public-lands

November 9, 2018

Today, new revelations from the Washington Post revealed that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke met with a billionaire developer who has business before the government at the request of his college friend and former football teammate, Ed Hagerty. Zinke is currently the subject of dozens of scandals.

October 19, 2018

Las Vegas, Nevada (October 18, 2018) - Conservation organizations are outraged by the US Air Force’s lack of respect to the public interest with the release of its final Environmental Impact Statement on a plan to expand its Nevada Test and Training Range into the Desert National Wildlife Refuge. The military already controls 2.9 million acres in Nevada with no public access allowed, and this proposal would shut the public out of another 300,000 acres.

October 19, 2018

Las Vegas, Nevada (October 18, 2018) - Conservation organizations are outraged by the US Air Force’s lack of respect to the public interest with the release of its final Environmental Impact Statement on a plan to expand its Nevada Test and Training Range into the Desert National Wildlife Refuge. The military already controls 2.9 million acres in Nevada with no public access allowed, and this proposal would shut the public out of another 300,000 acres.

October 10, 2018

Zinke Keeps Giving Government Contracts to Whitefish Energy, Turns His Back on a Veteran, And His Super PAC Mocks Sexual Assault Survivors, All While Angling for a New Job

October 2, 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today advanced a host of public lands legislation including, Restore Our Parks, Land and Water Conservation Fund, Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Conservation Act, Every Kid Outdoors Act and the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act.

October 2, 2018

SALT LAKE CITY -- Tonight will kick off the first of three public meetings on a proposed management plan for Bears Ears National Monument. The plan leaves most of Bears Ears without protections and comes despite current legal challenges to the Trump administration’s illegal actions to shrink the monuments.

October 1, 2018

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz.— The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to hear the mining industry’s challenge to the 20-year ban on new uranium mining near the Grand Canyon.

September 24, 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, a U.S. District court announced that legal challenges to the Trump administration’s move to strip Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments of protections will be heard in Washington, D.C. The decision is a setback for the administration, which pushed to have the case heard in Utah. The judge also stated that Sec. Zinke’s Department of the Interior must give Tribal Nations and other affected parties advance notice of mining activities proposed within the original monument boundaries.

September 21, 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Tomorrow marks the 25th annual National Public Lands Day, a day to give back to and enjoy our country’s great outdoors. This year’s celebration comes as the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which has protected places in almost every state is set to expire. The fund will expire Sept. 30 without Congressional action.

September 17, 2018

A Wyoming federal court issued a ruling invalidating long-term approval for a state-run elk feedground on the Bridger-Teton National Forest in the Gros Ventre River valley, east of Jackson Hole. With the deadly and highly contagious chronic wasting disease (CWD) already within the Yellowstone ecosystem, conservation groups had challenged approval of the Alkali Creek Elk Feedground, which concentrates herds of elk in unhealthy conditions for the winter months.

September 14, 2018

arlier this week the U.S. Forest Service announced it would be proposing changes to rules that govern how the agency handles oil and gas leasing by the Bureau of Land Management in National Forests. Also announced were changes to rules governing hardrock mineral locations. Unsurprisingly, given the Trump administration’s dirty-fuels first agenda, these rule changes are designed to “reduce the burden on industry” and speed leasing on public lands.

September 13, 2018

Washington, DC-- Today, the House Natural Resources Committee marked up two important bills for the protection of public lands and conservation.  The committee marked up the Restore Our Parks Act which addresses the nation’s $11.6 billion park maintenance backlog. Both pieces will move to the House floor for a final vote.