Trump administration's dark vision for national public lands

Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts may be slated for offshore drilling. Credit: Daniel Schwen/Wikimedia

 

There is a massive change in how the people who make decisions and manage your national public lands view the  America's national public lands. Lands that hold our natural and historic heritage, lands that allowmillions of Americans a place to enjoy, recreate, learn and be amazed at natures grand creations, lands that provide a sanctuary for wildlife, lands that allow for serious scientific study for the changes going on in our climate, lands that belong to all Americans.

 

 Yournational parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges, national monuments, national historic parks, national conservation areas and offshore national marine sanctuaries are all in jeopardy in a massive turn of events coming from Washington, D.C.

 

I was raised with a vision for our national parks and other public ands, that these lands would be protected, be a sacred sanctuary and most important be a place where we can all go and enjoy, appreciate and learn.

 

But after three trips (a total of 15 days) to the nation's capital this year and having meetings with the players who are now in power in D.C., I have come away with sense that all that we know and care about when it comes to our national public lands has been turned upside down. The players in Congress and in the Trump Administration are powerful. They see your national public lands as nothing more then a place to mine, drill, extract and use in any way without any regard to the sacredness of the land or the lands importance to America's natural and historic heritage. 

 

Wrangell-Elias National Park could be open to copper mining if the Trump administration gets its way. Ron Clausen/Wikimedia

 

Meeting after meeting with Secretary of the Interior, Deputy Secretary of the Interior and their senior staffs, meetings with members of congress who support removing the protections currently afforded to our national public lands have allowed me to see a dark vision for special places like Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts (oil drilling proposed offshore), Bears Ears National Monument in Utah (coal mining), Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve (copper mining), Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary in Southern California (offshore oil drilling), Flathead National Forest in Montana (oil and gas drilling), and the list goes on and on.

 

Plans arein the works -- either through the legislative process or direct action by the Secretary of the Interior (Secretarial orders) or the President of the United States (executive orders) -- either to remove protections for your national public lands. Many ways are being devised, including a newly released proposal to raise national park entrance fees to more than $80 per visit, making it harder and harder for working Americans to afford a wonderful visit to their national parks.

 

Plans to actually remove areas of the National Park System from national park status, and plans to remake the entire national public land system, with the goal of supporting more fossil fuel development at any cost, no environmental review needed, the staff at the Interior Department tells me. 

 

This is a national disgrace, for a nation to be great, a nation has to have reverence for her land. Rise up, stand up. speak up, we all need to make our voice heard loud and clear in full support of our national public lands, for America's national public lands.

 

 

1. Tell GOP lawmakers how you feel. They are the ones calling the shots right now. Here are lists of Congress members and GOP Senators.

 

2. Hold rallies at any local events held by the Department of the Interior, and protest if a Interior staffer comes to town.

 

4. Ask people you know in red states to meet with their Republican members of Congress and impress upon them the importance of our public lands.