It鈥檚 6:15 P.M. on a Thursday in late August, and there鈥檚 a short line to get into Fisher Brewing in Salt Lake City, Utah. The beer hall sits within walking distance of at least 20 or so nonprofit organizations.

Strolling from the bar to a seating area I pass Millennial hippies, bored looking Gen Zs, clean-shaven sales bros, a woman in pink kitten heels, and a group of academic looking Boomers. The hodgepodge has come for the The Center for Western Priorities’s (CPW) 鈥淜eep Parks Public鈥� campaign, a multi-state speaking tour focused on the preservation of public lands. Utah is the group’s fourth state after Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.

In each location, the group has brought together various agencies, elected officials, and the public to talk about the ongoing battle to protect the country鈥檚鈥攁nd particularly the West鈥檚鈥攑ublic lands. CPW staffers are also recording episodes of as they travel.

The CWP’s idea for the events came out of the recent political fight to stop the federal government from selling millions of acres of public lands. The sale was initially proposed by Utah Republican Mike Lee, and it was soundly defeated in July.

People take their seats as the panel discussion begins. Away from the crowd, I see a middle-aged man sipping his beer. I ask why he came to the event. 鈥淔or me, public land is medicine,鈥� Russell Daniels, a Salt Lake City photographer tells me. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 replace it once it鈥檚 gone. The public wants to keep these lands public.鈥�

The Mike Lee Effect

Mike Lee’s name is repeated again and again as the evening unfolds. 鈥淢ike Lee gave us the best gift he could have given us, which is that he made this issue so high profile,鈥� Kate Groetzinger, CWP communications manager and host of the podcast, says.

I look around the room and see proof of Groetzinger’s opinion. All 150 seats for the Salt Lake City event were reserved prior to the event, and as the panel begins to speak, it is standing room only.

In June 2025, Lee made headlines for his added provision to President Trump鈥檚 so-called 鈥淏ig Beautiful Bill鈥� that called for auctioning off as much as 3 million acres of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management property across 11 western states.

Nonprofits like the CWP rallied against the proposal, but so did conservative lawmakers and right-leaning online communities.

The opposition was amplified in places as unexpected as , and opponents rallied under the tagline 鈥淣ot One Acre.” Hunter Nation, a non-profit group for hunters, posted its opposition to the sale of any public lands on social media.

Eighty-five Wyoming businesses signed a letter to their senators telling them that the state鈥檚 outdoor recreation, tourism, and culture 鈥渋s under threat by a concerted movement to transfer or sell federal public lands.鈥�

Ultimately, five House Republicans (Mike Simpson of Idaho, Dan Newhouse of Washington, Cliff Bentz of Oregon, David Valadao of California, and Ryan Zinke of Montana) and four Republican senators (Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy of Montana, and Jim Risch and Mike Crapo of Idaho) said they did not support the plan.

On June 28, Lee from the megabill. Lee’s defeat represented a watershed moment for the groups fighting for public lands.

鈥淓veryone knows about it now,鈥� Groetzinger says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 this growing awareness that public lands are under attack. And I think that just doesn’t sit well with people.鈥�

Lessons Learned from Defeating Lee

In the month after Lee’s defeat, conservation groups and lawmakers have considered a similar question: What can defenders of public land learn from the bipartisan alliance?

“We learned that the people who populate Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana are the same type of people who populate Colorado and New Mexico,” John Hickenlooper, Colorado’s Democratic senator, told听翱耻迟蝉颈诲别听on a phone call. “We have the same bias. We want to protect our public lands for our descendants. And that is a pretty powerful political force.”

Hickenlooper and his staff watched as online opposition built toward Lee’s proposal in May and June, and noticed that some of the loudest voices came from right-leaning groups. Hunters, anglers, and even farmers and ranchers said that the public land sale was a bad idea. On social media, the Democratic senator and his staff amplified these voices.

“We would repost some social media from others and often times it was from conservative groups,” Hickenlooper said. “I was enthusiastic, because it showed that social media could bring together discordant groups of people around a common goal.”

Hickenlooper said the outpouring of opposition also showed that voters didn’t trust Lee’s justification. Lee framed the public land sale as a way to combat the housing crisis gripping cities and towns across the west. Hickenlooper said his office received hundreds of letters from local elected officials across Colorado saying that the idea would not solve their problems.

“We got 62,000 emails and letters from 50 county commissioners, mayors, and elected officials鈥攁bout a third of them Republicans鈥攁ll of them opposed to this. These are people whose positions are dependent on them getting more housing,” he said. “They brought up that there are already processes in place to build on this type of land.”

“People could tell this was a bait-and-switch,” he said.

At the Utah event, Scott Braden, executive director of the Southern Wilderness Alliance, tells me that the biggest lesson was that the fight grew from a regional one to a national one.

鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 because he listened to constituents here in Utah,鈥� Braden says. 鈥淚t was because there was a nationwide response. People in all 50 states called their senators. That鈥檚 what matters.鈥�

Not All Public Lands Battles Are United

Not all public land fights are as unified as the battle against Lee. In June, the Trump Administration rescinded the so-called Roadless Rule, a prohibition of road construction and timber harvesting on 58.5 million acres of roadless Forest Service territory.

In a statement issued by the Western Caucus, House Representative听Zinke called the move “a victory for Montana, public lands, and forest management everywhere.” Zinke said that the roadless rule鈥攚hich the CPW supports鈥攚as an impediment to wildfire management.

While speaking on the podcast, Doug Tolman with the group Save Our Canyons, says the wildfire argument is misinformation. 鈥淚’m afraid of a ski reserve development in pristine, forested land,鈥� he says. 鈥淚’m afraid of increased logging and mining in areas that are not currently used for that and roads being built to access private parcels of land to build luxury developments.鈥�

Tolman says he is worried, but hopeful that eventually, people outside the traditional conservation community will get involved.

鈥淚 have seen a few attempts to get hunting and angling communities engaged, but it is not nearly as strong as the public land sell-offs at the moment,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 am curious though, if those communities might step in with a heavier hand once the comment periods open and all the press releases are out in the coming weeks.鈥�

The Fight Continues

Groetzinger says that, after the Lee fight, people are paying more attention to public land issues. 鈥淣ow people who didn鈥檛 even know what BLM lands were six months ago are on alert. Next time, they鈥檒l be ready,” she says.

Groetzinger and others expect future fights to erupt around a long list of public land issues. Continued budget and staffing cuts听to the National Park Service (NPS) and U.S. Forest Service are expected.

Throughout the spring, both agencies underwent major staffing cuts. Erika Pollard of the National Parks Conservation Association tells the attendees that that the NPS听has lost more than 5,000 employees since January, with the threat of another thousand cuts looming. Behind-the-scenes specialists鈥攖hose who safeguard water quality, air quality, and long-term planning鈥攁re the ones who risk being cut.

鈥淔or people going to the parks right now, it might look like everything is fine, but we know it鈥檚 not,鈥� Pollard says. 鈥淭he administration is basically forcing the parks to keep their visitor services open uninterrupted. We are really seeing an all-out assault on our national parks and our national park system like we鈥檝e never seen before.鈥�

There are setbacks to Biden administration-era plans to establish a historic resource management plan for sacred tribal lands like Bears Ears National Monument. Another podcast guest, Davina Smith, of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and Grand Staircase Escalante Partners, says that while it鈥檚 moving forward, she鈥檚 devastated by the dismissal of staffers she鈥檚 worked with to make the plan a reality for two years.

鈥淭hese efforts at cutting the budget, cutting the workers, and ruining morale are a cynical attempt to make public lands management in America fail,鈥� Scott Braden, the executive director of the Southern Wilderness Alliance tells the crowd. 鈥淎nd that becomes the justification for those who want to seize and sell off public lands.鈥�

Decades-long conservation laws are also at risk. After about an hour of discussing various setbacks in protecting Utah鈥檚 public lands, an audience member has a question. She jokes that she鈥檚 never learned so many acronyms in one night before. Then she pauses, and with a voice of sincerity asks: 鈥淪o, what do we do?鈥�

The answer is unsatisfying, if simple: get involved, stay involved, and make your voice heard. 鈥淚t really is going to take all of our voices, all of the different pieces of our public lands puzzle and the people who love these places to really make some change,鈥� Pollard says.

国产吃瓜黑料 articles editor Frederick Dreier contributed to this report.

The post What Was Learned From the Latest Fight Over Public Lands? appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

In 2022, a conservation nonprofit called the Deschutes Trails Coalition (DTC) started working with the U.S. Forest Service to build and maintain hundreds of miles of hiking trails in central Oregon.

The agreement was pretty straightforward: DTC would pay two employees to pitch in alongside the Forest Service鈥檚 own trail crew, which numbered six. The eight-person team would repair bridges, clear overgrowth, and cut out trees that had fallen across the trails over the winter鈥攙ital work that kept 1,200 miles of trails open to hikers.

As the relationship evolved, the Forest Service struggled to maintain its workforce. In September 2024, then-USFS chief Randy Moore said it wouldn鈥檛 hire back 2,400 seasonal employees for 2025, including most of its trail crews. Then, in March 2025, the Trump Administration fired 3,400 full-time USFS employees.

The staffing woes within the agency forced the DTC to step up. This summer, the nonprofit has paid for five staffers to do trail work. The USFS, meanwhile, employs just one.

鈥淥ur crew kind of absorbed them, rather than the other way around,鈥� says Jana Johnson, executive director of the DTC. 鈥淥ur roles just flip-flopped.鈥�

Across the country, nonprofits like the DTC are navigating similarly chaotic situations, fueled by the rapid change to federal agencies that oversee public land. On January 20, the same day he was inaugurated, President Trump froze all federal hiring by executive order. In February, the administration announced its staffing cuts to National Parks and the National Forest Service. Thousands of veteran USFS employees then took voluntary retirement or deferred resignation agreements.

Legal challenges have since reinstated some of those employees, but the USFS hasn鈥檛 divulged how many employees were fired or left the agency this year (the USFS didn鈥檛 respond to 翱耻迟蝉颈诲别鈥檚 request for comment). Meanwhile, the 2025 budget reconciliation bill, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, stripped funds from other USFS programs: old-growth forest protection, climate resilience and forest health programs, and tree planting efforts.

The chaos at the Forest Service and other federal land management agencies has left public lands increasingly reliant on nonprofit partners like the DTC. The problem with this new model? Grants and funding from federal agencies鈥攎oney that many trail building nonprofits rely on鈥� is also drying up. And now, some nonprofits like the DTC are starting to feel the pinch.

Nonprofits Are Operating in a New Era

If you visit a national forest in 2025 and come across someone clearing a trail, cleaning a bathroom, or collecting campsite fees, chances are high that they work for a nonprofit organization rather than the Forest Service.

The operational structure involves both parties. Johnson told 国产吃瓜黑料 that the DTC operates with a great deal of autonomy when it works on public lands. Projects are assigned or approved by a USFS trails manager, but daily work plans are under the purview of DTC鈥檚 trails coordinator and trail crew leader. DTC interviews and hires its own employees, signs the paychecks, and purchases tools, hard hats, and work trucks.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a very new world,鈥� Johnson says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e the only paid crew working on the Deschutes National Forest now.鈥�

Employees wear DTC shirts, rather than USFS uniforms. Training, like First Aid classes and chainsaw certifications鈥攐nce the responsibility of the USFS鈥攁re now run by DTC and another local nonprofit, the Central Oregon Trail Alliance.

In some ways, arrangements like this are business as usual. The USFS has long relied on nonprofit partners, contractors, and volunteer crews to supplement its recreation and trails programs, which include tasks like clearing trails and patrolling campgrounds. The big difference for 2025 is that nonprofits are no longer confident if or when the federal government will pay for the work.

Prior to 2025, the DTC was paid by the USFS through funds approved by the Great American Outdoors Act of 2020. The group signed an agreement with the agency in 2023, and was due about $200,000 in funding in 2025. That payment has yet to materialize.

鈥淭he message was, 鈥榃e really don鈥檛 know if or when these funds will make it to you,鈥欌�� says Johnson. The USFS did not respond to听国产吃瓜黑料’s听request for comment.

Scrambling, Johnson managed to secure three different state-level grants in time to hire a full trail crew for the season.

鈥淲e got really lucky, and it bought us a little bit of time to figure out how we鈥檙e going to fundraise in the future,鈥� Johnson says.

The grant money comes with limitations, though. First, the cash is temporary. Next year, Johnson will have to reapply or find new grant money elsewhere. Secondly, the restrictions on the cash are tight. Under its original funding agreement with the Forest Service, DTC could work on any trail in Forest Service territory. The state grants, however, are for specific trail projects.

Johnson says that this is a common pitfall at nonprofits like DTC鈥攖here鈥檚 grant money out there for 鈥渟exy鈥� projects like new trails, bridge building, and watershed restoration, but not routine maintenance. But in a typical year, this maintenance can spell the difference between an open or a closed trail.

鈥淭hese grants are really project specific. Basic maintenance鈥攍ogging out, clearing brush, cleaning drains鈥攖hose do not count as a project. Very few grants will cover basic maintenance,鈥� she says.

Where Will the Money Come From?

The financial pressure that DTC and other trail nonprofits are under is unlikely to abate anytime soon. President Trump鈥檚 will axe more than $4 billion from public land management agencies. In June, he signed an executive order mandating the Forest Service transfer its $2.4 billion wildland firefighting program to the Department of the Interior within 90 days, and cut all firefighting funds at the agency for 2026.

A further $1.6 billion in USFS cuts would deliver a 34 percent cut to payroll, a 50 percent cut to forest maintenance and improvement, and remove the agency鈥檚 forest and rangeland research program entirely.

At the DTC, this new funding situation has forced Johnson to rethink where the group鈥檚 money comes from. The group has tools to purchase, work trucks to maintain, and rising costs-of-living in an expensive mountain town to contend with.

鈥淔undraising has become a much greater focus,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e鈥檒l continue to do some of the things that have been successful, like going after grants. That said, grants are becoming more competitive, so we need to expand.鈥�

One example is DTC鈥檚 $1 for Trails program, which recruits businesses to collect $1 voluntary donations from customers. For now, the program is small: it has generated about $220,000 since it began in 2018, and only a handful of local hotels and resorts participate. The funds don鈥檛 stay with DTC either. Instead, they鈥檙e doled out to a number of local nonprofits for small projects, like replacing trail signs and hosting volunteer maintenance days.

Johnson says expanding the program is a top priority. 鈥淚 think it has great potential to fund the trail program into the future,鈥� she says.

Combined, the state grants, the fundraising efforts, and the potential for restored federal funding leaves Johnson confident that DTC will navigate the 2025 trail work season and prepare for the future. She knows that鈥檚 not the case for every nonprofit.

鈥淲e are extremely unique in central Oregon that we have so many individual partner groups and nonprofit groups that are able to pick this up,鈥� she says. 鈥淢ost places around the country don鈥檛 have the nonprofit infrastructure that was already in place here.鈥�

A Model for Public Land Funding Is Quickly Reshaped

Around the country, a number of similar nonprofits have had difficulties navigating the funding crisis brought on by the Trump administration.

The Pacific Crest Trail Association, which oversees the famed hiking route in California, Oregon, and Washington, decided not to hire six seasonal trail workers this year due to funding concerns. It canceled 50 weeks worth of planned trail projects, and pulled out of most of its commitments working with AmeriCorps-funded conservation corps.

AmeriCorps crews are facing their own funding crisis. In April, the Trump administration . Since then, some regional programs, like the Lakes Region Conservation Corps, have been forced to shutter entirely. Others have been largely unaffected so far.

Montana Conservation Corps CEO Jono McKinney says his program, which hires nearly 400 AmeriCorps听members each year, hasn鈥檛 lost its AmeriCorps funding. Similar to DTC, though, McKinney says other federal grants and payments have been delayed.

鈥淭here鈥檚 over $1 million in trail program funding under review that we鈥檙e counting on,鈥� McKinney says. 鈥淓very day I wonder, 鈥楢re we next? What can we count on?鈥欌��

Some nonprofits are turning to fundraisers to replace missing federal dollars. After learning in February that all five Forest Service trail crew workers in the Sitka Ranger district had been fired, Sitka Trail Works, a trail nonprofit in Alaska, launched a funding campaign to hire the crew on as employees.

鈥淲e were already working super closely with the USFS folks in the field,鈥� says executive director Ben Hughey. Results were mixed: Sitka Trail Works raised over $60,000 and hired four trail workers; none of the Forest Service workers took the job. Instead, several returned to the USFS after a court order forced the agency to reinstate their positions in March. Others had already moved on to other jobs with better pay. 鈥淭rail work is a skilled trade. Why not quit, get your contractor鈥檚 license, and make three times as much money?鈥� Hughey explains.

One uncommon success story is the Nevada-based Great Basin Institute. In the three years since CEO Peter Woodruff assumed leadership at GBI, the organization has doubled in size to more than 1,000 employees and increased total revenues from $20 million to $50 million. GBI has staffers and researchers tackling nearly every subset of conservation work: trail maintenance, forestry, wildfire prevention, wildlife biology, even running visitor鈥檚 centers. They partner with nearly every federal agency that manages public lands, including the Forest Service, Park Service, and Bureau of Land Management.

Woodruff says that, despite the recent growth, GBI is currently navigating what amounts to a financial tightrope. It hired about 100 more employees in 2025 compared to the previous year, but also faced serious funding concerns. The Nevada Conservations Corps鈥攖he trail maintenance program that鈥檚 part of GBI鈥攊s funded in large part by AmeriCorps grants, which face an uncertain future under the Trump administration. This March, all payments to GBI from the Forest Service were put on hold for several weeks. And the Forest Service has not approved any new funding for GBI鈥檚 forestry work in 2025, even for projects that had already been OKed.

Through one lens, public land agencies鈥� increased reliance on nonprofit partners could be seen as a benefit. After all, both GBI and DTC have managed to expand and hire more employees, even as they navigate an uncertain future. For both groups, there is no shortage of work to be done. But Woodruff ultimately sees the current funding landscape as a poor replacement for functional federal agencies. In an ideal world, he says federal agencies would have suitable budgets, and organizations like GBI shouldn鈥檛 have to exist.

鈥淭o see a public servant workforce get replaced with this smattering of different uniforms and backgrounds and organizations鈥攚hat happened to the vision of a park ranger?鈥� he says. 鈥淵oung people don鈥檛 grow up wanting to work for GBI, they want to work for the Park Service or Forest Service. When people lose faith in that, or they鈥檙e seeing the career so clearly jeopardized, or treated with such disdain, that鈥檚 a huge loss.鈥�

The post The Messy Business of Building Trails in the Era of Trump Cuts appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Tamara Pogue is a member of the Board of County Commissioners in Summit County, Colorado. Her primary focus is finding community-based solutions to workforce housing challenges and maintaining affordability for working families in our mountain community.听

When Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) proposed selling off millions of acres of public lands across 11 western states, he falsely claimed it would help solve the West’s affordable housing crisis.

It took about a minute to realize how unserious Senator Lee鈥檚 proposal actually was. It wasn鈥檛 about housing. In fact, there were no provisions for affordability, and worse, no guardrails to prevent the country鈥檚 wildest peaks and breathtaking vistas from being sold to the highest bidder.

But now that the political whiplash has subsided, and听 from the Senate鈥檚 sweeping reconciliation bill, the question remains: Could public land be used to house听people?

To be sure, the vast majority of our public lands aren鈥檛 suitable for housing. They aren鈥檛 near a town. They lack road access and basic infrastructure, like water and sewer. In fact, most of these lands are being used at their highest and best purpose: for wildlife habitat and public recreation鈥攖he entire point of 鈥淎merica鈥檚 best idea.”

There is, however, another idea for housing on public lands that鈥檚 already being put to work today.

In 2018, the bipartisan Farm Bill signed by President Trump, enabled the long-term leasing of Forest Service (USFS) administrative sites to entities like the one I help manage听as a key to addressing the west鈥檚 housing crisis.

These 鈥渁dmin sites鈥� aren鈥檛 the wild and scenic places where we play鈥攊n fact, you鈥檝e likely driven by them without giving them a second glance. They鈥檙e boneyards for equipment, with old buildings that sometimes serve as housing for Forest Service wildland firefighters, or they even sit empty.

Summit County, Colorado, signed a lease on a USFS administrative site near the town of Dillon back in 2023. This parcel, located across the street from the town, and just a mile from a major grocery store, is now the site of a development that will contain up to 162 units of housing for critical USFS firefighters, rangers, and other workers in the county.

The land has been surveyed, the utilities are available, and the buildings have been designed鈥攁ll without the need to sacrifice, or wantonly sell, any of the amazing public lands we听here in Colorado’s high country cherish and welcome millions each year to enjoy.

Repurposing these sites through legislation that already exists is a model built on a partnership with the USFS, and one that keeps whole what makes our economy run and our people thrive. Now, we need the current Administration and new USFS leadership to continue to collaborate with us to see this project through to completion.

There鈥檚 a silver lining to the justified panic over the sale of public lands. It shines a bright light on an important conversation about housing and public lands that my fellow commissioners and I, along with our friends at the Forest Service, are eager to share. It also offers D.C. policymakers a chance to advance housing solutions that the public can actually get behind.

The post Op-Ed: Selling Public Lands Won鈥檛 Fix the Housing Crisis in Ski Towns. But This Policy Helps. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

In 2020, David Litt, former senior speech writer to President Obama, moved from Washington DC to the Jersey Shore, and felt the need for a jolt of life amidst the pandemic. So he did what anyone would do: David decided he needed to learn to surf. As a sensible Yale-educated, New York Times best selling author, David knew he needed help. And that鈥檚 how he ended up bobbing in the ocean with someone who could not be more dissimilar to him, his tattooed, truck driving, death metal enthusiast, Joe Rogan superfan, brother-in-law, Matt. The sea salt comedy of errors, became the basis of David’s brand new book “It’s Only Drowning: A true story of learning to surf and the pursuit of common ground.” And while it hilariously recounts David鈥檚 learning process, the book is also a surprising investigation of the current American culture war, the roles David and his brother-in-law have been cast into, and how, as unlikely as it would seem, a sport like surfing can help bridge the fissures of class and culture.

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There鈥檚 a new plan in Washington D.C. to auction off public lands, and this one involves millions of acres spread across nearly a dozen Western states.

The latest stipulation would require the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to sell off roughly 3 million acres by 2030.

On Tuesday, June 10, this plan was added to the draft legislation of President Donald Trump鈥檚 tax and spending megabill by the Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the U.S. Senate.

This sprawling piece of legislation, called 鈥淥ne Big, Beautiful Bill Act,鈥� passed the House of Representatives in early June, and is currently under debate in the Senate.

Sources told听The New York Times that two Republican lawmakers鈥擬ike Lee of Utah and Steve Daines of Montana鈥攚orked closely to decide on the plan.

Previous plans to sell off public lands have been met with public outcry. An earlier version of the Big, Beautiful Bill Act included a smaller selloff proposal, suggesting the liquidation of nearly 500,000 acres of public land in Nevada and Utah.

This provision was axed before the bill passed the House of Representatives, after backlash from the House鈥檚 Public Lands Caucus, a bipartisan group led by New Mexico Democrat Gabe Vasquez and Montana Republican and former interior secretary Ryan Zinke. Zinke called the measure his 鈥淪an Juan Hill.鈥� He has previously told 国产吃瓜黑料:听鈥淭he idea that you鈥檙e going to sell public land to get out of debt is folly.鈥�

This latest鈥攁nd substantially larger鈥攍and sale proposal was announced by Lee, who is the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Specifically, the reconciliation bill鈥檚 language dictates that 鈥渘ot less than 0.50 percent and not more than 0.75 percent鈥� of all BLM land be sold to the private sector, as determined by the Secretary of the Interior. Identical language and percentages dictate the sale of National Forest land as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture.

The BLM manages 245 million total acres, and the the Forest Service manages 193 million acres. Under the plan’s rules, up to 3.29 million acres of public lands would be placed on the auctioning block.

Lawmakers have said the sale of public lands would raise funds for the federal government and clear land for housing development. The plan would put public lands in 11 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Zinke鈥檚 state, Montana, is the only Western state excluded from this updated proposal.

The that national parks, national monuments, and designated wilderness areas would be exempt from auction, and land near existing population centers would be prioritized. The bill also mandates that any public land sales must occur solely for 鈥渇or the development of housing or to address associated community needs,鈥� but it leaves the definition of these 鈥渁ssociated community needs鈥� up to the Secretaries concerned.

鈥淪enate Republicans have finally said the quiet part out loud,鈥� said , the ranking Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. 鈥淭hey want to put millions of acres of our public lands up in a fire sale, destroy the investments that have created thousands of manufacturing and clean energy jobs 鈥� including in their home states, and obliterate programs that lower energy costs for everyday Americans.鈥�

The plan received immediate criticism from nonprofit groups and organizations that work in conservation and outdoor recreation.

鈥淲hat some may see as a barren lot on a map on a Senator鈥檚 desk may actually be where a community hikes after work, rides their ATV, or teaches their kids how to hunt turkey or ride a bike,” reads a statement from Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, a lobbying group for the outdoor recreation industry. “And once these treasured places are sold to private industry, they are gone forever, and in the case of this proposal, can be used for any purpose after ten years.”

David Willms, associate vice president for public lands at the National Wildlife Federation, called the plan “orders of magnitude worse than what the House proposed last month.”

鈥淢andating the fire sale of up to two-and-a-half million acres of public land violates more than a century of land stewardship, threatens wildlife and clean water, runs directly against widespread public opinion, and will not begin to solve either the budget crisis or the affordable housing crisis,” he said.

The post There鈥檚 a New Plan to Sell Off Public Lands. It Would Impact Millions of Acres in Western States. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

The Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA), the non-profit organization responsible for preserving and promoting the听West Coast鈥檚 iconic 2,650-mile trail, announced on Wednesday that it will drastically reduce its planned program of work in 2025. According to a statement on the organization鈥檚 website, the decision is a result of delayed grant funding, which is part of the administration鈥檚 efforts to reduce federal spending.

The PCTA partners with the US Forest Service (USFS) to collaboratively manage the PCT and relies on federal funding, volunteer hours, and fundraising to support trail maintenance and repair projects, the hiring of trail crew leaders, and more. PCTA CEO Megan Wargo wrote in the statement that this week鈥檚 announcements have caused great uncertainty about the organization鈥檚 capacity to support hikers.

Wargo announced that the organization will cancel 56 weeks of planned trail projects in 2025 due to the funding loss. They鈥檒l likely be unable to hire six trail crew leaders, who are responsible for providing trail-building expertise and coordinating volunteer efforts. According to the PCTA, the reduction is equal to 鈥渕ore than one full year鈥檚 worth of trail crew maintenance. 鈥�

鈥淐utting back needed trail maintenance will directly affect the PCT experience this year and in the future, and surely will increase the amount and cost of work we will need to address later,鈥� Wargo wrote in the statement. 鈥淗ikers, equestrians and local trail communities will feel this as they traverse the magnificent lands through which the trail passes.鈥�

, the PCTA historically relies on a $667,000 federal grant each year to fund trail projects, along with funds from the and disaster relief funds. The Chronicle wrote that these sources make up about 48 percent of the PCTA鈥檚 yearly budget and that that money 鈥渂ecame imperiled last month when President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to halt spending. About a week later, the Trump administration withdrew the freeze but said it is withholding federal program funding pending internal reviews.鈥�

The PCTA specified several trail projects that will be eliminated or delayed These include 鈥渄ry masonry work around Donner Summit near Truckee; stone step repairs in Inyo National Forest near Mount Whitney; creek crossing repairs in Sierra National Forest outside Mammoth Lakes, and rehabilitation around Snow Creek Village near the San Jacinto Mountains in Riverside County.鈥�

鈥淭hose unmaintained spots are going to be hell for hikers,鈥� PCTA Advocacy Director Mark Larabee told the Chronicle.

In the statement on the PCTA鈥檚 website, Wargo called on volunteers to help fill in the gaps left by the funding freeze. She wrote that the organization will continue to lean on volunteer labor and donations to address trail maintenance projects and advocate for the future of the PCT. Wargo also encouraged hikers to contact their senators and representatives to speak up for the PCT and public lands everywhere.

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Canada鈥檚 border authority expanded on its decision to bar Pacific Crest Trail hikers from crossing into the country earlier this week, noting that its new policy mirrors the United States鈥� refusal to permit southbound hikers to begin their hikes by crossing the border into American territory.

In , the Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) confirmed it would no longer issue permits for PCT hikers to cross into E.C. Manning Provincial Park at the trail鈥檚 northern terminus, and said that the change would 鈥渇acilitate monitoring of compliance of trail users鈥� as well as increase security at the border. In addition, the agency noted that the move 鈥渁ligns with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) who does not allow travellers to enter the U.S. from Canada on the trail.鈥�

Northbound thru-hikers will now need to end their trips by backtracking to the nearest road crossing at Harts Pass, roughly 30 miles away; those who still wish to hike the extension of the trail into Canada will then need to travel to the nearest border crossings at Osoyoos or Abbotsford, both of which are roughly 60 straight-line miles from the trail.

In a blog post, the called the announcement 鈥渄isappointing,鈥� but acknowledged the CBSA鈥檚 points, including that the new policy mirrors one that the U.S. has long held.

鈥淗ikers and equestrians should turn around after reaching the Northern Terminus,鈥� the group wrote. 鈥淲e ask that everyone travels with the utmost respect for nature by practicing gold standard Leave No Trace practices. This area will experience increased use now that more people are traveling this section of the PCT twice.鈥�

The change comes at a tense time for U.S.-Canada relations, as on imports from it and Mexico on February 1 if the two countries don鈥檛 take steps to deter unauthorized crossings. This week, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police unveiled a new fleet of leased Black Hawk helicopters that it is using to step up enforcement along the border.

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On a brisk weekday in October 2023, three sewing machines hummed while experimental indie pop played quietly inside a warehouse near the airport in Missoula, Montana. Three sewers had their heads down, assembling eggplant-colored jumpsuits, as Mallory Ottariano, the 34-year-old founder of the women鈥檚 outdoor clothing brand , squinted into a dizzying spreadsheet. The Youniverse鈥攚hat Ottariano, a queen of puns, calls the factory she opened just eight months earlier鈥攕melled like the sugary candle that had been burning that morning, and soon it would be fragrant with garlic.

鈥淲hat kind of pizza do you guys like? Or not like?鈥� Ottariano shouted from the lofted office that a handy friend helped her build. Staring at numbers was making her hungry.

鈥淣o olives!鈥� one of the sewers shouted between stitches.

鈥淎ny meat?鈥� Ottariano asked.

鈥淚 like pepperoni,鈥� said another.

You couldn鈥檛 tell from the employees鈥� nonchalance, but Youer was in the middle of its latest supply-chain crisis. Actually, two. First, it couldn鈥檛 find a specific purple thread in all of the U.S. to sew together 300 pairs of leggings, 30 of which had already sold to customers eagerly awaiting their arrival. Any other color would look weird, and dyeing was too expensive. Second, inventory slated to be ready in a month for a Black Friday drop wasn鈥檛 even underway at a contract factory in Los Angeles, California. Unless Ottariano found a fix fast, Youer鈥檚 customers would be disappointed, if not angry.

Since Ottariano started out back in 2012 with a $100 sewing machine from eBay, her brand has amassed a fanatical following among active women. Signature garments like the best-selling ($179) and stretchy Get After It skort ($94) sell out quickly. The vibrant prints are hand-designed and cheekily named by Ottariano, like a floral pattern called OK Bloomer.

Prodded about her stress levels, Ottariano shrugged as if to say, What鈥檚 new?听After all she鈥檚 been through鈥攊ncluding contemplating bankruptcy following losses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to unreliable factories in 2020鈥攏ot many setbacks phase her anymore.

鈥淚鈥檝e proven to myself that we can figure it out,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not really fun, but I think that鈥檚 just the reality of business. If I want to stay in this industry, that鈥檚 going to happen all the damn time.鈥�

It鈥檚 especially the reality for small outdoor businesses like Youer that have chosen to manufacture domestically despite countless challenges such as higher costs, fewer resources, more regulation, and now potential new tariffs proposed by President Donald Trump on U.S. imports from China, Canada, and Mexico.

These obstacles pose such a threat to small businesses that doubt lingers: Is having more control, greater transparency, and better ethics by manufacturing in the U.S. worth it? And do American consumers care enough about those things to keep the few American-made gear brands alive?

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Barely two weeks into his second presidential term, Donald Trump has already dramatically changed the policies governing public lands, outdoor recreation, and the environment.

On Monday, January 20, Trump renamed the country鈥檚 highest peak, 20,310-foot Denali, to Mount McKinley, replacing the indigenous title with that of the 25th president of the United States. The same day, Trump the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, the 2016 international treaty to battle climate change. He on oil and gas leasing within the state鈥檚 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He requiring the National Marine Fisheries, Bureau of Reclamation, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to begin pumping water from California鈥檚 San Joaquin Delta across the state鈥攁 move that could jeopardize endangered fish. And Trump announced a , which has a within the National Park Service.

These moves echo ones that Trump made during his first presidential term: like the controversial downsizing of Utah鈥檚 Bear鈥檚 Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by almost a million acres apiece and the different climate, water, and wildlife protections.

But critics may forget that, during his first term, Trump also signed into law a pair of very significant conservation bills. In 2019, the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act created 1.3 million acres of Wilderness and ten new Wild and Scenic River segments. It also increased the size of three national parks. Then in 2020, Trump encouraged the passage of the , which funneled $9.5 billion towards the infamous National Park Service (NPS) maintenance backlog. It permanently allocated $900 million annually to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the nation鈥檚 single largest source of outdoor recreation infrastructure funding.

What will the second Trump administration mean for public lands, the environment, and outdoor recreation? Nobody knows for sure. But we鈥檝e taken a look at the decisions Trump has already made, what he鈥檚 said he鈥檒l do, and a wish-list created by personnel from the previous administration, to make an educated analysis.

Hiring Personnel Who Appreciate Outdoor Rec and Industry

One of the former president鈥檚 first personnel nominees for his upcoming administration was North Dakota governor Doug Burgum to lead the Department of the Interior. The agency controls some 500 million acres of public land and oversees the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Critics have labeled Burgum a champion of the oil and gas industry, having led the state with the third-largest oil production and publicly criticized the Biden administration鈥檚 efforts to . At the same time, Burgum is himself an avid horseman, hunter, skier, and hiker and has been a booster of outdoor recreation in North Dakota, creating the state鈥檚 Office of Outdoor Recreation and allocating $1.2 million in grants for trail building.

Trump is also expected to name Burgum the administration鈥檚 energy czar, following through on his campaign promises to increase oil and gas production as a way to curb energy costs. Burgum鈥檚 nomination drew praise from the energy and mining sector. 鈥淗e recognizes that affordable and reliable energy along with American mineral production are critical to growing our nation鈥檚 economy,鈥� Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association told .

Conservatives argue that increased mining and domestic fossil fuel production could spur economic activity, but conservationists are bracing for the environmental blow. 鈥淧ublic lands are beloved and vitally important to people in this country. The first Trump administration treated these places like they鈥檙e meant to be dug up, drilled, or sold off for profit,鈥� David Seabrook, interim president of the Wilderness Society, said in a press release.

Despite Burgum鈥檚 alignment with the oil and gas industry, other sources within the outdoor recreation community told 国产吃瓜黑料 that the North Dakota governor represents a best-case-scenario nominee from the Republican administration. “Governor Burgum has shown a commitment to supporting outdoor recreation as an economic driver and a meaningful way to connect communities,鈥� said Jessica Turner, president of outdoor recreation trade association Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, in a press release. 鈥淎s an avid outdoorsman, we are hopeful that the governor鈥檚 long-time admiration of Teddy Roosevelt and deep understanding of business will help support and grow the recreation economy.鈥�

According to Cody Schulz, director of North Dakota Parks and Recreation, which oversees the state鈥檚 new office of outdoor recreation, Governor Burgum is 鈥渁n incredibly curious and collaborative leader who encourages his personnel to make decisions based on data.鈥�

Schulz says that Burgum鈥檚 efforts to improve outdoor recreation in North Dakota stem from his own passion for the outdoors, and from an understanding that the industry can be an important economic driver. 鈥淐onservation and outdoor recreation infrastructure draws both visitors and new residents to North Dakota,鈥� he says.

Burgum鈥檚 data-driven approach offers a ray of hope for fans of the Bureau of Land Management鈥檚 new Public Lands Rule, which considers recreation on equal footing with extractive industries like grazing and oil and gas when making land use decisions.

Moving the BLM Back to Colorado

In 2019, the Trump administration relocated the agency鈥檚 headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Grand Junction, Colorado. The relocation was touted as a practical move to get managers closer to the lands they managed and seen as a way to attract workers who may not have been able to afford D.C. ‘s notoriously expensive cost of living.

Eventually, the BLM鈥檚 headquarters was returned to D.C. by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in 2021. According to a 2021 Government Accountability Office report, collapsing the D.C. office drove out the agency鈥檚 most experienced employees and the number of vacancies. Out of 176 staff told to relocate, only 41 accepted their reassignments and the rest left their positions.

Tracy Stone-Manning, who was appointed by Biden in 2021 to lead the BLM, called the move 鈥渨ildly disruptive,鈥� in a . 鈥淚t鈥檚 years of opportunity cost when we could and should be focused on the work of the bureau, for public lands and the American people, and we had to instead focus on rebuilding the bureau,鈥� Stone-Manning said.

Lawmakers in Colorado, , have said that they support moving the BLM headquarters back to Grand Junction.

Taking Aim at Environmental Policy

The downsizing of Bear鈥檚 Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments was one of the former president鈥檚 most high-profile decisions on public land. While the cuts were reversed by the Biden administration, it鈥檚 possible that Trump will again shrink the monuments. Utah Republican Representative John Curtis told The Salt Lake Tribune he .

The first Trump administration championed mineral extraction and land development as a way to pump revenue into local economies and return power over protected lands to states. The administration also weakened several bedrock environmental laws. Probably most significant were alterations to protections afforded by the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA).

In 2017, Trump鈥檚 EPA , which afforded protections to seasonal wetlands and streams, particularly prevalent in the arid, but recreation-rich western United States. Then in 2019, the administration changed the Endangered Species Act,听removing protections for threatened species and making it more difficult to add additional species to the list. Agencies would also be allowed to conduct economic assessments when deciding whether a species warrants protection.

More subtle, but arguably more problematic, was the weakening of the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), the law that requires an environmental review and public comment period for every major project. It鈥檚 used on everything from major timber sales to ski resort development.

Jon Jarvis, director of the Park Service under President Barack Obama, said NEPA helped guide multiple policies during his time with the NPS, from the relocation of wolves to Yellowstone, to the altering traffic flow in Yosemite. 鈥淪unlight is a great disinfectant, and many of these agency plans would now be done in the dark,鈥� Jarvis told 国产吃瓜黑料.

Trump鈥檚 Interior Department made several other controversial moves during his first administration that directly impacted outdoor recreation. In 2017, the department made a unilateral decision to increase admission prices during peak seasons at the nation鈥檚 most popular national parks from $30 to $70. There was so much furor about the decision that the administration canceled those plans five months later.

Then in 2020, the department issued an order that allowed for e-bike use on any federal trail where regular bikes were allowed. Cycling advocates and at least one advocacy group applauded the decision that would allow better access for cyclists who rely on e-bikes. 鈥淭he Secretarial Order will help get public lands visitors out of their cars and beyond congested visitor centers and parking lots,鈥� wrote the cycling advocacy group People For Bikes at the time. More than 50 other recreation groups, however, formally objected to the policy, saying that the decision had been made without any study on its impact on wildlife and visitor safety.

This year, the Park Service ruled that it would make decisions on up to individual park units on a 鈥渃ase-by-case basis.鈥�

Creating Fewer National Monuments

Some Western conservatives would like to see the administration spearhead an effort to repeal or weaken the 1906 Antiquities Act, which allows a president to create new national monuments. The law has been used in some 300 instances by presidents from Teddy Roosevelt to George W. Bush to protect millions of acres of federal land. Some of the nation鈥檚 most popular national parks began as monuments, including the Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, and Grand Teton.

Only Congress can repeal a law in the United States, so abolishing the Antiquities Act would require a majority of both houses to want it gone. Given pro-monument public sentiment, that seems like a long shot.

More likely is a severe weakening of the law through the Supreme Court. Published in April 2022 by the conservative think tank The Heritage Project, the 2025 Presidential Transition Project, known colloquially as 鈥淧roject 2025,鈥� outlines the steps such an effort might take. The document calls for a 鈥渄ownward adjustment鈥� of the nation鈥檚 national monuments, and then directs the republican President to 鈥渧igorously defend the downward adjustments it makes to permit a ruling on a President鈥檚 authority to reduce the size of national monuments by the U.S. Supreme Court.鈥�

Throughout his campaign, Trump repeatedly distanced himself from the document. But authors of Project 2025 have noted that other prominent conservatives support weakening the Antiquities Act. In 2021 Chief Justice Roberts signaled that he is looking for a case whose verdict could be used to curtail the ability of presidents to create large monuments.

It may also mean the loss of a Biden-era protections like a 10-mile oil exploration moratorium placed around New Mexico鈥檚 Chaco Canyon National Historical Park to help protect Native American antiquities, and one on 221,898 acres of Forest Service and BLM land on Colorado鈥檚 Thompson Divide, just northwest of Crested Butte. The latter was the result of years of work by an unlikely coalition of ranchers, hunters, anglers, mountain bikers, off-road vehicle users, and environmentalists to protect the habitat of elk, bear, deer, moose, mountain lion, and a pair of endangered species: Colorado River cutthroat trout and Canadian lynx. The Project 2025 document specifically targets both protections.

Also on the chopping block may be Biden鈥檚 public land order to Minnesota鈥檚 Boundary Waters Canoe Area for 20 years. The decades-long fight over proposed copper and nickel mines adjacent to the wilderness area was seemingly settled in 2023 with the order. At issue were concerns that mine waste would flow directly down the Kawishiwi River into the waterways of the nation鈥檚 most-visited Wilderness Area (some 165,000 visitors annually.) Project 2025 calls for that order to be reversed despite recent polling that shows 69 percent of Minnesota for the Boundary Waters.

All of these potential rollbacks fly in the face of what many Americans want, says Jenny Rowland-Shea, director of public lands for The Center for American Progress, a progressive research and advocacy group. She cites a , which found that 78 percent of Western voters want more emphasis on conserving wildlife migration routes, providing highway crossings, and limiting more development to protect wildlife habitats. According to the study, just 20 percent of voters want more emphasis on economically productive uses of land such as new development, roads, ranching, or oil and gas production.

鈥淭he United States is actually producing record amounts of oil right now,鈥� she says.

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