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Hal Herring

@hal.herring

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Carrying the Fire Podcast
Contributing editor for Field and Stream

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On October 19, 2026, the National Park Service, along with its nonprofit partner Yellowstone Forever, announced that it had set up a new fund to help steward Yellowstone National Park.

The initiative, called the Conservation and Stewardship Fund, was funded entirely by Tallgrass Energy—a private oil and gas pipeline operator and AI data center developer, backed by Blackstone, one of the world's largest alternative investment companies.

At $105 million, it’s the single largest private donation in the history of the National Park Service.

Tallgrass Energy is run by Matthew Sheehy, the brother of Senator Tim Sheehy (R-MT), who owns a firefighting company that's also in the Blackstone portfolio.

It's currently building a massive data center campus, one of the largest in the United States, near Cheyenne, on the other side of Wyoming. It's doing so in partnership with Google.

While they're developing AI data centers and transporting oil and gas, Tallgrass and Blackstone are now also attempting to clean up their image by giving money to Yellowstone National Park.

According to a press release, the new fund is meant for “advancing conservation and research to extend the reach and impact of the park’s scientific work; enhancing access and visitor experience through investments in infrastructure; and expanding opportunities for Wyoming students and community members to experience Yellowstone.”

It's worth pointing out that ALL of those things have traditionally been the responsibility of the National Park Service itself. Now, a private fossil fuel and data center corporation has forced its way into a national park by supposedly offering the very same things.

If you’d make the statement that there’s a fair bit of greenwashing going on here, you wouldn’t be far off.

To state the absolute obvious, a partnership between the National Park Service and a Blackstone-backed oil, gas, and AI developer is not a partnership you come across every day.

Some scrutiny and skepticism is most certainly warranted here.

#yellowstone #yellowstonenationalpark #publiclands #protectpubliclands #conservation

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The first annual unofficial impromptu Bluff Arts Festival Literary Desert Rat Boat Parade. 🛶🚣‍♀️🐀 📚

@brookelarsenwrites @twoscoopsshy @r.e.burrillo @hal.herring @susanmtraveler @zak.podmore_

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Nature is not disconnected from Chat GPT nor from the massive data centers being built all across this country like the Monarch data center in Yerington, NV near my home.

Data like everything else depends on water, soil, and Mother Nature.

There is simply not enough conversation around the need, the placement, and the effects of these data centers.

If you want an educated take, check out my conversation with Hal Herring on The Wild Lab podcast.

You can find it wherever you get your podcasts.
#fyp #foryou #podcast #nature #datacenter

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The myth of separation has wrought widespread destruction both for humans and nonhumans.

This is not a theological nor a ecological argument.

We are nature. We are animals - born hungry, vulnerable, and dependent on others lives.

In this episode of The Wild Lab podcast, Hal Herring and I get deep on the ramifications of this myth of separation.

And we ask the question: What might change if we lived as though we all were kin?
#foryou #fyp #podcast #naturevibes #naturelovers

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The most recent comment period for the Trump Admin’s plan to scrap the Roadless Rule shows massive public support for keeping the protections intact. If the administration moves forward anyway, there’s a chance we could see more state-level protections similar to those already in place in Idaho and Colorado. #publiclands

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Come gather by the San Juan River next week for @bluffartsfestival! I am a *slightly* overstimulated desert rat 🐀 🏜️ just thinking about so many fun activities and a four day gathering of amazing authors, artists, and friends.

🤎Thursday
4:30 pm Soup Off
6:30 pm Storytelling by the River
Bring your camp chair or blanket and sit alongside the fire outside of Recapture Lodge where we will gather to listen to readings by 2026 Ellen Meloy for Desert Writers Award Winner, Morgan Sjogren, along with a host of other local and regional writers.

🤎Friday
The writing workshop I’m leading us sold out, but I hope to see you at…
4:30 pm Cultural Waters Panel Discussion
Panelists Morgan Sjogren, Hal Herring @hal.herring , Betsy Gaines Quammen @betsygainesquammen, and Stephen Trimble @stephentrimblephoto will discuss the impact on regional water shortage and environmental injustice. The conversation will be moderated by Kirsten Johanna Allen @kirstenjallen , publisher and co-executive director of Torrey House Press.

🤎@backofbeyondbooks Tent
Friday & Saturday 10 am - 4 pm
Sunday 10 am - 12 noon
I’ll be popping in and out all weekend.

Don’t miss panels with @r.e.burrillo @1ute_gal @brookelarsenwrites @robinspatten !

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This week on the Future Wild podcast …

#futurewild #meateater #hunt #fish #conservation

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The proposed #AmblerRoad in Alaska’s #BrooksRange is moving full-steam ahead, along with a 1700-acre open-pit mine—owned and operated by foreign mining companies—that would sit at the road’s western terminus.

I was fortunate enough to visit the site of the proposed road last August—where it would plow through Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. It’s the single-most amazing tract of #publicland I’ve ever been to. The fishing here is beyond compare. We lost track of all the big Arctic grayling we caught on dry flies. I even caught a near 30-inch lake trout on a salmon fly, something unheard of in the lower 48. One night of the trip, a wolf prowled the fringes of our beachside campsite and stole @landtawney’s laker while it was tied to a stringer overnight, leaving behind giant tracks in the sand. But all of this world-class fishing and true wilderness character is at grave threat of being lost forever. The second the Ambler Road goes in, the Brooks Range will be an altogether different place, and we’ll never be able to put this genie back in the bottle. We will have lost one of the last true wilderness landscapes, not just on American public lands, but on the planet. Link in bio for the comment portal.

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Montana Stream Access is unique, crucial, and OURS. Proud of the folks who attended the rally tonight in Bozeman, and hopeful that the future of access to public water is in good hands.

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This week on The Wild Idea podcast we talk about a Montana stream access law, how it helps frame public land access conversations nation-wide, and how the fights for access never end. We get a history lesson from our old friend Hal Herring while Jim Klug and Alex Leone update the current fight and their plans for an upcoming Stream Access Rally in Bozeman, Montana. ⁠
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Find The Wild Idea today on your podcast player of choice.

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Just weeks before American Prairie's bison were supposed to be removed from Montana's public lands, a federal judge concluded that the Trump administration’s attempt to end the bison grazing permits was probably unlawful.

On Friday, September 4, U.S. District Judge Brian Morris of the Montana District Court, Great Falls Division, granted American Prairie a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order.

This allows more than 900 bison to remain on three federal Bureau of Land Management grazing allotments: Telegraph Creek, Box Elder, and Whiterock.

"This is an important victory in the fight to ensure American Prairie’s bison can continue grazing on Montana’s prairie, as they have for over two decades," said Jenny Harbine, Managing Attorney with Earthjustice’s Northern Rockies Office, who filed the lawsuit along with Cochenour Law Office.

While this preliminary injunction is amazing news—it shows the massive legal flaws in the BLM's reasoning behind revoking American Prairie's bison grazing permits—the underlying lawsuit still continues.

This is a very positive sign, but the fight is not over quite yet. Let's celebrate and let's also keep our eyes on the ball.

"The Trump administration’s decision to force more than 900 bison off federal land was illegal and politically motivated," said Harbine. "We look forward to presenting our case to ensure bison can remain on public lands across the country."

#americanprairie #wildlife #conservation #savepubliclands #publiclands

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