Protecting America’s Parks & Public Lands for All

Approximately 600 million acres of land and water in the United States are managed for public use. These public lands include federal lands like national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and monuments, as well as state and local areas owned by the public.

Many federal agencies manage these public places, including the National Park Service, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. With the help of employees in these agencies, PEER is committed to safeguarding our public lands so that they provide habitat for wildlife, opportunities for people to enjoy nature, and the preservation of intact, undisturbed ecosystems.

PEER also supports increased staff levels in land management agencies. Rangers and land managers are facing declining budgets, lower staffing levels, and an increase in responsibilities as the use of our public lands grows dramatically.

Here’s how PEER is pushing back against efforts to undermine our public lands for the benefit of special interests.

U.S. BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

Oil & Gas

Too often, regulatory agencies ignore the environmental and public health harm caused by oil and gas development on public lands. PEER works to minimize the impacts of the fossil fuel industry on public lands.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

Park Overflights

Excessive commercial intrusions in the skies above national parks are too common. PEER is continuing its successful work to limit commercial air tours over parks that disturb wildlife and ruin the visitor experience.

Plastic-Free Parks

Plastics are inundating our national parks, harming wildlife and public health and wasting precious government resources on managing the waste. PEER is working to speed up the phaseout of single–use plastics in national parks and is calling for steep reductions in plastic usage at parks.

A SNAPSHOT OF PEER’S PAST EFFORTS

Here are some examples of how PEER has made a difference: