climate change, “pushing what would have been a moderate drought in south-western North America into megadrought territory”, according to the study.</div><div>
</div><div><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">“Global warming has made the drought much worse than it otherwise would have been,” said Cook. “We estimate 30-50% is attributed to climate change.”</b></div><div>
</div><div><b>According to Nasa, 19 of the 20 warmest years on record have occurred since 2001. Climate change, if unchecked, will hit the American south-west particularly hard.</b></div><div>
</div><div>A major concern is the megadrought’s impact on water supplies in the region. It has experienced explosive growth – half of the nation’s fastest-growing states are in the south-west – made possible by elaborate river diversion projects and massive reservoirs.</div><div>
</div><div>Over the past two decades, drought-depleted rivers, and population growth has led to steep declines in two of the nation’s largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, on which which tens of millions of people depend.</div><div>
</div><div>Water deliveries from the Colorado River are also being rationed this year, for the first time.</div><div>
</div><div>For Pimlott, this drought has manifested itself in 21st-century fires unlike any he had previously witnessed. In 2018, a fire tornado destroyed part of one northern California town, and almost the entire community of Paradise, California, was wiped out by a blaze that claimed 85 victims.</div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>“Were seeing more intense fires, with longer durations,” he said.</b></div><div style="font-weight: bold;">
</div></div><div><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></b></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">n<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=503de4c3d9&e=06876ede6b" style="text-decoration-line: none;">ew Study Projects Severe Water Shortages in the Colorado River Basin</a></span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">BY: BOB BERWYN
The loss of the reflective snowpack drives evaporation and reduces the flow of water, the study found. <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=0a834225dc&e=06876ede6b" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Read More</a></span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></div>