#81 - Western Colorado Public Lands and Politics w/ Alex Kelloff

#81 - Western Colorado Public Lands and Politics w/ Alex Kelloff

In this episode, I interview Alex Kelloff, a first-time candidate running in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. Alex launched his campaign after Donald Trump’s 2024 reelection, citing concerns about January 6, public-lands selloffs and leasing for oil and gas, federal land-agency staffing cuts, and opposition to Republican Rep. Jeff Hurd and Project 2025-style policies. We discuss top voter concerns including cost of living, rural hospital instability, Medicaid cuts, and the need for universal affordable healthcare with an independently managed public system. Drawing on a 30+ year telecom career, Alex critiques AI data-center “land grab” spending, opposes data centers in his district due to land, water, and utility constraints, and discusses renewable transmission, mining tradeoffs, and public-lands governance. https://alexkelloff.com/ 00:57 Episode Preview Alex Kelloff 02:54 Campaign Trail and Voter Struggles 05:15 Public Lands as Economic Lifeline 06:00 Inside Colorado Third District 08:13 Why He’s Running Now 10:52 Trump Era Impacts on Public Lands 12:22 Top Issues Healthcare and Hospitals 14:14 Universal Healthcare Vision 17:33 Telecom Career and Infrastructure 20:44 AI Data Centers and Public Lands 22:31 AI Land Grab 28:46 Opposing Data Centers in District 30:05 Siting Data Centers Smartly 30:43 Geothermal Drilling Risks 31:43 Mining Materials Tradeoffs 35:46 Rare Earths and War Strategy 39:05 Renewables on Public Lands 41:23 Transmission and Grid Bottlenecks 44:13 RMPs and Project 2025 49:41 Grazing Permit Retirement 51:47 Public Private Models Get full access to Our Public Lands Podcast at ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe [https://ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

#80 - Fungi, Forests, and the Tiger Mill Logging Project in Walla Walla’s Municipal Watershed

In this episode, I interview Paul Lynn, a Walla Walla, Washington-based mycology educator, business owner and public-lands advocate, about fungal ecology, mycelium networks, and how logging disrupts soils’ “sponge” function that stores and releases water. Paul links fungi to forest hydrology, climate processes, and a precautionary approach given how little is known about fungal communities. Our conversation focuses on the 38,000-acre Tiger Mill Project, a quote, unquote, “wildfire-risk-reduction timber sale” in and around Walla Walla’s heavily protected municipal watershed within a roadless area adjacent to the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness. Paul argues the project is a subsidized extraction effort using black-box models and flawed assumptions, risking worsening forest drying, fire behavior, sedimentation, and flood impacts in a rain-on-snow zone, and is positioned as a pilot for watershed logging elsewhere like in Bend and Portland Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. https://youtube.com/shorts/XX0jIhtVjFg [https://youtube.com/shorts/XX0jIhtVjFg] https://youtube.com/shorts/qOhp9yqJidU [https://youtube.com/shorts/qOhp9yqJidU] https://youtube.com/shorts/hLPbptKCzYE [https://youtube.com/shorts/hLPbptKCzYE] https://youtube.com/shorts/fFXVC_Hldl8 [https://youtube.com/shorts/fFXVC_Hldl8] Confluence Series [https://theconfluenceseries.org/] Walla Walla Watersheds [http://wallawallawatershed.com] Fungaia [https://www.fungaia.life] 02:18 Meet Paul Lynn 03:41 Mycology to Ecology 06:36 Mycelium and Precaution 08:43 Logging Impacts Soil Sponge 10:47 Foraging and Drought 12:33 Disturbance Morels and Spores 15:01 Responsible Mushroom Picking 18:04 Roots and Walla Walla 20:55 Blue Mountains Microclimates 24:48 Into Forest Activism 29:15 Tiger Mill Pilot Project 32:55 Wildfire Risk Narrative 34:48 Water Stakes Floods and Fire 36:59 Why Logging Worsens Hydrology 40:21 Fire History and Recovery 41:39 Endless Management Loop 42:59 Trout After Wildfire 44:41 Local Politics And Players 48:36 Fire Risk Logging Debate 51:05 Grassroots Education Strategy 54:58 Money Grants And Liability 59:13 Tiger Mill Project Details 01:02:36 Modeling And NEPA Loopholes 01:08:12 Flood Risk And Sediment 01:12:07 Water Scarcity Big Picture 01:16:18 Confluence Series And Links Get full access to Our Public Lands Podcast at ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe [https://ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

#79 - Smokejumper to Montana Congressman? w/ Sam Forstag

In this episode, I interview Sam Forstag, a former Missoula-based Forest Service smokejumper and union local vice president now running for Congress in Montana’s 1st District, motivated by DOGE-related cuts that fired many of his co-workers and by frustration with Rep. Ryan Zinke’s lack of response. Forstag shares his upbringing, education at the University of Montana, and eight years in firefighting, arguing that gutting agencies leads to privatization, higher costs, and weaker public-land stewardship. Our conversation covers money in politics, Citizens United, tax-code inequities, and healthcare. We debate and discuss public lands issues around wildfire strategy, WUI priorities, fuels work, NEPA timelines and staffing, logging versus local milling capacity, roadless-rule repeal, and the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act. “Fuel Reduction” Logging Exacerbates Wildfire Effects and Puts Communities at Greater Risk [https://johnmuirproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/JMP-fact-sheet-thinning-and-fire-29Nov24.pdf] Rising wildfire risk to houses in the United States, especially in grasslands and shrublands [https://www.fs.usda.gov/nrs/pubs/jrnl/2023/nrs_2023_mockrin_002.pdf] Home hardening and defensible space can halve wildfire damage, study finds [https://phys.org/news/2025-08-home-hardening-defensible-space-halve.html] A More Effective Approach for Preventing Wildland-Urban Fire Disasters Jack Cohen, PhD; Research Physical Scientist; US Forest Service, retired [https://static1.squarespace.com/static/61ef51b68cfef85e3fed8d43/t/6340520e899c747a294725bf/1665159696338/Dr.+Jack+Cohen+Wildland+Urban+Fire+Primer+for+Elemental+Viewers.pdf] Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act [https://allianceforthewildrockies.org/nrepa/] 03:55 DOGE Cuts Spark Campaign 06:57 Unionizing The Forest Service 09:49 Organizing Spreads To NPS 13:56 Money In Politics 17:19 Healthcare Medicare Choice 22:22 Why Run For Congress 26:31 Life As A Smokejumper 28:31 Letting Fire Burn 31:42 WUI Home Hardening Debate 33:09 Fuels Work And Logging Nuance 36:26 Fuels Treatments 38:03 Home Hardening 41:33 WUI Definition 44:48 NEPA Timelines and Courts 53:18 Local Timber Milling 01:01:00 Restoration Jobs With NREPA 01:04:24 Roadless Rule Under Threat Get full access to Our Public Lands Podcast at ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe [https://ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

#78 - Evicting Bison from the Public Lands w/ Alison Fox

In this episode, I interview Alison Fox, executive director of American Prairie, about the organization’s 25-year effort to build a 3.2-million-acre grassland reserve anchored by the 1.1-million-acre Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. Ali describes on-the-ground restoration including a bison herd grown from 16 animals to nearly 1,000, fence modification/removal, stream work, junk removal, and prairie dog restoration, plus wildlife successes like swift fox reintroduction and grizzly sightings. Our conversation centers on BLM’s proposed reversal of a 2022 decision allowing bison grazing on seven allotments they lease in Phillips County, introducing a new “production” standard under the Taylor Grazing Act that could affect other bison permittees and tribal herds; American Prairie has protested and is preparing further challenges while contingency-planning for herd relocation. Ali also discuss public access and hunting programs, local reactions and misconceptions, donor criticism, tribal partnerships, and a closing invitation to visit the reserve and the importance of public lands. www.americanprairie.org [http://www.americanprairie.org] 03:33 Meet Alison Fox 04:27 Alison’s Background and Montana 05:51 American Prairie Mission 06:45 Origins and Why Grasslands Matter 08:03 Acreage Breakdown and BLM Leases 09:25 On the Ground Restoration Work 11:39 Wildlife Comebacks Swift Fox 13:23 Rewilding and Grizzly Return 15:57 Land Acquisition and Ranching Leases 17:48 Anchor Ranch and Public Access 20:20 BLM Move to Rescind Bison Grazing 24:33 Taylor Grazing Act Production Standard 27:01 Precedent Risks and Next Steps 28:42 Contingency Plans 30:39 Cattle Only Permit Shift 31:05 State Land Legal Fight 31:47 Tribal Partnerships 35:20 Stocking Rate Decisions 36:08 Bison Versus Cattle 38:10 Donors And Transparency 41:55 Local Reception And Critics 44:01 Hunting Access Programs 46:05 Dispelling Bison Myths 49:13 Negative Bison Easements 50:15 Working With BLM 50:50 Visit American Prairie 51:54 Why Public Lands Matter Get full access to Our Public Lands Podcast at ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe [https://ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

#77 - Land Less Film: Old Growth Clearcutting in the Tongass w/ Joshua Wright & Wanda Culp

Do you value this program? I am a one-man operation and could use your support! Thank you In this episode, I am joined by Wanda Culp and Joshua Wright to discuss their new film, Land Less [http://www.LandLessFilm.com], and the “Landless Bill” (S.2554 / H.R.41), that would transfer 115,000 acres of Southeast Alaska public lands on the Tongass National Forest—about 60,000 currently protected by the Roadless Rule—to new Native corporations created under ANCSA. They describe ANCSA’s corporate model and contend past Tongass transfers, including the 2014 Sealaska Bill and the Alaska Mental Health Trust exchange, have repeatedly led to large-scale old-growth clearcut logging. They criticize major environmental groups like The Nature Conservancy and The Wilderness Society for supporting the bill, warning it functions as a workaround to NEPA and federal oversight, and discuss Sealaska’s cease-and-desist letter over a filmed boardroom scene. www.LandLessFilm.com 00:56 Episode Preview Landless Bill 02:12 Alaska Land Transfers Context 04:04 Meet Wanda and Joshua 04:24 Why Make Landless? 06:47 Wanda’s Story 09:22 Past Tongass Transfer Deals 11:41 Why Landless Enables Logging 14:41 Big Greens Backlash 18:43 Sealaska Cease and Desist 28:32 Tribal Governance and Youth 34:07 No Public Process After Transfer 38:44 Climate Crisis and Extraction 41:30 How to Take Action Get full access to Our Public Lands Podcast at ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe [https://ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]