Whether you enjoy public lands to camp, fish, hike, climb, hunt, ride, or drive on, there's one thing that ties each discipline together: no matter your tribe, those lands are under attack right now.
I get it, that's a helluva opener, one that's sure to piss a lot of people off for a variety of reasons. But it's the truth. We've already talked about how the incoming administration has prioritized selling off and developing public lands, despite the public's approval of said lands, many times before. And when the Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development came together to state they were looking to develop public lands for "affordable housing," I called bullshit on that too, picking apart its litany of falsehoods used to justify selling off land to housing developers.
And now, according to the latest Executive Order from President Donald J. Trump, more of those public lands are under threat with his "Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production," which basically opens up all public lands to be strip-mined and sold off to extractive industries.
This should further alarm everyone in the space, no matter how you enjoy public land.
The basics of the executive order, which will surely see a litany of lawsuits to halt its enaction, is that it gives Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum the power to "expand the country’s list of critical minerals," according to our pals over at Outdoor Life. They added, "It also directs Burgum to make a priority list of all federal lands with mineral deposits, and to take whatever actions necessary to expedite and issue mining permits there. This includes rolling back environmental regulations and finding ways to fund and subsidize private mining companies with taxpayer dollars."
So if you're keeping track, Congress passed a new rules package at the start of the session to make it easier to sell public lands. And the Presidency has signed two executive orders, one stating all federally owned public lands should be considered to be sold for "affordable housing," and two, all federally owned public lands should be considered to be sold to extract its mineral deposits. Basically, it's a page right out of Project 2025, which I covered last year ahead of the election.
Now, the administration wants you to believe that all of these public lands orders are for the betterment of the country. That this will all somehow solve all of our mineral and development problems. But if you want to know who's actually benefiting from these policies, look to the folks who are applauding these Executive Orders: the mineral companies.
Throughout the country, multiple mineral and mining companies have celebrated these orders after facing minor headwinds with the Biden administration. A group of such companies, those involved in Alaska's Ambler Road saga, have all stated that they support the administration's goals of accessing such resources. But that only leads to those lands being gone forever, no longer public resources, and due to the nature of these executive orders, and their willingness to overlook environmental policies and regulations, likely toxic for decades or millennia to come.
"We must ask ourselves if some things are worth more than money," states Backcountry Hunters & Angler's President Patrick Berry, adding, "Health, family, friendships, experiences, knowledge, resilience, self-reliance, peace of mind, sense of purpose, responsibility, and the personal fulfillment of sustainably feeding your family? These are the unquantifiable outcomes of time spent recreating on America’s public lands. So, even if we need to take a hard look at the efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability of the federal agencies charged with managing public lands, the shared resources themselves are still more than just assets on a ledger. And once they are sold or paved over, they’re gone forever."
So even if you don't enjoy a dirt bike rider riding some single track. Even if you think hunters are invading your camping spot come September. Even if you don't like UTV'ers on your 4x4 trail, maybe it's time to put away those differences and come together to fight these forces off? Because if we don't, folks, the other side is sure hell-bent on selling them off.
And like Mr. Berry said, "Once they're sold or paved over, they're gone forever."
