It's been a while since my last check-in, so to kick of 2026 here's some recent news about American public lands. Last year was a tough one for public lands, with attempted sell-offs, massive staffing cuts, regulatory rollbacks, and misappropriated funding. If you saw impacts at
Republicans in the House of Representatives voted to nullify decades of land-use planning by the Bureau of Land Management: Resource management plans serve as guidelines for how the BLM manages the public lands it oversees. The plans are developed through a lengthy process that combines local and tribal input with
In June, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins at the Western Governor’s Association meeting in New Mexico announced her intention to rescind a Clinton-era policy called the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. It's perhaps overshadowed by legislation like the Endangered Species Act, but the development of the U.S. Forest
We learned a couple of days ago that Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is attempting to illegally divert funds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) in order to halt the purchase of new public lands. These lands range from large acquisitions to something as small as a boat launch
I suppose we need not go mourning the buffaloes. In the nature of things they had to give place to better cattle. —John Muir The population collapse of plains bison, that symbolically most American mammal (Bison bison bison), is among the most well-known stories of our animal past. For thousands
Some news and reading about the public lands for your Monday morning. In late 2024, the residents of Mancos, Colorado, tore down miles of illegally constructed barbed wire fencing put up by a religious sect in San Juan National Forest that blocked grazing, recreation, and logging activities. Known as the
Spend any amount of time among hunting, recreation, or agriculture communities right now and you'll be confronted with countless urgings to contact your Congressperson to protect the federal lands. The public lands, primarily thanks to Utah Senator Mike Lee, are once again at threat of being sold as
One cannot be pessimistic about the West. This is the native home of hope. When it fully learns that cooperation, not rugged individualism, is the quality that most characterizes and preserves it, then it will have achieved itself and outlived its origins. —Wallace Stegner If there is a singular animating
Following up on the previous newsletter, the House Rules Committee removed an amendment in the Republican budget bill aimed at selling public lands. While the bill has moved to the Senate, it’s possible this will be brought up again. In any case, this won't be the last
The fight over public lands is back. In a House amendment to the Republican budget package, introduced by Utah Representative Celeste Maloy and Nevada Representative Mark Amodei and which could be voted on as soon overnight tonight, the budget bill may result in the sale of 11,500 acres of
The Sagebrush Rebellion lives on: The state is asking the justices to declare that the federal government's ownership of millions of acres of public lands in the state's borders is unconstitutional. The United States currently holds title to more than 18.5 million acres of "
In 1892, the People’s Party gathered in Omaha to declare within their first platform that “we have witnessed for more than a quarter of a century the struggles of the two great political parties for power and plunder, while grievous wrongs have been inflicted upon the suffering.” Prairie progressives