Relocating the BLM Republican Senator from Colorado, Cory Gardner, announced on July 15, 2019 that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will reorganize and move its headquarters from Washington DC to Grand Junction, CO.[1] The BLM’s headquarters have been based in Washington DC since the agency’s earliest years. This has allowed BLM staff to be […]
An Introduction to Alcatraz What would it look like if we tried to teach the history of the Civil Rights Movement without Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.? This was the question Dr. Kent Blansett raised at his recent presentation, “Think Indigenous,” on the Red Power Movement at the Public Lands History Center’s American West Program […]
Welcome to Outside History This four-part series is the PLHC’s collaborative initiative with Rocky Mountain High School. Under the guidance of their teachers at RMHS, each of these blogs was written by a current high school student and edited by PLHC staff. From the complex history and present-day implications of Native land tenure in Hawaii […]
Is Yellowstone National Park a magnet for murder? Whether through the power of the internet or DNA testing, law enforcement officials use sophisticated technologies that make it harder for criminals to escape justice. However, even the most sophisticated technological tools are useless when it is not clear who is able to try a criminal, creating […]
Beautiful white sand beaches, flowing palm trees, glittering waves, towering volcanoes, hula dancers in leis. These are the postcard images used to represent Hawaii, images that mask the truth behind what Hawaii has become. Urban settings, sprawling resorts, hospitality-based jobs, and Western companies have begun dominating Hawaii, forcing Natives off their land and homogenizing Hawaii’s […]
A Dark Night Sky in Los Angeles In 1994, an earthquake struck Los Angeles, California, causing a blackout that darkened the night sky. Reports came flooding in through 911 servers of “‘a giant silvery cloud’” filling the sky.[1] The “cloud” over Los Angeles that night was nothing other than the Milky Way, which was typically […]
This past winter, a group of friends and I went on a ski-in yurt trip in Northern Colorado. It was a memorable trip for all of us: we toured through fragrant evergreen forests, got sun above treeline, and harvested plenty of snow and smiles. It was also memorable through the decisions we made: each morning […]
Built in the early twentieth century in Fort Collins, Colorado, the local grain elevator, along with its warehouse and retail space, provided local farmers with essential agricultural services and a served as a community hub where they could socialize. Over a century later, the building still stands at the eastern edge of Fort Collins’ historic […]
The following is a repost from History Colorado’s Weekly Digest that appeared in the August 21st edition under the title “Race and Ranching in Rocky Mountain National Park.” To visit the original post, click here. A Visit to McGraw Ranch One cold blue August morning, I opened the door of my tiny cabin at the […]
The following is a repost from History Colorado’s Weekly Digest that appeared in the August 28th edition under the title “Health, Recreation, Education, and Uplift: Lincoln Hills and Black Recreation in the Colorado Mountains.” To visit the original post, visit the History Colorado website. Lincoln Hills When temperatures soared in cramped, noisy cities, Colorado’s higher […]
