For years resort communities sought low cost housing for workers, now they may get them right next to ritzy houses For years ski resort towns like Sun Valley, Ketchum, Hailey, Park City, McCall, Jackson and Driggs have sought low-cost housing to meet the needs of the workers.Currently employees live as far away as...

Idaho senators say they oppose selling off public lands 2 days after I wrote about it. Good for them.
www.rockybarker.com/post/for-yea...

Northland College will hold its final commencement Saturday.
For all who were here, we will have more trails and portages to carry us forward.
In our minds we will find the infinite frontier, a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, as Isaiah wrote. Yes, And A Highway Shall Be There.

Trump's policies aren't Saving All the Parts or protecting ecosystems or health Protecting biological diversity has never been a particularly controversial position until now. John Turner, the director of the U.S. Wildlife Service under George H.W. Bush, was a Republican presiden...

This is one of the worst assaults on our environmental safety net in 55 years
www.rockybarker.com/post/trump-s...

Earth Day is still a time of hope 55 years later thanks to Gaylord Nelson, James Phillips and Sigurd Olson
www.rockybarker.com/post/earthht...

Plan your fishing trip in Idaho
www.wildriverpress.com/product/flyf...

Boise hands off

Boise's counter protestors were lonely but not rude.

Susan Crawford Wins Wisconsin Supreme Court Election, Despite Elon Musk’s Millions Susan Crawford defeated Brad Schimel for a State Supreme Court seat in a race that shattered spending records and maintained a liberal majority on the court.

Crawford wins, Musk money loses
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/u...

Hells Canyon National Recreation Area celebrates 50 years This year Idaho is looking back at one of the state's natural wonders as they celebrate 50 years of beauty and collaboration.

Andrus Center partners with McClure folks to look back 50 years when Hells Canyon was protected
www.boisestatepublicradio.org/show/idaho-m...

Northlands' Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute helped transform Northwoods into a sustainable society The day I arrived at Northland College, August 27, 1971, was the day the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute was born.  I dropped my stuff off at Mead Hall and said goodbye to my poor Mom who had car...

I watched Sigurd Olson Institute transform the North Country
www.rockybarker.com/post/northla...

Will Idaho's leaders talk and listen to these folks?

March 2, 1977 was the day that I decided to make journalism my career. My marriage and these pictures all happened because of Northland. The announcement last week  that Northland College of Ashland Wisconsin, my alma mater, would close at the end of this academic year, carried my mind back 50 years.I graduated in 1975. I met my wife w...

Northland College was the place that made me have a good life and career. Sad it will go
www.rockybarker.com/post/may-2-1...

Peace in our time?

Trump takes water that belongs to San Joaquin Valley farmers and sends it south to L.A. Will Idaho's water be next? Imagine if Portland was suffering through a record dry spell and the White House ordered the Bureau of Reclamation to release water from Idaho’s reservoirs to slake its thirst.The water in those reser...

Trump ignores farmers' water rights as he takes their water and send it south
www.rockybarker.com/post/trump-t...

So is selling off public lands the answer to the housing crisis? How about in the Boise foothills? William Perry PendleyDuring the Vice-Presidential candidates debate last month Republican J.D. Vance raised the idea that we can solve the housing crisis in part by selling off public land.His view se...

It's time to take their threats seriously. Trump wants to take away millions of acres of our precious public lands.
www.rockybarker.com/post/so-is-s...

Yeah dude

New House rule keeps threat to our hunting, fishing and wide open lands alive despite Supreme Court victory The Supreme Court refused to hear Utah’s lawsuit seeking to transfer ownership of our public lands to them.The legal issue has not been resolved and Utah or others, including Idaho Attorney General Ra...

House rule sets stage for selling off our precious forests, grasslands. Deserts and mountains
www.rockybarker.com/post/new-hou...

LA wildfire refugees flee to Idaho, despite its fiery history The Los Angeles fires are leaving many people with nowhere to go, which has lead to speculation that some might find new homes in the Gem State.

LA Freeway runs north carrying California climate refugees to Idaho's wildland-urban interface to drive our insurance rates up
www.boisestatepublicradio.org/show/idaho-m...

From Malheur to January 6th Blog by Rocky BarkerCopyright 2023I watched on television as a pro-Trump mob rushed into the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6 as lawmakers sought to certify the election of Joe Biden as president.I watched as they...

He let them all go
www.rockybarker.com/post/from-ca...

The Los Angeles Fires mean at least one thing for sure for Idaho, more people are going to move here from there The one thing we know will happen in the wake of the giant fires that have destroyed communities throughout the Lost Angeles area is that a lot of the survivors are going to move to Idaho.Earthquakes, riots and past fires have prompted Californians to flee to Idaho and other western states. They filled up western Boise, Meridian and Eagle since 1990 as well as Couer d’Alene, Bonners Ferry, Idaho Falls and Nampa.What they have found is that Idaho has more than its share of fires as well and most

LA fires will drive a new wave of climate migrants to Idaho
www.rockybarker.com/post/the-los...

Carter's bold protection of 100 million acres of wild Alaska began with a float trip in Idaho • Idaho Capital Sun Newly reelected Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus invited President Jimmy Carter to raft the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, writes Rocky Barker.

Great leaders floated through Idaho public lands and saved wild Alaska
idahocapitalsun.com/2025/01/14/c...

Idaho’s Salmon River inspired Jimmy Carter to save Alaska wilderness Former president Jimmy Carter took a float trip on Idaho's Middle Fork of the Salmon River which inspired him to save millions of acres of Alaska's wilderness.

Jimmy Carter's protection of 106 million acres of Alaska in 1980 started in 1978 on a raft trip in Idaho's Middle Fork of the Salmon River with Cecil Andrus
www.boisestatepublicradio.org/show/idaho-m...

Donald Trump says he will divert the 'giant faucet' of the Columbia River south to thirsty California Ice Harbor Dam dumps waters from the Snake into the ColumbiaFormer President Donald Trump suggested there was a “large faucet” up North that could solve all of California’s water needs for its cities,...

Donald Trump's insensitive criticism about The L.A. fires harkens back to his call for sending our water down there and ignoring climate change.
www.rockybarker.com/post/donald-...