Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities


** Burgum's war on history comes to Wyoming
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Thursday, January 29, 2026
The Craig Thomas Discovery & Visitor Center at Grand Teton National Park. Photo: J. Bonney, NPS ([link removed])

Grand Teton National Park removed a sign in its visitor center ([link removed]) that included details about an early White explorer who participated in and bragged about a massacre of more than 170 Native Americans.

The visitor center still holds a statue of Gustavus Cheyney Doane, who took part in the killing of Piegan Blackfeet, mostly women, children, and elders, along the Marias River in Montana. The Jackson Hole News and Guide reports ([link removed]) that sometime in 2023 or 2024, the park added a sign on the statue's pedestal acknowledging Doane's role in the murders. Doane bragged about the attack for the rest of his life, calling it “the greatest slaughter of Indians ever made by U.S. troops.”

Today, after orders from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and President Donald Trump ([link removed]) to remove or edit signs that "disparage Americans past or living," that sign is gone.

Tom Rodgers, a member of the Blackfeet Nation, helped lead a 2022 effort to rename Mount Doane in Yellowstone National Park. Doane Peak in Grand Teton National Park, however, still carries the name.

“No matter what side of the aisle you reside on, or what god you pray to, I think that we can all agree upon the fact that an individual who is responsible for leading a massacre of innocent Blackfeet women and children should be remembered as such,” Rodgers told the News & Guide ([link removed]) .

Slavery exhibits being held at National Constitution Center

Meanwhile, the National Park Service told a judge that exhibits about slavery that were removed from the President's House Site in Philadelphia are being stored at the National Constitution Center ([link removed]) down the street. The city of Philadelphia is suing the Trump administration over the removal. The Trump administration claims that Philadelphia's lawsuit is an attempt to "censor" the administration and "compel the Federal government to engage in speech that it does not wish to convey.”


** Quick hits
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Welcome to the era of American erasure

Atmos ([link removed]) | More Than Just Parks ([link removed]) | Arizona Republic ([link removed])

Why the government is trying to make coal cute

Grist ([link removed])

Colorado AG petitions to let Colorado coal plant close as planned

Colorado Sun ([link removed]) | Post Independent ([link removed]) | 9News ([link removed])

Poll: Majority in Idaho oppose Steve Pearce's nomination to run BLM

Idaho Statesman ([link removed])

Public Lands Caucus fails to defend public lands as Zinke pushes for mining at Boundary Waters

Daily Montanan ([link removed])

Despite limited interest in drilling on federal land, Forest Service 'streamlines' oil and gas leasing rules

Inside Climate News ([link removed])

BLM proposes oil and gas leases in core sage-grouse habitat

Jackson Hole News & Guide ([link removed])

If national park reservations disappear, will overcrowding return?

Outside ([link removed])


** Quote of the day
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” I think some people do see it as a zero-sum game, that somehow acknowledging the bad things that the great men of history did, somehow takes away from them. I’ve never seen it that way.”

—Lena Bohman, leader of the Save Our Signs project, Atmos ([link removed])


** Picture This
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@mypubliclands ([link removed])
Imagine crisp desert days with temperatures in the 60s paired with wide-open solitude and the seemingly endless expanse of the Arizona desert. 🌵

Within this rugged and serene landscape thrives an impressive diversity of wildlife, from coyotes and North American pronghorn to javelina, bobcats, antelope, mule deer, amphibians, reptiles, songbirds, and soaring eagles.

Just 40 miles north of Phoenix, Agua Fria National Monument is an ideal destination for a wintertime escape.

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