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Trump policies reshape the role of federally owned land against the tide of U.S. public opinion
The U.S. Congress has passed hundreds of laws protecting federal public lands over the past century through bipartisan efforts and with the support of local governments.
Now, Trump’s administration and some Republican lawmakers in Congress are pushing policies and legislation that upend these protections. Plans to open nearly 59 million acres of national forest land to road construction and mandate lease sales for drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge prioritize energy extraction over conservation. Public lands managed by the federal government stretch across the United States but are concentrated in the West.
At first, the lands were used mainly for their resources, to build railroads and for settlement. Starting in the 1860s and then particularly in the following several decades, the U.S. government began protecting lands for their scenic beauty and maintaining them for the public to enjoy.
Since then, the United States has “decided to hold and add to the federal lands, keep them in federal ownership and maintain them primarily for open space and long-term cultural and environmental benefits,” said John Leshy, author of the book “Our Common Ground: A History of America’s Public Lands.”
“It is the country, through its political system, deciding that we want to preserve some things for future generations,” Leshy said.
There are about 640 million acres (259 million hectares) of federally managed land in the United States, making up 28% of the country. That is almost the combined area of Alaska, California and Texas, the three largest U.S. states. Most of this land is managed by four federal agencies, each with its own mission.
Trump policies reshape the role of federally owned land against the tide of U.S. public opinion
The U.S. Congress has passed hundreds of laws protecting federal public lands over the past century through bipartisan efforts and with the support of local governments.
Now, Trump’s administration and some Republican lawmakers in Congress are pushing policies and legislation that upend these protections. Plans to open nearly 59 million acres of national forest land to road construction and mandate lease sales for drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge prioritize energy extraction over conservation. Public lands managed by the federal government stretch across the United States but are concentrated in the West.
At first, the lands were used mainly for their resources, to build railroads and for settlement. Starting in the 1860s and then particularly in the following several decades, the U.S. government began protecting lands for their scenic beauty and maintaining them for the public to enjoy.
Since then, the United States has “decided to hold and add to the federal lands, keep them in federal ownership and maintain them primarily for open space and long-term cultural and environmental benefits,” said John Leshy, author of the book “Our Common Ground: A History of America’s Public Lands.”
“It is the country, through its political system, deciding that we want to preserve some things for future generations,” Leshy said.
There are about 640 million acres (259 million hectares) of federally managed land in the United States, making up 28% of the country. That is almost the combined area of Alaska, California and Texas, the three largest U.S. states. Most of this land is managed by four federal agencies, each with its own mission.
Public lands have balanced a variety of uses from drilling for oil and gas, mining for various minerals and logging to conservation and recreation. Each use is meant to serve the public good. But as the U.S. government has changed over time, what it considers “good” also has changed.
“One of the big developments in the last 30 or 40 years is how they have all, regardless of agency, been managed more and more alike: primarily for conservation and recreation,” said Leshy.
“One of the big developments in the last 30 or 40 years is how they have all, regardless of agency, been managed more and more alike: primarily for conservation and recreation,” said Leshy.
Tiny towns cradled between high peaks and alongside winding rivers rely on public lands to sustain their economies. Unlike the biggest U.S. cities, these towns are not an attraction so much as a point of departure – a gateway to the outdoors.
The fastest-growing rural towns are surrounded by public lands that people use for hiking, skiing, biking, fishing and hunting. The $1.2 trillion outdoor recreation industry funnels money into rural towns that have few other options for growth.
Megan Lawson, an economist at Headwaters Economics, a nonprofit organization that researches community development and land management strategy, said the amount of federal land is indicative of the type of economy in these communities. “These are all being driven by federal lands as an amenity: retirement, outdoor recreation, tourism,” Lawson said.
The outdoor recreation economy extends beyond national parks and ski resorts. The Bureau of Land Management, which manages roughly 38% of federal public land, has said that more than 82 million people, about 10 times the population of New York City, visited its lands for recreational purposes in 2023.
“The money they spent on fishing licenses, gear, gas, food, lodging and local taxes injects billions of dollars into state and local economies every year,” Bill Groffy, the agency’s acting director, said in a statement to Reuters.
Even Americans who may not seek out the wild landscapes of public lands benefit in less obvious ways. Large portions of the water supply for some of the biggest U.S. cities come from forests.
In the early 20th century, when most of the country’s national forests were first designated, a driving motivation was securing clean water sources.
The national forests situated in the eastern United States are rooted in securing water a century ago. Back then, Congress launched a program to purchase upper watersheds to preserve and enhance water supplies.
“The whole idea was: these forests are getting logged and we’re suffering floods and pollution and debris from the logging, and we want to stop it,” Leshy said. “We want to repair these forests and grow them back so that we can have water supplies protected. That’s where the eastern national forests came from.”
While about 13% of the U.S. water supply comes from national forests, this source is particularly important in the West, where it accounts for almost half of the total water supply.
Forested lands are more effective than agricultural and other developed watersheds at filtering and storing water, leading to less sediment and fewer pollutants in the water supply.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in June that it was rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule, which makes nearly 59 million acres (23.9 million hectares) of national forest lands available for road construction and timber harvest. The change will allow federal forest lands to be better managed for fire risk, the USDA said. The move is aligned with Trump’s goal to eliminate environmental regulations that he says are roadblocks to industry.
Despite the administration’s industrial focus, there is not a shift in general U.S. public opinion when it comes to protecting public land. The majority of Americans from both political parties disapprove of closing access to public land, according to a poll conducted in March by YouGov for the nonprofit organization Trust for Public Land.
The fastest-growing rural towns are surrounded by public lands that people use for hiking, skiing, biking, fishing and hunting. The $1.2 trillion outdoor recreation industry funnels money into rural towns that have few other options for growth.
Megan Lawson, an economist at Headwaters Economics, a nonprofit organization that researches community development and land management strategy, said the amount of federal land is indicative of the type of economy in these communities. “These are all being driven by federal lands as an amenity: retirement, outdoor recreation, tourism,” Lawson said.
The outdoor recreation economy extends beyond national parks and ski resorts. The Bureau of Land Management, which manages roughly 38% of federal public land, has said that more than 82 million people, about 10 times the population of New York City, visited its lands for recreational purposes in 2023.
“The money they spent on fishing licenses, gear, gas, food, lodging and local taxes injects billions of dollars into state and local economies every year,” Bill Groffy, the agency’s acting director, said in a statement to Reuters.
Even Americans who may not seek out the wild landscapes of public lands benefit in less obvious ways. Large portions of the water supply for some of the biggest U.S. cities come from forests.
In the early 20th century, when most of the country’s national forests were first designated, a driving motivation was securing clean water sources.
The national forests situated in the eastern United States are rooted in securing water a century ago. Back then, Congress launched a program to purchase upper watersheds to preserve and enhance water supplies.
“The whole idea was: these forests are getting logged and we’re suffering floods and pollution and debris from the logging, and we want to stop it,” Leshy said. “We want to repair these forests and grow them back so that we can have water supplies protected. That’s where the eastern national forests came from.”
While about 13% of the U.S. water supply comes from national forests, this source is particularly important in the West, where it accounts for almost half of the total water supply.
Forested lands are more effective than agricultural and other developed watersheds at filtering and storing water, leading to less sediment and fewer pollutants in the water supply.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in June that it was rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule, which makes nearly 59 million acres (23.9 million hectares) of national forest lands available for road construction and timber harvest. The change will allow federal forest lands to be better managed for fire risk, the USDA said. The move is aligned with Trump’s goal to eliminate environmental regulations that he says are roadblocks to industry.
Despite the administration’s industrial focus, there is not a shift in general U.S. public opinion when it comes to protecting public land. The majority of Americans from both political parties disapprove of closing access to public land, according to a poll conducted in March by YouGov for the nonprofit organization Trust for Public Land.
“Public lands have tremendous bipartisan support in the state,” Lawson said in reference to her home state of Montana, about 30% of which is federal public land. “Everybody from the wilderness advocates who want public land preserved in perpetuity to the hunters and anglers to the OHV (off-highway vehicle) Jeepers. Everybody loves public lands. Access to those public lands is so integral to daily life.”
Deep budget and staffing cuts to the U.S. National Forest Service, National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management could affect their ability to effectively care for these lands at a time when they are experiencing record numbers of visitors.
Last year, national parks welcomed more than 332 million visitors, a new high, up 6 million from 2023. But, the National Park System has lost 24% of its permanent staff since Trump returned to office in January, according to the National Parks Conservation Association, a watchdog advocacy group. The association attributes much of the drop to job cuts and staff taking buyouts offered by Trump’s administration. And, the National Forest Service cut about 10% of its workforce as part of the administration’s campaign to reduce spending.
This legislation that Trump signed also rescinded funding for conservation and climate resilience projects in national parks and Bureau of Land Management land that was provided in a law signed by his predecessor Joe Biden called the Inflation Reduction Act.
Leshy said budget and staffing cuts could be a strategic move by U.S. officials who have long wanted to dispose of public land, pointing to Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget and a force behind the Project 2025 initiative that laid out a conservative blueprint for reshaping the U.S. government.
“I think they’ve decided, looking at the opinion polls, that it’s not popular and it’s not wise to press for outright selling off or disposing, transferring federal lands. So what they’re doing instead is hollowing out their management, is slashing their budgets and slashing the personnel,” “The aim is, ‘Let’s make federal management so bad and so dismal that it will change public opinion,’” Leshy added.
- By Ally J Levine, Soumya Karwa and Travis Hartman
Sources
Reuters reporting, Congressional Research Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Headwaters Economics, U.S. Department of Commerce. 2023. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Economic Accounts and Census Bureau, American Community Survey Office, Washington, D.C., reported by Headwaters Economics’ Economic Profile System.
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Note from Mother Lode Trails: "Normally, our website provides trail resources for our local Mother Lode community, but the drastic changes directed by Trump and the Republican-led congress taking place at the federal level over the past six months will affect much of the public land that we enjoy. This well researched article from Reuters gives us vital information to help us protect our trails and public lands."
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