Our featured photo this week is by our own Larry Turner — how does it get better than a magical white horse in a meadow under a rainbow?!? This photo was taken a few weeks ago in Montana.

 For more than 35 years, C.J. Hadley and RANGE magazine have reported on the people who produce America’s food and fiber, care for its land and water, and sustain the rural communities too often overlooked by the national press.

 Many readers and supporters have helped make that work possible through their support of the Range Conservation Foundation. I am writing today to thank you—and to ask you to continue that support as we carry C.J.’s work forward through the RANGE community foundation.

The mission remains clear: preserve and strengthen independent rural journalism.

RANGE will continue to publish first-hand reporting about ranching, farming, land stewardship, private property, public lands and the people whose knowledge comes from living and working on the ground. We will continue to publish strong photography, thoughtful commentary and stories that would otherwise go unreported.

But we are also building for the future.

The RANGE community foundation will focus on funding independent reporting and educational features in RANGE, place RANGE magazines, books and special publications in schools and libraries, preserve the photographs, reporting and historical record created during C.J.’s decades of work, support books, documentaries and other projects that document rural people, working lands and the American West, and develop the next generation of writers, photographers and publishers willing to report from rural America with accuracy, courage and respect.

This work is so important because journalism is more than a business product. In rural communities, reliable reporting is the actual civic infrastructure. It preserves local knowledge, records history, holds our elected officials accountable and gives people the facts they need to understand decisions affecting their land, livelihoods and communities.

 The need has not diminished. Experienced publishers are aging out without successors. National reporting is increasingly removed from the people and places it describes. Important stories about agriculture, natural resources and rural America are often ignored or told by people who have never set foot on the land.

 RANGE exists because those stories deserve to be reported accurately and preserved permanently.

 C.J. built RANGE with extraordinary determination, a small staff, talented contributors, and what she once described as “a truckload of passion, a trace of madness, and great affection for the industry.” We intend to honor that legacy by building an institution strong enough to continue long after any one publisher, editor, or donor is gone.

 Your past support helped create that legacy. We invite you to renew your support with a contribution to our foundation and join us in securing its future.

 A gift of any size will directly support RANGE through independent rural journalism, national distribution and the preservation of the people, knowledge and landscapes that sustain America.

Thank you for standing with RANGE and with the ranchers, farmers and rural communities whose stories must continue to be told.

Sincerely, Rachel Dahl, Publisher, RANGE magazine, Founder, RANGE community foundation

P.S… you can call the office at 1-800-RANGE-4-U to make a contribution over the phone or send a check to the RANGE office at 169 E. Center Street in Fallon, Nevada 89406.

 The foundation is an IRS-approved, 501(c)3 organization, and your contribution is tax-deductible.

By Marisol Tarango

Steven “Steve” Pearce was confirmed to lead the Bureau of Land Management by the U.S. Senate on May 18, 2026, in a 46-43 vote and was sworn in the following day. President Donald Trump nominated him for the position in January. Pearce is the 20th director of the BLM since the bureau was created in 1946.

Already familiar with the federal government, Pearce had extensive experience with Western land issues and the natural-resource economy before taking the position.

He earned degrees in economics and business administration from New Mexico State University and Eastern New Mexico University. He later served in the U.S. Air Force and logged 500 combat hours as a pilot in Vietnam. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with an oak leaf cluster.

In 1989, Pearce and his wife, Cynthia, purchased an oilfield service company that grew tenfold within a decade. Pearce later represented New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District as a Republican, serving from 2003 to 2009 and again from 2011 to 2019.

As BLM director, Pearce oversees an agency responsible for approximately 245 million acres of surface land and 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate.

The scale of that responsibility is significant to public land stewards throughout the West, where BLM decisions affect ranching, mining, energy production, recreation, wildlife habitat, water and rural economies.

Pearce’s nomination and confirmation received strong support from several agricultural and energy organizations.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, American Sheep Industry Association and Public Lands Council congratulated Pearce following his confirmation. The groups had supported his nomination from the beginning, saying ranchers need a permanent BLM director to help the agency operate efficiently and consistently.

Western Energy Alliance President Melissa Simpson also welcomed the confirmation.

“Steve Pearce is exactly the kind of experienced, principled leader we need at the helm of BLM,” Simpson said.

 She pointed to Pearce’s Western background, his experience representing a state with a large amount of BLM-managed land and his work as an oilfield business owner. Simpson said that experience would help him understand the need to balance energy production, grazing, recreation and conservation.

 Environmental organizations have expressed a very different view.

 In a February 6 blog post, The Wilderness Society strongly opposed Pearce’s nomination, describing his positions as a threat to public lands. The organization also accused Pearce of supporting efforts to privatize public lands.

 Pearce’s supporters dispute that characterization and instead point to his support for multiple use, domestic energy production and continued access to public lands.

 The disagreement surrounding Pearce reflects the broader tensions that have long-shaped federal land management in the West.

 Watch for our interview with Pearce in the Fall edition of RANGE magazine which will be in mailboxes soon!

 We’re excited for you to see this issue of the magazine as we finish up our production. We have beautiful ranching features from some of your favorite writers, pithy editorials, and, as always, the beautiful photography that our RANGE readers are so used to.

 Make sure you’re subscribed, and share a subscription with a friend. We can’t wait for you to see what this issue unfolds.

Thank you so much for all your support – please drop us a line and let us know how we’re doing or send over story ideas any time. We love hearing from our readers.

Until next week –
Rachel