Restart your worry engines over the possible shrinkage of the U.S. public lands. Actually, do more than that. Get involved. March, donate, protest, whatever you can to stop the shrinkage, misuse and polluting of public lands from the next U.S. administration.
That has not been at the top of the Humpty-Trumpty agenda, and it might seem a minor thing in the coming LONG four years, given that Donny only appointed a minor oligarch to run the Department of Interior. Doug Burgum may not have plans to shrink, misuse or pollute public lands, but read what NPR (November 14, 2024) says his boss has in mind:
“If confirmed as Interior Secretary, Burgum would play a key role in pushing Trump’s agenda to increase oil, gas and coal production on public lands.
“Interior is a sprawling department responsible for managing 20% of U.S. surface land, as well as federally owned mineral rights. This gives Interior control over nearly a quarter of all energy development in America, on- and off-shore. . .
“Interior is also in charge of U.S. national parks, monuments and wildlife refuges. . .
“Restoring and expanding fossil fuel energy development should be priority one at Interior in the coming Trump term, former Interior official William Perry Pendley wrote in Project 2025, a blueprint for the new administration published by the Heritage Foundation.”
In 2016, the last time this worry was before me, I made a trip to the Bears Ears Monument in Utah before Dondi shrunk it to postage-stamp size. Right now, it is back to 1.36 million acres of public lands, thanks to action that President Biden took on his first day in office. If history repeats itself, Bears Ears could shrink again by 85 percent as it did in the last Lost Ages.
We missed Bears Ears in our 2024 trip to Utah, Arizona and Colorado, but saw other recreational lands that could be on the Burgum diet. But not if those who enjoy the nation’s public lands do more than worry and take action.
Any concrete ideas as to what we can do to keep our public lands open/safe? Been through this before, but also at a loss as to what to do.
I volunteered to plant trees in southeastern Oregon, organized by ONDA. But that was too far away to make regular activity viable. I need to find something closer that has activities I can still do. I have also volunteered with Washington Trails Association to do trail building. However, my knees tell me that some of the longer trips are beyond me. The volunteer work is important but it is more important for people to use public lands for recreation, to show there is a large population who want those lands saved for hiking etc.
So I paddled, biked this year but not much hiking. Mostly just to say, I’m here and I appreciate the BLM, Forest Service and whatever agency is here to support my activities.
And as years go on, I rely more on donations to support organizations who want to keep public lands open for recreation.