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At least 2,400 oil and gas spills occurred across Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico in 2025
Oil and gas operators reported more than 2,400 spills across Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico in 2025, releasing a combined 5.8 million gallons of liquid, according to the annual Western Oil and Gas Spills Report from the Center for Western Priorities.
New Mexico operators reported 1,277 liquid spills, up 13 percent from 1,133 the year before, totaling 3.56 million gallons. A single OXY USA water storage tank failure accounted for nearly half of that volume on its own. Gas releases from venting and flaring fell eight percent, but operators still wasted 9.8 billion cubic feet of gas, in a state that produced 16 percent of the nation’s crude oil in 2025. Colorado spills fell 11 percent to 338, though volume nearly doubled to 794,000 gallons. Wyoming was the only state where both spill count and volume declined, dropping to 786 spills and 1.43 million gallons.
This year, CWP also analyzed Colorado’s historical spill filings and found 6,084 records between 2016 and 2025, with annual filings jumping more than fifteen-fold since 2020, from 125 that year to 1,948 last year. These are spills that were missed by operators for years before a well was plugged. Most of these spills surfaced only when companies plugged wells or tore down old equipment. This reveals that most spills go unreported despite the state’s strong reporting requirements, and implies the actual scale of spills and leaks is much bigger than this report captures, not just for Colorado, but in all three states.
“With the Trump administration pushing even more oil and gas drilling on public lands, this problem is set to increase rather than improve,” said Kate Groetzinger, CWP communications director. “We could be building out clean energy. Instead, we’re doubling down on dirty oil and gas production.”
Why submitting a public comment still matters—and how to write a good oneOn a new episode of The Landscape, Kate and Aaron talk to Nick Holshouser, a data analyst with Wandering Nature, LLC, who is analyzing the public comments coming in on the Trump administration’s proposal to repeal the 2001 roadless rule in real-time at roadless.org, and Blaine Miller-McFeeley, a senior legislative representative at Earthjustice, about public comment periods under the Trump administration. We cover why you should still submit public comments (even though the Trump administration probably isn’t interested in your opinion) and how to write a comment that requires an agency response and helps build the legal record against bad agency actions.
Quick hits Trump administration says developers, loggers can kill endangered species Another flash flood hit the Grand Canyon, setting back recovery from a deadly flood weeks ago Colorado agencies call for removal of Roan Plateau parcels from federal oil and gas lease sale St. Mary’s Glacier, a Colorado landmark, has melted amid a record-hot summer Leaked documents reveal Trump’s plan to take control of your national parks National park rangers have a mental health problem. Could it get worse? The roadless rule is facing repeal, experts want to be clear about wildfires and roads Opinion: Montana mines and how we move forward Quote of the dayUnless you’re wearing a T-shirt that says, ‘I’m here to draw the blood of endangered species,’ you’re basically off the hook.”
—Brett Hartl, Center for Biological Diversity government affairs director, Stateline
Picture This@usinteriorSome places remind you just how vast and extraordinary this country really is.
At Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in Arizona, layers of sandstone twist, fold and sweep across the landscape at White Pocket, creating a scene that hardly looks real.
Managed by @mypubliclands, this remarkable landscape is part of the millions of acres of public lands that belong to all Americans.
You may never stand in this exact spot, but images like this give all of us a chance to appreciate the incredible beauty of our country.
Photo by BLM
Featured photo: BLM truck and oil and gas infrastructure. Source: BLM Colorado
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STATEMENT: New map tracks $25.9 million in NPS projects blocked by Trump administration
DENVER—The Center for Western Priorities today published an interactive map of the 133 National Park Service partner agreements that were disapproved by the Department of the Interior on August 7, blocking $25.9 million in funding. Parks and their partners had already secured the funding for these programs from congressional appropriations, existing federal programs, and internal funding. The Interior department review was the final step before the agreements could be signed and the money released.
The disapproved agreements were first reported on by the Washington Post earlier this month. Interior told the Washington Post it had disapproved agreements with groups “actively working against the best interests of the American people and the priorities of this administration.” NPS staff reported they received no explanation beyond a note in the records reading “Disapproved by DOI.”
Every agreement appears on the map with the park or office that requested it, the partner organization that would have carried out the work, the dollar figure attached to it, and the National Park Service’s own written statement of what disapproval means for that site. The complete dataset is available to download as a CSV.
The Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Center for Western Priorities Communications Director Kate Groetzinger:
“Revoking funding for organizations that support America’s national parks shows how much disdain Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has for America’s public lands. The Interior department says these groups were ‘working against the best interests of the American people.’ That makes no sense. Anyone working to make our parks better, safer, and cleaner is clearly working in America’s best interest.
“Every one of these projects had its funding secured, and parks were counting on the work getting done. Blocking these agreements did not save a dollar. It pushed the work down the road and likely made it even more costly in the future. At Joshua Tree, for example, national park staff wrote that without approval for their projects, wildfires there will be larger and cost more to fight. Let’s hear the Interior department explain why that’s a good thing for the American people.”
Methodology:The map draws on data from the National Park Service’s Financial Assistance Submission Tracker, with status as of September 9, 2026 and subsequently provided to the Center for Western Priorities. The August 7 batch held 140 requests; seven have since moved to another status and are excluded. Project descriptions and impact statements appear as written in the records. Full methodology, a data dictionary, and the source code are published at github.com/Center-for-Western-Priorities/2026-NPS-Agreement-Disapprovals.
Learn more:-
Trump administration blocks $25 million in funding for national parks — Washington Post
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Gold statues and staff cuts: How Trump has disrupted America’s parks — New York Times
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Why submitting a public comment still matters—and how to write a good one
Kate and Aaron talk to Nick Holshouser, a data analyst with Wandering Nature, LLC, who is analyzing the public comments coming in on the Trump administration’s proposal to repeal the 2001 roadless rule in real-time at roadless.org, and Blaine Miller-McFeeley, a senior legislative representative at Earthjustice, about public comment periods under the Trump administration. We cover why you should still submit public comments (even though the Trump administration probably isn’t interested in your opinion) and how to write a comment that requires an agency response and helps build the legal record against bad agency actions.
News- Trump is considering more data centers on public lands than previously known – The Washington Sun
- Forest Service adds comment period for PitCo’s Maroon Bells operations takeover – Aspen Journalism
- Roadless Rule repeal live comment analysis
- Submit a comment on the proposed Roadless Rule repeal
- Watch this episode on YouTube (coming soon)
Produced by Aaron Weiss, Lauren Bogard, Kate Groetzinger, and Lilly Bock-Brownstein
Feedback: podcast@westernpriorities.org
Music: Purple Planet
Featured image: Stand of Ponderosa Pines in Grassy Valley by Deer Creek on the Malheur National Forest in North Eastern Oregon; Source: USFS/Flickr
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ANALYSIS: Annual report finds at least 2,400 oil and gas spills occurred across Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico in 2025
The following release was updated on 9/22/26 to correct these two errors:
In the Wyoming section, the release stated that Merit Energy reported seven spills in 2025. Merit Energy actually reported 30 spills and ranked seventh among Wyoming operators in total spill count in 2025. Merit spilled the most volume of any operator.
In the Colorado section, the release referenced “a single spill of 445,284 gallons in the Piceance Basin by QB Energy Operating.” The largest single spill was approximately 352,800 gallons of produced water, spilled by QB Energy in the Piceance Basin on December 2, 2025. QB Energy’s total reported spill volume across 46 incidents in 2025 was 445,284 gallons.
DENVER—Each year, the Center for Western Priorities analyzes oil and gas spills reported by companies to state regulators in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico—the top oil and gas producers in the Intermountain West. This year, companies in these states reported over 2,400 liquid spills in 2025, releasing at least 5.8 million gallons of oil, produced water, and other toxic, drilling-related fluids.
This year’s report also reveals a problem regulators are only beginning to understand. In Colorado, the number of spills discovered at well sites during decommissioning has grown sharply over the past several years, from 125 in 2020 to 1,948 in 2025, a more than fifteen-fold increase. Since 2016, operators and regulators have identified 6,084 of these legacy contamination sites. These are spills that were missed by operators for years before a well was plugged. Weld County alone accounts for 87 percent of the total, and three companies, Noble Energy, Kerr-McGee, and PDC Energy, are tied to more than three-quarters of these historical spills. Fewer than one percent of these spills and leaks were caught by routine state inspections; the rest surfaced only when a well was being decommissioned.
The magnitude of these historical spills dwarfs what shows up in the state’s annual spill reporting: the 6,084 legacy spills uncovered since 2016 already outnumber the 3,642 spills Colorado has logged through its standard annual reporting system since 2017, revealing that most spills go unreported despite the state’s strong reporting requirements. This implies the actual scale of spills and leaks is much bigger than this report captures, not just for Colorado, but in all three states.
The Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from report co-author and Communications Director Kate Groetzinger:
“Across all three states, a pattern is consistent: spill counts can rise or fall year to year, but the volume of oil, produced water, and methane released into the region’s air, soil, and waterways remains substantial, and thanks to the Colorado historical spill data, decades of contamination is only now coming to light.
“While increased regulations seem to have had some effect in curbing methane waste in New Mexico, oil and gas production still generates significant air pollution that Westerners shouldn’t be forced to live with. With the Trump administration pushing even more oil and gas drilling on public lands, this problem is set to increase rather than improve. We could be building out clean energy. Instead, we’re doubling down on dirty oil and gas production.”
In New Mexico, oil and gas companies reported 1,277 liquid spills in 2025, up 13 percent from 1,133 the year before, totaling 3.56 million gallons, a 75 percent jump from 2024. Nearly half of that volume, 1.66 million gallons, came from a single incident: an OXY USA produced-water storage tank failure. Removing that spill brings New Mexico’s 2025 volume below 2024’s. Oil and gas companies in New Mexico also reported 37,207 gas releases, wasting 9.8 billion cubic feet of methane, enough to heat roughly 127,000 average American homes for an entire year.
In Wyoming, companies reported 786 spills in 2025, down from 825 in 2024. The total volume spilled in Wyoming fell 21 percent, from 1.81 million to 1.43 million gallons, driven mostly by a drop in produced water releases. Converse and Campbell counties, both in the Powder River Basin, accounted for 39 percent of the state’s incidents. Crowheart Energy reported the most spills of any operator, at 102, while Merit Energy spilled the most volume, at 303,565 gallons.
In Colorado, oil and gas companies reported 338 spills in 2025, the fewest since the state began tracking in 2017 and down 11 percent from 378 in 2024. But the volume spilled nearly doubled from 2024 to 2025, from 436,000 to 794,000 gallons, largely because of a single spill of 352,800 gallons in the Piceance Basin by QB Energy Operating—almost half of the total volume spilled in Colorado in 2025. As in past years, roughly half of all spills statewide occurred in Weld County.
The full report, including state-by-state data on operators, counties, and fluid types, is available at the following links:
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Forest Service adds comment period for Maroon Bells management decision
The U.S. Forest Service announced on Friday that it will conduct a 15-day comment period before signing off on a special use permit for Pitkin County, Colorado to manage operations at the Maroon Bells Scenic Area. The opportunity for public comment was added following pressure from public lands advocates, including the Center for Western Priorities. The comment period will begin after county commissioners vote on the special use permit this Wednesday.
The agency still intends to approve the permit using a categorical exclusion, which lets it skip the environmental review and public comment process required under the National Environmental Policy Act. The Forest Service has not yet released a map or an acreage number for what the permit would cover. “The public can’t meaningfully participate if USFS is withholding key information about the scope of what it’s proposing,” said CWP executive director Aaron Weiss.
Pitkin County has partnered with the Forest Service on operations at Maroon Bells for decades, but the partnership is not a solution for a lack of federal funding. “We feel like this is the best path forward, and if we can all work together and get federal lands funded at a higher level, that one day, the county could give this back,” said Gary Tennenbaum, director of Pitkin County Open Space and Trails. “Ultimately, we would like the federal government to fund their public lands.”
Scott Fitzwilliams, retired White River National Forest supervisor, worries the arrangement could set a dangerous standard. “Partnerships should add to the agency’s capability,” he said. “They should not become a mechanism to normalize the decline and dismantling of our federal agencies.”
How Trump has disrupted America’s national parksThe Trump administration diverted at least $67 million in national park entrance fees this spring to projects in Washington, D.C., including a no-bid contract to cover four statues near the National Mall in gold leaf, according to documents reviewed by the New York Times. Workforce cuts have left at least 20 percent of parks significantly understaffed. Roughly 1,500 repairs and upgrades at more than 200 National Park Service sites were labeled “low priority,” and most will go unfunded when the fiscal year closes September 30.
Quick hits Trump signs orders loosening hunting restrictionsThe Hill | Deseret News | Newsweek | Outdoor Life | USA Today | Mongabay
Border wall construction begins in Big Bend region Trump asked Americans to help him whitewash national parks. They revolted instead 2025 saw a $1.3 billion dip for public land agency contractors Report: The current state of public lands Prospectors filed 16 mining claims the same day the lands Trump cut from Bears Ears were opened to mining claims Federal employee unions sue to block reorganization of Forest Service Trump says planned 250-foot arch will be ‘military complex’ for drones, snipersWashington Post | USA Today | The Hill | Time | ABC | Associated Press
Quote of the dayOur parks tell the history of this country. You may not like the history, but it is the history, and so you should tell the story that did take place, not come in and edit.”
—Fran Mainella, former National Park Service director under George W. Bush, New York Times
Picture This @katmainppThe wait is finally over!Fat Bear Week starts Tuesday, September 22, 2026. This year, 16 bears go head to head in a bracket-style competition to see which bear of Brooks River is the fattest. A fat bear is a successful bear, and Fat Bear Week celebrates the success of these wild, brown bears.
America’s natural and cultural landscapes that support these fat bears, embody an evolving national story. Katmai National Park and Preserve offers a powerful lens through which visitors can experience an important part of this story. This year, when America celebrates its 250th year of independence, the park honors the places that sustain its communities, whether human or wildlife.
Learn more at the fat bear link in our bio!
Graphics designed by hand by Sara Wolman, courtesy of explore.org #fatbearweek
Featured photo: Maroon Bells Scenic Area. Source: David Blackley, CC BY-ND 2.0
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Forest Service plan would cut the public out of Maroon Bells management decision
In Colorado, the U.S. Forest Service plans to let Pitkin County take over management of the Maroon Bells Scenic Area because it can no longer cover a $300,000 annual shortfall.
It plans to do this using a legal shortcut known as a categorical exclusion, which lets federal agencies skip the environmental review and public comment process required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for decisions the government has already determined won’t significantly affect the environment. According to the Center for Western Priorities’ Lilly Bock-Brownstein, this could set a dangerous precedent for public lands.
The specific exclusion the Forest Service intends to use was written for small permits like mountain bike passes and backcountry ski guiding, not full management of one of the West’s most popular and iconic recreation areas.
Other areas have received much more thorough review than is proposed for the Maroon Bells. In 2024, the Forest Service proposed handing management of Sweetwater Lake, an 832-acre site in the same national forest, to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. It prepared a full environmental impact statement—a review that’s still underway. Maroon Bells would get none of that scrutiny.
Pitkin County has the third-highest per capita income in the United States and a dedicated open-space tax through 2040—a best-case scenario for this kind of deal. But if the precedent is set for categorical exclusions to be used as a shortcut to transfer land management, the same could happen at any underfunded site, in counties with fewer resources and less commitment to conservation, which could lead to logging, mining, and drilling.
According to Bock-Brownstein, the solution for budget and staffing shortfalls should be to properly fund the Forest Service.
“The Maroon Bells belong to everyone, and the public has a right to be part of the decision about how it is managed,” she wrote.
Quick hits Trump’s data center push runs into a new demand for environmental review Forest Service plan would cut the public out of Maroon Bells management decision Landowners across Texas are suing Trump over the Big Bend border construction Opinion: Saving the Sagebrush Sea 2,100 acres of land acquired to restore Colorado’s critically threatened lesser prairie-chickens Trump administration spent $9.5 billion last year on employee leave, driven by DOGE-era cuts Off-roading on federal lands in Colorado could expand with expected Trump reversal Park Service steamrolls through review of Trump’s arch Quote of the dayWe need to modernize a system developed for a different era to respond to climate change, invasive species, increasingly severe wildfire, accelerating habitat loss, and evolving public expectations.”
—Mark Salvo, senior conservation advisor at Oregon Natural Desert Association, Ground Shift
Picture This @nationalparkservicePut a bird on it.
Alright, folks. Tackle today like a hungry magpie or or similar cleaner bird perched on the head of a large mammal: focused, determined, and apparently willing to eat whatever’s crawling around up there.
You could also channel your inner elk or bison. Stand tall. Chew thoughtfully. Stare off into the distance as if you’ve just remembered an important meeting. And then crush those goals so thoroughly you’ll be saying, “Elk yeah.” Which is not a phrase anyone has ever needed to say, but here we are.
Fun fact: large herbivores like elk and bison are often visited by “cleaner birds,” such as magpies, which pick parasites from their skin or hair. The elk gets groomed. The magpie gets dinner. Everyone’s a winner. Maybe not the parasite.
NPS Photos
(Featured image: Maroon Lake at Maroon Bells. Photo by John Fowler, Flickr)
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Forest Service plan would cut the public out of Maroon Bells management decision
Update: On Friday, September 18, the U.S. Forest Service announced that it will conduct a 15-day comment period before signing off on a special use permit for Pitkin County to manage operations at the Maroon Bells Scenic Area. The Forest Service has not yet released a map or an acreage number for what the permit would cover.
The Maroon Bells Scenic Area draws more than 200,000 visitors a year and is the gateway to the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, one of Colorado’s original wilderness areas. In May of this year, Pitkin County applied for a special use permit to take over day-to-day management of Maroon Bells, starting with the 2027 season. The White River National Forest says it can no longer cover a roughly $300,000 annual shortfall at the site and has told the county to finalize an agreement by fall or it will turn to a private concessionaire instead.
To authorize the management change, the U.S. Forest Service plans to use a categorical exclusion: a legal shortcut that lets federal agencies skip the environmental review and public comment process required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on decisions the government has already determined won’t significantly affect the environment. The rules governing that shortcut were rewritten last year to remove the public notice step that it previously included, meaning this management change could occur with no opportunity for public input.
Pitkin County has partnered with the Forest Service at the Maroon Bells for decades, and it’s stepping in because the federal government says it can no longer afford to manage the site at a $300,000 loss. The county, which is home to Aspen, undoubtedly has the knowledge, ability, and resources to manage the area responsibly for recreation and conservation, but the process still deserves scrutiny. The use of a categorical exclusion to bypass the NEPA process means the federal government is handing off management of a major recreation area to a local entity without thoroughly examining the potential environmental and social impacts and without providing the public that owns the land with a chance to share their concerns about the plan.
What even is a categorical exclusion? As outlined in NEPA, categorical exclusions can be used for categories of activities when the government has determined that there would be “no significant impact” to the environment from the proposed activity covered by the categorical exclusion. Agencies can also adopt each other’s categorical exclusions. Previous administrations from both political parties have used both of these approaches for a variety of purposes.But the second Trump administration is broadening the use of categorical exclusions, in many cases trying to use them as blanket exemptions from following the law at all, or greatly expanding the acreage to which they apply. To lay the groundwork for this approach, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) repealed its implementing regulations for NEPA via a rule that was finalized in January 2026. Among other things, this repeal included removing the 30-day public comment period for proposed categorical exclusions. Essentially, the public will have to take the government at its word that the activities covered by the proposed categorical exclusion will have no significant impact on the environment and will have no opportunity to raise concerns or offer evidence that the activity would, in fact, have an impact on the environment.
In April 2026, following the rule repeal, CEQ issued new guidance on the use of categorical exclusions, framing its approach as “CE-first” and promoting categorical exclusions as “a core feature of NEPA” rather than a process to create defined and limited exceptions. CEQ chair Katherine Scarlett described the guidance as intended to “help agencies identify an off-ramp from unnecessary levels of environmental review” during the permitting process.
Following these policy changes, the Trump administration has wasted no time putting it into practice. For example, in August, the Bureau of Land Management finalized an exclusion for forest and woodland density management that raised the area covered from 70 acres to 5,000.
The exclusion the Forest Service intends to use at the Maroon Bells, USDA-29c-USFS, covers the “issuance of a new authorization or amendment of an existing authorization for recreation special uses that occur on existing roads or trails, in existing facilities, in existing recreation sites, or in areas where such activities are allowed.” The examples written into the rule are all small permits or contracts, including mountain bike permits on trails already open to bikes, backcountry ski guiding, a one-time event at an existing facility, and a concession contract to run a campground that was already operating. None of the examples include full management of one of the West’s most popular and iconic recreation areas.
Shuttle to Maroon Bells Trailhead, Tony Webster
Until last year, the Forest Service’s NEPA procedures put two checks on that shortcut: The agency had to notify the public before deciding an exclusion applied; scoping, its regulations said, “is required for all Forest Service proposed actions, including those that would appear to be categorically excluded.” And before using an exclusion, officials had to weigh a list of resource conditions that specifically named congressionally designated wilderness. In July 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA, the agency that houses the U.S. Forest Service) removed those procedures entirely, folding what survived into a single department-wide rule finalized this April. Whether a sensitive resource is enough to disqualify a project from the shortcut is now left to the responsible official’s sole discretion on a case-by-case basis.
Why this is wrong for Maroon BellsThe Maroon Bells agreement is wider-reaching than the permits that the categorical exclusion option was written for. The county’s ordinance authorizing the agreement says the Forest Service “has proposed issuing a Special Use Permit to authorize Pitkin County to assume responsibility for day-to-day operations, maintenance, visitor staffing, and natural resource stewardship at the Maroon Bells Scenic Area, while the federal government retains ultimate ownership and overarching regulatory oversight of the land.” The draft permit does not include an acreage number.
A concession contract to run a campground covers one campground, but this agreement covers operations, staffing, and resource stewardship seemingly across the entire scenic area. Professor Mark Squillace, who teaches natural resources law at the University of Colorado, made the same point in comments to the county and the Forest Service, saying that the exclusion “does not allow the wholesale transfer of management responsibility over the entire Maroon Bells Scenic Area.”
In 2024, the Forest Service proposed handing management of Sweetwater Lake, an 832-acre recreation area also within White River National Forest, to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. But for that transfer, the Forest Service announced it would prepare a full environmental impact statement, the most thorough review NEPA provides, and it ran a formal scoping process with public meetings and a comment period. That review is still underway. Sweetwater Lake received the most rigorous analysis available, while Maroon Bells would receive none.
Hiking above Sweetwater Lake, Matt Tomlinson
The risk of this approach may land back on Pitkin County. The Forest Service is not required to produce any NEPA documentation for this category, so there will be no federal record explaining the decision. If the permit and lack of environmental review are challenged, the county’s operating plan, reservation system, and new fee structure would sit in limbo while challenges play out in court.
Pitkin County’s commissioners and Open Space department have been careful stewards and clearly want what is best for the Maroon Bells. But a public process protects everyone’s stake in the site regardless of who holds office in the county. And the implications for this type of shortcut carry far beyond one county.
Beyond Pitkin CountyThe entire reason for this management change is money. Years of budget and staffing shortfalls have left the Forest Service unable to keep up the restrooms, trails, campgrounds, and visitor services at the site. The remedy for this issue should be to properly fund the Forest Service. National public lands belong to all Americans, and it should not be up to local governments to decide how they operate and who can visit them, as CWP noted in a previous blog post about this issue.
Pitkin County has the third-highest per capita income in the United States and an open space program funded by a dedicated property tax through 2040. It is close to a best-case scenario for this kind of arrangement with the federal government. But the precedent it sets will not be limited to counties with the resources and political will to properly manage areas like Maroon Bells. If a categorical exclusion can alter the management of a landscape this prominent with no public process, the same shortcut is available at any underfunded site, in counties with fewer resources, less capacity to run an operation at this scale, and less commitment to managing it for recreation and conservation. If the first question for managing public lands is “does it turn a profit?” then counties may quickly turn to logging, mining, and drilling rather than responsible stewardship.
West Maroon Creek, Steven dosRemedios
The Forest Service should complete an environmental analysis and open a public comment period before any permit is signed. Waiting for an environmental review is a smaller price than years of legal uncertainty at the Maroon Bells, and the next underfunded Forest Service site may not have a wealthy county willing to step up and take care of it.
The Maroon Bells belong to everyone, and the public has a right to be part of the decision about how it is managed.
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Latino Conservation Week highlights attacks on public lands
Latino Conservation Week kicked off this week at Ironwood Forest National Monument near Tucson—one of six national monuments the Trump administration has identified as candidates for size reduction to open the way for mining and drilling.
Ironwood Forest protects 129,000 acres of Sonoran Desert habitat and has served as a buffer against mining expansion since its 2000 designation. ASARCO’s Silver Bell mine has pursued a years-long push to expand into the monument to boost copper production.
“Public lands belong to all of us, not special interests,” said Rebecca Perez, Arizona conservation manager for The Wilderness Society. “Yet this summer, the Trump administration virtually eliminated Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments, making them vulnerable to mining and drilling.”
The threats to public lands extend beyond monument boundaries. The Center for Western Priorities’ Keep Parks Public campaign was in Tucson last month for a live podcast recording about damage to cultural sites and fragmentation of wildlife habitat caused by border wall construction. You can listen to the podcast here.
“We all must join together and understand that this is our land,” said Christine Flanagan, president of Friends of Ironwood Forest. “And as public land owners, we need to start acting together like we own this land.”
Events across the United States are being held through Sunday, September 20. Find an event near you.
Quick hits Tohono O’odham fight border wall on sacred, sovereign lands California lawmakers join together in a bipartisan push against proposed Yosemite land transfer Latino Conservation Week launches with call to protect public lands Studies link New Mexico drilling to radiation, air pollution, health risks Yellowstone National Park visits decline for 3rd month Drought leads to ‘unprecedented’ black bear conflicts in Wyoming Opinion: Wildfire strategy doesn’t need a winner Major Forest Service policies could be changing. Here’s what’s at stake Quote of the dayWe will not let this destroy our sacred sites, our burial sites, our holy places, the places of our ancestors. We will not let it destroy our environment. We will not let it further divide our people. We will not let it divide our reservation.”
—Tohono O’odham Chairman Verlon Jose, High Country News
Picture This @yellowstonenpsIt’s migration time! But not all birds leave Yellowstone – several bird species stay in the park a bit longer and approximately 50 species reside here year-round.
Osprey usually stay through November. These birds are known for their excellent fishing skills – they dive into the water to catch fish with their sharp talons. Barbed pads on the soles of their feet help them grip slippery fish that can weigh up to 50% of their body weight!
Planning to go birding during your Yellowstone visit? Download our bird checklist from our website at: go.nps.gov/YELLbirds (link available in our bio)
(Featured image: Ironwood Forest National Monument near Tucson, Arizona. Photo by Bob Wick, BLM California. Flickr)
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Yosemite land swap is part of a bigger pattern of public lands giveaways
According to a new blog post by The Wilderness Society, the Trump administration’s behind-the-scenes push to trade away a piece of Yosemite National Park to a private developer isn’t an isolated move—it’s one of at least seven similar efforts to privatize or dispose of public land.
Examples include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service handing SpaceX a chunk of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Interior’s removal of protections for 2.1 million acres of Alaska public land to clear the way for the Ambler Road mining project, and a federal housing task force identifying Bureau of Land Management land within 10 miles of any town of more than 5,000 people for potential disposal.
The push to privatize part of Yosemite National Park was first reported in late August by NOTUS (now the Washington Sun), which said that Interior is negotiating a swap that would give developer Kingsbarn Realty Capital a private access road to a planned resort in exchange for equivalent-value land elsewhere in California.
The Yosemite deal, The Wilderness Society wrote, sets “yet another chilling precedent of public land decisions made by the administration to directly benefit special interests.“
EPA removes limits on pollution from power plantsThe Environmental Protection Agency on Monday announced it will no longer regulate greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas plants. The move finalizes the reversal of a Biden-era rule that estimates it would have saved thousands of lives, and begins the process of completely rescinding all remaining GHG emissions standards for power plants. The EPA said that greenhouse gas emissions from power plants have “no material impact on global climate change,” despite the fact that US electricity generation is responsible for a quarter of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Quick hits EPA erases limits on climate pollution from power plantsNew York Times | CNN | The Guardian | Los Angeles Times | Washington Post
Secretary AI: Inside Burgum’s huddles with data center heavyweights Environmental groups protest BLM oil and gas auctions in Colorado Opinion: What Teddy Roosevelt knew and Trump doesn’t get: Public lands need science The Trump admin says repealing the Roadless Rule will reduce wildfires. A new study casts doubt on that Interior defends Utah monument reductions despite public outcry Yosemite development scheme recalls admin’s other public lands sell-off efforts What will happen to the Grand Canyon as water levels drop? Quote of the dayAmerica’s public lands are among our nation’s greatest treasures. Protecting them requires more than celebrating them. It requires defending the science, scientific workforce, and public institutions that make stewardship possible.”
—Julian Reyes, Chief of Staff at the Union of Concerned Scientists, The Equation
Picture This @wyomingoutdoorcouncilThe Roadless Rule is in danger. Click the link in our bio and tell the Forest Service you value America’s last wild landscapes before the public comment period closes on Sept. 21.
(Featured image: Yosemite Falls at Yosemite National Park in California. webmink, Flickr)
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Trump admin blocks $25 million in funding for national parks
The Interior department has disapproved $25 million in funding for projects at national parks, according to internal documents reviewed by the Washington Post.
The cuts will affect over 130 partnership agreements for projects like Native American burial mound protection, an endangered garter snake project, and sled dog care at Denali. The entire batch of projects had already secured funding through congressional appropriations.
Joshua Tree National Park was the most affected. The blocked partnership agreements would have supported at least 16 new jobs, helped recover areas in the park burned in wildfires, and prevented rodents from spreading hantavirus.
According to the documents, “If this work is not completed, the park will be unable to fight wildfire. Fires will be larger and fire suppression will be more expensive.”
Interior spokesperson Aubrie Spady said the move reflects the “administration’s objectives to make life more affordable for Americans, unleash domestic energy production and expand access to our public lands,” but she did not respond to questions about the money being redirected.
“The real question is where did this $25 million go to?” said Elaine Leslie, a former Park Service acting superintendent and wildlife biologist who reviewed the disapprovals list. “$25 million worth of funding was set aside for these projects. Where is it?”
Reflecting Pool contractor blames its flawed repair, not vandals, for failureAtlantic Industrial Coatings—the contractor that renovated the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool—has told the Trump administration that its own flaws in the repair caused the blue liner to peel. Up until this point, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has continued to claim that vandals were to blame for the liner’s failure.
According to documents obtained by the New York Times, Atlantic Industrial Coatings admitted it did not spray enough primer for the layers of the coating to stick together, and that it used two chemicals that turned out to be incompatible.
Quick hits Contractor blames its own repairs, not vandals, for Reflecting Pool failureNew York Times | Forbes | The Guardian | Axios | New Republic
Inside Trump’s aggressive push to build data centers on public lands Trump administration blocks $25 million in funding for national parksWashington Post | The Hill | Mediaite
Meet the young political appointee boosting Trump’s ‘vanity projects’ Yellowstone National Park superintendent leaving after 8-year run Trump reduced Bears Ears by 91%. What does the law really say? Mesa Verde National Park to return thousands of Native American artifacts and Indigenous remains to Tribes Park officials pushed for a Grand Canyon trail to remain closed. Then the floods came Quote of the daySo, with the Antiquities Act, Congress delegated a one-way authority to the president to protect lands as national monuments. Congress did not delegate the authority to erase national monuments … that were proclaimed or protected by previous presidents. Congress reserved that power for itself.”
—Steve Bloch, legal director and attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Deseret News
Picture This @usinteriorOh, to be a coyote napping on a warm rock at @saguaronationalpark.
Coyotes are built for desert life. These adaptable canines are most active around dawn and dusk, when Arizona temperatures are a little more forgiving.
They’re also opportunistic eaters, dining on everything from rodents and rabbits to insects, fruit and whatever else the Sonoran Desert puts on the menu.
Photo by Paige Wilton
(Featured image: Joshua Tree National Park in California. Tuxyso, Wikimedia Commons)
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As mining threat looms, poll confirms Utah voters want monuments protected
A majority of Utahns support restoring protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, according to a new poll commissioned by the Grand Canyon Trust. The poll was conducted by New Bridge Strategy and surveyed 500 registered voters.
President Donald Trump slashed the size of both monuments by roughly 90 percent in July and eliminated the Bears Ears Commission, which guided the management of Bears Ears and consisted of representatives from the Hopi, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute, Zuni, and the Ute Indian Tribes. Roughly 3 million acres of public lands that now fall outside the monument boundaries are open for new mining claims starting today.
The poll results also show that a majority of Utah voters think Native American Tribes should have a strong role in public land management and support a president’s ability to designate national monuments. “These findings demonstrate broad public recognition that Tribal nations must remain meaningfully involved in stewardship and co-management of their ancestral lands,” Davina Smith-Idjesa, co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and a member of the Navajo Nation, said in a press conference Wednesday.
Autumn Gillard, a member of the Southern Paiute Tribe and coordinator of the Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition, agreed, saying, “When Tribal voices are excluded, land management decisions lose generations of understanding that cannot be replaced by a short study or an administrative review.”
Maroon Bells fees to increase as county prepares to take over managementThe Pitkin Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday approved a special use permit to take over management of the Maroon Bells Scenic Area from the U.S. Forest Service in 2027. Forest Service officials justified the decision by stating that the funding available to manage the Maroon Bells Scenic Area has “not kept pace with the rising costs of sustainably operating and maintaining the area.” The special use permit would allow Pitkin County to run everything from day-to-day operations like staffing and maintenance but would still require raising visitor fees to help “support operational expenses.” The county wants to increase the day-use fee at the Maroon Bells from $10 to $30, while campground fees and wilderness permit trailhead parking would more than double. Will Roush, the executive director of Wilderness Workshop, said of the decision, “Transferring essential public lands management functions to counties and private contractors without any Forest Service public process is a dangerous precedent, and everyone who cares about our public lands should be concerned about what this means for their future stewardship and accessibility.” To learn more, read our Westwise blog post about this issue.
Quick hits Why the federal government is losing its war on fire Maroon Bells visitation fees to increase as county prepares to take over management Poll: Majority of Utah voters want protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante to be restoredSalt Lake Tribune | Utah News Dispatch | Inside Climate News | Native News Online | Fox13 Now | Grand Canyon Trust [poll results]
If Colorado River compact heads to the Supreme Court, ‘everybody loses,’ experts say Moab-Arches shuttle officially launches as agencies begin measuring impact New Mexico sues federal government for refusing to reimburse state for $61 million in wildfire costs Opinion: Trump’s attacks on the environment are out of touch with America Lawsuit says BLM Colorado oil and gas lease sales ignored critical wildlife corridorsColorado Newsline | Colorado Sun
Quote of the dayThis president labels his policies ‘America first,’ but on public lands and national parks he’s simply put America last. As someone who was in those rooms making the case, I could not be more disappointed. And it doesn’t need to be this way.”
—Benji Backer, founder and CEO of United By Nature, TIME
Picture ThisThe National Park Service is honored to formally recognize the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial as an Affiliated Area of the National Park System.
This week, as the nation marks 25 years since September 11, 2001, this designation recognizes the enduring national significance of this place of remembrance and honors the 184 people who lost their lives at the Pentagon and aboard American Airlines Flight 77.
The two-acre outdoor memorial, which opened in 2008, is a solemn place of reflection and remembrance. The memorial features 184 illuminated units, each dedicated to an individual who was killed on September 11, 2001. Together, they create a lasting tribute to the lives lost and the families, friends, and communities forever changed that day.
NPS Photos
Featured image: Bears Ears National Monument – Moon House. Photo by Bob Wick, BLM.
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Industry and off-roading groups call for elimination of WSAs and weakened Wilderness protections
DENVER—A review of public comments finds that drilling and mining associations, ranching groups, and off-road vehicle advocates are asking the Trump administration to weaken protections for congressionally-designated Wilderness, eliminate Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs), and cut off the wilderness designation pipeline on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
BLM solicited input earlier this summer on revisions to three manuals that together govern nearly every acre of land in the agency’s wilderness system and pipeline—those classified as Wilderness, WSAs, and Lands with Wilderness Characteristics (LWCs)—effectively inviting industry and motorized-recreation groups to rewrite the agency’s instructions for managing these areas. The comment period for all three closed August 14.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum deceptively framed the review as an effort to “expand access to outdoor recreation while ensuring public lands remain well managed, accessible and preserved for future generations.” According to this review by the Center for Western Priorities, industry and motorized-recreation groups used the comment period to ask for far more than expanded recreational access—many asked BLM to eliminate protections outright, in some cases permanently. If followed, these recommendations would lead to weakened protections for over 10.5 million acres of congressionally-designated Wilderness, the outright elimination of protections for over 11.2 million acres currently designated as WSAs, and the elimination of the LWC category entirely, according to numbers from the Wilderness Society. In total, this could affect over 90 million acres of public land.
The groups:
Western Energy Alliance submitted the most sweeping demands of any commenter. The oil and gas trade group asked BLM to “rescind and replace Manual 6320 [Considering Lands with Wilderness Characteristics in the BLM Land Use Planning Process] in its entirety” and make clear “that BLM cannot and will not move forward with designating LWCs in the future.” On the WSA front, the group argued BLM “should make clear that it has no authority to designate new WSAs,” citing a 2003 out of court settlement with the state of Utah, and said BLM should remove protections from all WSAs “that Congress has chosen not to designate as Wilderness.”
The American Exploration and Mining Association asked BLM to treat LWCs and WSAs as “temporary administrative classifications, not permanent designations” and to eliminate any land with mining potential from future WSA or LWC designations. The Public Lands Council, representing ranchers who graze livestock on public land, recommended “all existing WSAs be immediately evaluated for release.” Colorado Offroad Trail Defenders and a joint filing from the American Motorcyclist Association and One Voice argued BLM’s legal authority to inventory and protect wilderness-quality land lapsed when a one-time, congressionally mandated inventory period ended in 1991, and that the agency has no statutory basis to keep designating new protected areas.
The Utah Public Lands Alliance, an off-highway vehicle industry group, called for “resolving and releasing the remaining WSA estate” and a mandatory, recurring process to review and release LWCs. On the designated Wilderness front, the group submitted a comment letter asking BLM to loosen restrictions on fire management and motorized access in Wilderness areas, while separately accusing the agency of “administrative expansion” of Wilderness areas beyond what Congress authorized, warning against what it called “Wilderness by Adjacency.”
The Arizona Farm Bureau Federation and The American Farm Bureau Federation, asked BLM to release any WSA that has remained in that status for five years or more and to loosen motorized-access restrictions for grazing infrastructure inside areas designated as Wilderness. The Nevada Farm Bureau Federation submitted a proposed rewrite of the Wilderness manual’s grazing section that would authorize expanded motorized equipment use inside Wilderness boundaries.
Statements:
“This isn’t a bunch of one-off comments. It’s a coordinated push by oil and gas, mining, grazing, and off-road groups to strip protections from the small share of public land where drilling, mining, and motorized recreation aren’t already allowed and to ensure no land gets protected as Wilderness in the future,” said Center for Western Priorities Communications Director Kate Groetzinger. “These comments are asking the BLM to actively ignore the law, which says that only Congress can release Wilderness Study Areas or designated them as Wilderness. They also seek to write their own laws into existence, creating arbitrary time limits and other litmus tests for the release of WSAs. If the administration follows this advice, it will end up in court for years to come.”
“Americans cherish wild public lands for wildlife habitat, clean air and water and the freedom these places provide us to explore,” the Wilderness Society’s Director of BLM Campaigns, Michael Carroll. “But, as expected, the oil, gas and mining industry has treated the administration’s review of these special places as a policy blank check to ask that the BLM open more wilderness-quality lands for development. They are insisting on backdoor changes to agency guidance that would subvert the law and effectively rob future generations of some of the last remaining wild places.”
“Some of the nation’s wildest places are at risk from the Interior Department’s latest ploy,” said Legal Director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Steve Bloch. “Southern Utah’s redrock country—a wild landscape beloved by Americans for generations—is especially at risk and in the crosshairs of this effort. This analysis confirms that the Trump administration has not only invited the fox into the henhouse but it’s helping to line up the chickens for slaughter.”
Background:
The three manuals under review, Manual 6320, covering Lands with Wilderness Characteristics (LWCs); Manual 6330, covering Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs); and Manual 6340, covering land Congress has formally designated as Wilderness, correspond with different levels of legal protection and status for public lands managed by BLM. LWCs are the least protective: BLM can designate or release them entirely through its own land-use planning process, with no say from Congress. According to the Wilderness Society, BLM has identified roughly 69.6 million acres of LWCs that don’t overlap with existing WSAs.
The overwhelming majority of WSAs were created pursuant to a one-time, congressionally mandated wilderness review. Congress ordered the Interior Department, via the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), to inventory roadless BLM areas over 5,000 acres for wilderness character, with recommendations due by 1993. Only Congress can “release” them, either by designating them as Wilderness or explicitly withdrawing that status through legislation. According to the Wilderness Society, there are 11.2 million acres of WSAs currently administered by BLM.
Under Section 603 of FLPMA, BLM cannot unilaterally eliminate Wilderness Study Area status. FLPMA requires the agency to manage WSAs “in a manner so as not to impair the suitability of such areas for preservation as wilderness” until Congress decides otherwise. That non-impairment mandate stays in force until and unless Congress directs otherwise. The only way a WSA has ever formally lost its protected status is through legislation. BLM has no independent authority to do this through the rulemaking process, a manual revision, or a policy memo.
Designated Wilderness carries the highest protection of these categories and can only be revised or undone by an act of Congress. No group asked BLM to undo a Wilderness designation outright. Instead, industry and recreation groups focused on loosening the management of Wilderness areas, arguing BLM has managed those areas, and in some cases the land around them, more restrictively than federal law requires. According to the Wilderness Society, BLM currently manages 10.5 million acres of Wilderness.
For a map of potentially affected areas, please visit the Wilderness Society’s website.
Context:
Top Interior officials have publicly encouraged ideologically-aligned industries to submit comments on agency proposals, while admitting they largely ignore comments, feedback and petitions from supporters of conservation groups. Last month, Associate Deputy Secretary Karen Budd-Falen told oil and gas, mining, and logging industry leaders that “Public comment matters. Not the postcards that whatever environmental group sends. We always get a million postcards. That counts as one comment.”
Please note the Interior Department also opened comment periods on manuals used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS-HQ-NWRS-2026-2575) and the National Park Service (NPS-2026-0100) to propose, designate, and manage Wilderness and WSAs. Comments submitted on these dockets were not included in this analysis.
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20 states sue over Trump’s cuts to protections for endangered species
Twenty states and the District of Columbia filed two lawsuits in federal court on Wednesday to challenge the Trump administration’s rollback of protections for endangered species and wildlife. The Trump administration has initiated a series of regulatory changes that opened the habitats of imperiled animals to drilling, farming, logging and other commercial activities. Both lawsuits argue that the changes violate the Administrative Procedure Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.
The first suit asks the court to strike down a rule that redefined what it means to “harm” wildlife under the Endangered Species Act, a law Congress overwhelmingly passed in 1973 to prevent the extinction of imperiled plants and animals. The Trump administration tossed out the longstanding interpretation of “harm” and instead finalized a rule that said degrading the habitat of an endangered species would no longer be illegal.
The second lawsuit challenges two regulations issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. One rule eliminated automatic protections for all species that are newly classified as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and the other allowed the government to consider economic factors, such as lost revenue for businesses, before designating areas as critical habitat for endangered species.
Rep. Zinke to introduce wilderness & recreation billRetiring Montana congressman and former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced his intent to introduce the ‘A River Runs Through It Act,’ named after the famous Montana novella by Norman McLean. The bill would designate about 130,000 acres of new wilderness and protect parts of the Blackfoot River watershed while opening other areas to logging and motorized use. Another 60,000 acres would be designated for recreation, including snowmobiling, mountain biking, and off-road vehicle use. Zinke said he plans to introduce the bill next week. With roughly 40 working days before the House of Representatives adjourns its 2026 session, the timing will be tight for committee hearings or review by the Senate, though Zinke sounded optimistic and teased the possibility of a larger package of public lands bills before the end of the year. “We want to climb the same mountain,” Zinke told local media during a post-event press conference. “Maybe our paths are a little different in how to get there. But this is a made-in-Montana solution, which is so exciting.”
Quick hits Trump signs order giving Burgum authority to respond to ‘national energy emergencies’ States sue over Trump’s cuts to Endangered Species ActNew York Times | Colorado Politics | Stateline | Spectrum News | Reuters | Courthouse News | Salem Statesman Journal | Spokesman-Review
The U.S. is losing its ability to store water when it needs it most New polling shows bipartisan support for conservation is climbing Colorado has killed 294 bears this year, more than 3 times the number killed last year Large solar project on Navajo Nation leaves residents skeptical Opinion: While Colorado and the West burn, Washington rearranges org charts A beloved tree fell in Washington and people covered it with thank you notes Quote of the dayHistory will not judge us by how many agencies we reorganized or how many political arguments we won. It will judge us by whether we had the courage to invest in the people, science, and institutions needed to protect our forests, our communities, and the firefighters who stand between them. The West is burning. It is time for Washington to stop rearranging org charts and start leading.”
—Scott Fitzwilliams, former supervisor of the White River National Forest, Colorado Sun
Picture ThisWe’re thankful for the stories, not just the ones found in books.
The stories of the people who shaped our nation. The battlefields, homes, trails, rivers, and landscapes that hold clues to the past. The wildlife and natural processes that show us how connected we are to the world around us. From those preserved at Independence Hall and Gettysburg to the cultural traditions of the Great Smoky Mountains, the landscapes of Zion, and the living history found in parks across the country, your national parks are full of stories waiting to be explored.
Most of all, we’re thankful that we get to share them with you. Because every national park has a story, and there’s always another one waiting to be discovered.
#NationalParkWeek #ThankfulThursday
NPS Photo
Featured image: Bald Eagle soaring in Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge. Photo: Tom Koerner/USFWS.
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Oil and gas lease sales run into local opposition in Colorado
Joel Mayne is a motorcycle instructor and Desert Storm veteran who lives near the Wyoming border north of Craig, Colorado. Mayne is organizing fellow Moffat County residents to protest the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) sale of the mineral rights beneath Bakers Peak mountain, taking the fight all the way to the Interior Board of Land Appeals in Washington, D.C. In his November 2025 protest letter, Mayne said the elk migration path runs across the mountain and the peak provides high-priority habitat for mule deer and moose as well. “This region’s ecological sensitivity and biological significance demand a level of caution and stewardship consistent with both federal and state conservation mandates,” Mayne wrote. “I trust the BLM will uphold its commitment to responsible stewardship of public lands.”
Under the second Trump administration, the BLM has offered 287,765 acres in Colorado for oil and gas drilling, and is slated to offer more than 400,000 acres of land in Colorado by the planned December 2026 lease sale.
Mayne is not alone in his opposition to the BLM’s leasing plans in Colorado, as environmental groups, state wildlife officials, and local governments are protesting an unprecedented wave of public land oil and gas lease sales across the state. “We are seeing roadless areas leased, lands with wilderness characteristics, we are seeing places designated as outstanding waters leased, and it is hard to keep track,” said Peter Hart, legal director of the advocacy group Wilderness Workshop. “We are seeing these offered in every lease sale.”
Quick hits Trump is quietly planning to majorly change how national parks are run Forest Service could open much more of Colorado’s 11 million acres of public land to motorized vehicles Developers eye Native Nations, Tribal communities for new data center projects Oil and gas lease sales meet local opposition in Colorado communities Feds seek to ‘streamline’ Arctic oil permitting, ending environmental reviews of individual projects New Mexico town of 50 packs gym as residents push county to ban uranium drilling Data center planned on Nevada public land is temporarily halted Trump signs order to remove protections for wolvesUSA Today | Politico Pro | The Land Desk
Quote of the dayThe folks who want to push forward their agenda of sales, extraction, development, and divestment don’t want us unified. They know they can’t win when we’re standing arm in arm. They know they can’t give away our public lands when we’re a concerted bloc. They can’t fight us all.”
—Jonathon Klein, editor-in-chief of RideApart
Picture ThisYou know what they say about small predators? Big personalities.
The American marten is a quick, agile member of the weasel family that makes its home in forests across northern North America. Don’t let that adorable face fool you. This little hunter is built to climb, chase and absolutely thrive in the woods.
Photo by @jacobwfrank
Featured image: Photo credit: BLM Colorado, Flickr
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Forest Service to close 23 research stations nationwide
The U.S. Forest Service announced Wednesday it will close 23 research stations across more than a dozen states, as part of a restructuring that has already cost the agency roughly 6,000 employees. Forty-one other facilities originally slated for closure will stay open after pushback from Congress and local communities, and the agency says 95 employees at the shuttered sites will be relocated rather than laid off.
Associate Chief Chris French said the move will save USFS about $16 million and that the cuts wouldn’t affect ongoing science. But forest researchers see it differently. “It’s just madness to me that we would decide that we’ve learned everything and shut these places down,” Elizabeth Leger, a biologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, told the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists when the closures were first proposed in April. One anonymous Forest Service biologist said: “You can’t manage wildfire, invasive species, if you don’t know what changes are occurring in those dynamics.”
An office in Albuquerque that will be closed currently employs six scientists and conducts research on Southwestern grasslands and riparian ecosystems and restoration and sustainability in the Middle Rio Grande Basin ecosystem, according to the USFS. The station closures are happening as the agency moves its headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Salt Lake City and shutters regional offices in Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Portland.
Schultz’s timber ties shape Roadless repealCompanies and clients U.S. Forest Service chief Tom Schultz once worked for as a lobbyist and executive stand to benefit directly from the Roadless Rule rollback, according to Mother Jones and Public Citizen. Schultz spent years leading Idaho’s Department of Lands before becoming vice president at Idaho Forest Group, one of the country’s largest lumber producers. Schultz went on to lead the Federal Forest Resource Coalition, a trade group representing timber purchasers in 37 states, where he told Congress in 2022 the Forest Service should let states manage more federal timber sales and bypass detailed environmental reviews.
Quick hits Trump administration says agencies may stop working with the SmithsonianCNN | Washington Post | The Atlantic | NBC
We need to work together to save our public lands, says Backcountry Hunters & Anglers president Judge halts data center construction on public land US Forest Service chief with industry ties pushed for more logging on public lands Postcards for public lands: Greater Yellowstone Coalition launches campaign to protect 45 million acres Local advocates discuss border wall construction impact on public lands, wildlife Pyrograzing turns ordinary livestock into fire prevention heroes, so why isn’t it used on public lands more often? Opinion: Trump’s destruction of public lands will be a damning part of his legacy Quote of the dayEroding the Forest Service follows the same logic driving rollbacks across federal agencies: prioritizing extraction over stewardship.”
—Lois Parshley, Public Citizen
Picture ThisLet us know how you feel about Doug Burgum directing your park fees to Trump’s gold horses, Reflecting Pool, and other DC vanity projects as other desperately needed park fixes and maintenance get shelved. https://bit.ly/4ch7aLr
Feature image: The Caldor Fire burned over 200,000 acres in the Eldorado National Forest and other areas of the Sierra Nevada; USDA Forest Service photo by Preston Keres
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Grand Canyon flash flood kills 2, leaves 1 still missing
A flash flood tore through the bottom of the Grand Canyon over the weekend, killing at least two people and leaving one missing. Between half an inch and a full inch of rain fell in just 30 minutes Saturday afternoon, sending a wall of water down Bright Angel Creek toward the Colorado River.
Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Campground, and the North Kaibab Trail are closed indefinitely while crews assess the damage. At least 80 people were rescued from the canyon. Part of the reason the storm was so destructive is that it hit the burn scar of the Dragon Bravo wildfire, a destructive blaze that swept across nearly 150,000 acres near the Grand Canyon in July 2025.
“It was like a whirlpool in there, with all the debris circling around, cabins and other equipment,” evacuee David Gregory told CBS News. One footbridge collapsed roughly 10 minutes after his group crossed it. Another hiker in the canyon, Parth Desai, described “waterfalls coming up out of nowhere; boulders, mud, landslides happening everywhere,” according to Al Jazeera.
A similar downpour on Monday caused destructive flooding at Zion National Park. All slot canyons in the park, including The Narrows, were shut off to visitors due to rising water. So far, no one has been reported dead or missing due to this flooding.
Live from Tucson: Arizona’s Public Lands and the Border WallThe latest episode of The Landscape, recorded live in Tucson as part of CWP’s Keep Parks Public tour, brings together four experts to discuss the current state of Arizona’s public lands: Matthew Nelson with the Arizona Trail Association, Russ McSpadden with the Center for Biological Diversity, Emily Burns with Sky Island Alliance, and Amy Juan from the Tohono O’odham Nation. They talk about the negative impacts of border wall construction ;on wildlife migration, national parks, and Indigenous sites. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.
Quick hits Report warns of environmental impacts from proposed oil and gas lease near Grand Canyon Federal judge extends pause on Big Bend border security construction Opinion: Trump’s plan to sell off a part of Yosemite is what oligarchy looks like How intense rains in the Grand Canyon turned into a deadly disaster Proposed changes to U.S. Forest Service rule could open door to more e-bikes, ATVs on national forest lands Trump’s national park fees for foreign tourists fail to raise expected revenue Interior Department approves massive Navajo coal mine expansion The buzz of chainsaws in Idaho is testing what wilderness means Quote of the dayA lot of people see wilderness as nothing but a backcountry recreation area, but it’s way more than that. It’s really not even about us. It’s about nature. It’s about the places. It’s kind of nature’s bill of rights.”
—George Nickas, former executive director of Wilderness Watch, KUNC
Picture ThisDolly Parton once described the Smokies as “one of those special places that God put here for us to enjoy.”
At Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s 75th anniversary celebration in 2009, she sang about that special place in “My Mountains, My Home.”
Video by @hawriverfilms
Feature image: Grand Canyon flooding; Source: GrandCanyonNPS/x.com
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LIVE from Tucson: Arizona’s Public Lands and the Border Wall
Recorded live at Scoundrel and Scamp Theatre in Tucson as part of CWP’s Keep Parks Public campaign, Aaron interviews four experts about the current state of Arizona’s public lands: Matthew Nelson with the Arizona Trail Association, Russ McSpadden with the Center for Biological Diversity, Emily Burns with Sky Island Alliance, and Amy Juan from the Tohono O’odham Nation.
We discuss the impacts of border wall construction on wildlife corridors and Indigenous sites, along with staffing and funding cuts at land management agencies and rollbacks of environmental protections, from Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge to Quitobaquito Springs.
News- Death Toll Rises in Grand Canyon Flood as Search Efforts Continue – New York Times
- Keep Parks Public Tour
- Arizona Trail Association
- Center for Biological Diversity
- Sky Island Alliance
- Watch this episode on YouTube
Produced by Aaron Weiss, Lauren Bogard, Kate Groetzinger, and Lilly Bock-Brownstein
Feedback: podcast@westernpriorities.org
Music: Purple Planet
Featured image: CWP photo
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Introducing: On Common Ground, a new podcast about the fight to maintain our public lands
Kate and Aaron run through the weekly news, including the Trump administration’s plans to repeal the Roadless Rule and upend the Forest Service’s travel management planning process. Then, we play the first episode of On Common Ground: An American Inheritance, a new podcast from Eleven Dollar Bill studios, for you.
In this first episode, host Bill Hedden traces how the fight we were allowed to win concealed the one we lost. Bill has spent half a century defending the public lands in southeastern Utah. He is joined by co-host John Leshy, former Solicitor of the Department of the Interior and our foremost scholar of public-lands law and history, along with voices from across the political spectrum. Together, “The Theft” lays out what was taken, how it happened, and why you weren’t supposed to notice until it was too late.
News- The Forest Service’s own review finds repealing the Roadless Rule could increase wildfire risk and harm communities – Westwise
- Roadless Rule repeal could cause more wildfires – KHOL
- ‘One-Two Punch’: After Attacking Roadless Rule, Trump Targets Off-Road Vehicle Limits – Common Dreams
- Comment on the Roadless Rule repeal – regulations.gov
- Comment on the Travel Management Rule – regulations.gov
- Comment generator for Roadless – FUSEE
- Keep Parks Public Tour — RSVP to Tucson!
- On Common Ground: An American Inheritance
- Watch this episode on YouTube
Produced by Aaron Weiss, Lauren Bogard, Kate Groetzinger, and Lilly Bock-Brownstein
Feedback: podcast@westernpriorities.org
Music: Purple Planet
Featured image: Book Cliffs, Utah; Photo by Bob Wick
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New report shows the impact of oil and gas drilling nomination surge on public lands
DENVER—A new report released today by Rocky Mountain Wild and the Center for Western Priorities illustrates how the Trump administration’s giveaway of national public lands for oil and gas drilling is impacting wildlife, outdoor recreation, and cultural resources across the West. The report, “On the doorstep: How a surge in drilling nominations threatens America’s public lands,” uses eight case studies in five Western states to demonstrate how oil and gas development is encroaching on protected public lands under the Trump administration’s policies.
Congress and the Trump administration have been handing out regulatory giveaways to the oil and gas industry on our public lands under the guise of a so-called “energy emergency” and promoting an “energy dominance” agenda that is failing to achieve its stated goal of bringing down energy costs for Americans.
Since 2025, Congress and the Trump administration have:
- Made it free for oil and gas companies to nominate more than 200 million acres of national public lands for drilling;
- Required the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to offer any of these lands for leasing within 18 months of being nominated;
- Disregarded concerns raised by hunters and anglers, local officials, ranchers, and other experts;
- Proposed a rule that would make it harder for the public to provide input on where industry can and can’t lease public lands, as well as make it easier for companies to walk away from their cleanup obligations and leave behind uncapped wells that can leak dangerous pollutants.
The impact of these giveaways is already clear. Oil and gas companies have nominated nine times more acres for leasing since these policies took effect last year. These nominations include lands that have high-quality fish and wildlife habitat and migration corridors, as well as lands that sit inside recreation areas and near state parks, border crucial water resources, and fall on split-estate lands where the surface is privately owned. Yet American energy costs continue to soar, despite President Trump’s promise to bring down costs with his “energy dominance” agenda.
The Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Policy Director Rachael Hamby:
“Not only is this administration’s ‘energy dominance’ scheme a complete failure, it’s also destroying wildlife habitats and outdoor recreation areas that are beloved by Americans. While oil and gas companies pad their books and rake in profits, families are being squeezed at every turn. Westerners deserve better. Trump’s failed agenda is wrecking the landscapes, wildlife habitats, and outdoor recreation opportunities we rely on and want to pass on to future generations.”
Learn more:
- Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda is only helping oil and gas companies [Westwise]
- A closer look at the Trump administration’s proposed oil and gas rule [Westwise]
- ‘Energy dominance’ is an epic failure [Westwise]
Featured image: BLM Wyoming via Flickr
The post New report shows the impact of oil and gas drilling nomination surge on public lands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.
Armed agents enter Tohono O’odham Nation in border wall construction dispute
Armed and masked agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, along with border wall contractors, entered the Tohono O’odham Nation without authorization on Tuesday to work on border wall construction, according to Tribal officials. In recent weeks, the Tohono O’odham Nation has posted “No Trespassing” signs and escorted contractors off the Nation in an effort to resist construction of a border wall through Tribal land over the Nation’s objections.
The Nation has also sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to block construction. On August 17th, the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. denied a motion for a preliminary injunction, allowing construction to move forward. “Too many critical issues were not adequately addressed, such as inevitable impacts construction will have on the Nation’s land and the permanent destruction of sacred sites,” Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Verlon M. Jose said in a statement following the denial. “The Nation will consider all possible options for moving forward, as this issue is simply too important to the O’odham.”
The move coincides with a months-long effort to use the border to militarize national public lands, as Center for Western Priorities Creative Content and Policy Manager Lilly Bock-Brownstein wrote in a Westwise blog post in March. Border wall construction through protected public lands has drawn overwhelming opposition at places including Big Bend National Park in Texas and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona.
Quick hits The Texas grid has had a boring summer thanks to batteries Trump proposal could unleash ATVs across national forests The real reason the Forest Service is killing the Roadless Rule As soon as two national monuments were downsized, several companies applied to mine there What the uranium mines left behind As the West dries up, more companies are promising they can make it rain New trails at a state park in southern Colorado are ‘a huge piece of the puzzle’ in reviving nearby town Opinion: National monuments drive economic growth and unite diverse interests Quote of the dayWe have lived in this region since time immemorial. There is no doubt this wall will desecrate countless sacred areas, burial sites, and other important locations.”
—Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Verlon M. Jose, KVOA
Picture This @parashantnpsStand on any ridge in Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument and you’re watching America move. Not in miles per hour, but in millimeters per year. The ground beneath your feet is slowly stretching apart, reshaping the landscape in real time.
Parashant sits at the meeting point of two remarkable regions, the Colorado Plateau and the Great Basin. The forces that built these landscapes are still at work today, quietly shaping the scenery.
Much of this story begins with plate tectonics. Off the West Coast, oceanic plates dive beneath North America, creating pressure that slowly spreads and thins the crust. This process, called crustal extension, is what gives the Great Basin region its broad valleys and long north‑south mountain ranges.
Here at Parashant, only about 18 miles of crust separate you from Earth’s molten mantle, a good reminder that the land is always changing. Even if we can’t see it happen, the story of this place is still being written, one millimeter at a time.
Want to learn more about plate tectonics at Parashant? Visit our website!
NPS Photo, Hudson Point
Featured image: Border fence on the Tohono O’odham Nation, Evan616 via Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0
The post Armed agents enter Tohono O’odham Nation in border wall construction dispute appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.
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