The Wide Open

The Roadless Rule is back on the chopping block. And what happens next could have really big implications for Montana, the region, and the country – for grizzlies, for other endangered species, and for entire ecosystems. What do we lose, or gain, when our bedrock environmental regulations go away, along with public input on how it all happens?

This week, we shift gears to examine another thorny environmental issue in the West: Wildfire. Fires are getting bigger and more destructive, and as part of the ecosystem, they're not going away. Listen in as four wildfire experts discuss the issue at the Free Press Fest in Bozeman.

State wildlife officials will take up a proposal Thursday to overhaul hunting regulations in order to reduce wolf numbers statewide. But locals near Yellowstone National Park say the proposal would impact the region’s vulnerable wolf population and the economy built around it.

Public media faces its most urgent threat yet. Congress will soon vote on whether to eliminate $1.1 billion in already-approved funding. Visit Protect My Public Media to learn how to call your representatives and voice your support for public media.

For decades, people have been trying to find the ivory-billed woodpecker, convinced it’s still out there, despite many – including the federal government – claiming it’s gone extinct. But some avid birders are convinced it still exists. Some think they’ve seen it. Today: A bird lost to extinction, or maybe just the deep, dark Southern hardwood forest. The search for the ivory-billed woodpecker.

After 50 years of legal battles testing the limits of the Endangered Species Act, the snail darter is still making a big splash. New research argues it's not a separate species and was never endangered. What does that mean for the fish, and what does it say about the Endangered Species Act?

How Thomas Jefferson’s quest to prove America’s wildlife was bigger and badder and better than anywhere else led him to face off with the idea of species going extinct.

Last week, President Trump released an order to freeze all kinds of federal rules proposed in the days before the Administration changed, including the latest grizzly bear delisting rule. The Trump Administration is reviewing what Biden tried to do with grizzlies, and deciding what’s next.

On January 8th, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made a big announcement about the future of grizzly bear management. Host Nick Mott breaks down the news and what the reaction to it means looking ahead.

Two days after The Wide Open premiered, host Nick Mott had a grizzly encounter of his own.

This week we're sharing an episode of a podcast we think you'll love: "The Wild" with Chris Morgan, from our friends at KUOW in Seattle. On this episode, "The Wild" heads to the hottest place on earth: Death Valley National Park to learn about the Devil's Hole pupfish. This tiny creature, just an inch long, sparked one of the biggest water rights cases in U.S. History.

A caterpillar crosses the road. It starts a conversation about the long view of conservation, across species and across generations.

A scientist realizes if sea ice keeps melting, polar bears will go extinct. To help them, the Endangered Species Act takes on climate change — and in this battle, the law may have met its match.

A fish killing mystery that starts with the Endangered Species Act shows how state and federal wildlife law went from a weapon used against tribes, to a tool for tribes to reclaim what was stripped away.

From grizzlies to wolves, hunting plays a controversial role in many Endangered Species Act stories. This time, an African animal on Texas ranchland shows how hunting does — and doesn’t — serve conservation.

Wolves get trapped in the wild, loaded onto an airplane, and delivered to Montana and Idaho. When they scamper off into the wilderness, they test a question central to endangered species debates: What does it mean to recover a species?

A gang of monkey-wrenching activists try a new approach in the fight to save threatened species and ecosystems: They put on suits and enter the courtroom. In doing so, they change conservation forever.

The first great battle over the Endangered Species Act begins. Thanks to an eclectic group of activists, a tiny fish in Tennessee halts construction on a massive dam and ends up in front of the Supreme Court.

The Endangered Species Act helped bring the Yellowstone-area grizzly population back from the brink of extinction. It also sparked controversy over a question that looms over more species than just grizzly bears: How do we balance the needs of endangered wildlife with the needs of humans?

Explore the places where we come together and fall apart. Nuanced reporting on under-covered environmental issues — with plenty of adventure, wildlife and rich sound along the way.