On a cold spring morning in Oregon's McDermitt Caldera, conservationist Katie Fite stood in one of the country's last sage-grouse strongholds, surveying a landscape that now sits at the center of the Trump administration's critical minerals agenda. The region, described by investigators as a forgotten wildlife corridor, is prized both for its intact habitat and for the minerals beneath it.
A joint investigation by Inside Climate News and Columbia Journalism Interviews details how the push for critical minerals is colliding with efforts to protect the sage-grouse, a species that has already lost much of its historic range. The administration's focus on domestic mining appears to put this corridor at risk, even as it remains one of the few places where the bird can still thrive.
Fite's presence underscores the stakes: the same ground that supports a fragile ecosystem is now being eyed for extraction. The investigation does not suggest a simple resolution, but it makes clear that the mining agenda and wildlife conservation are on a direct collision course in the high desert of the Pacific Northwest.