Protecting America’s Public Lands
Roughly 300 million acres of American lands, most in the West, are set aside as public lands and maintained using taxes paid by all Americans. These lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, and National Wildlife Refuge System are by charter supposed to be managed for multiple uses including recreation and provision of wildlife habitat and clean water sources. Increasingly, however, they are run for the benefit of extractive industries and with little regard for the preservation of the rare wildlife or iconic natural beauty for which they are famous.
With the help of conscientious range management specialists, scientists, law enforcement officers and other workers within these agencies, PEER is uncovering how our precious national heritage is being sold to the highest bidder, often under the direction of poorly qualified and illegally appointed political appointees.
Livestock grazing allows heavily subsidized private operators to degrade our public lands.
Our national parks are drowning in a rising tide of plastic waste.
Cell phone towers spread across national parks without proper planning and public input.
Off-road vehicle abuse is a growing problem on our public lands, especially in the West.
Environmental and public health risks are being ignored by regulatory agencies and decisions heavily influenced by profit-driven industries.
Twenty-five million acres of recommended wilderness in our national park system are in limbo, marooned by politics.
Unregulated air tours threaten the serenity of national parks and are a danger to wildlife.
REPORT | The Biden Administration’s Bureau of Land Management
As the Biden administration nears its halfway point, there are both encouraging signs of progress and plenty of room for growth when it comes to conserving public lands. Stronger leadership from the Biden administration and within federal land agencies is critical to act on both the climate and biodiversity crises. No public lands agency more epitomizes the challenges and opportunities ahead than the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) – the country’s largest land manager at more than 245 million acres.
Mapping Rangeland Health
Our interactive BLM Rangeland Health Standards Evaluation Data (2020) on MangoMaps is based on data from 2020, obtained via the Freedom of Information Act. PEER worked with a former BLM contractor to analyze what these records reveal about the condition of our public lands and BLM’s discharge of its duties to safeguard them.
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NEWS FROM PEER
Coyote Killing Contests Don’t Belong In National Parks
Petition Presses Cape Cod Seashore to Sharply Limit Carnivore Hunting
PEERMail: Threats to Public Lands
By now, you have probably have heard about the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) decision to fire Craig Hoover, a long-time, highly respected range management veteran in Nevada. Mr. Hoover got on the wrong side of his management for reporting illegal grazing in the...
BLM Rangers Stretched to Breaking Point
Prosecutions Plummet as Authorized Law Enforcement Slots Remain Unfilled
Blowing Whistle on Range Violations Unwelcome in BLM
BLM Fires 21-Year Veteran Whistleblower Rather than Curtailing Illegal Grazing
PEERMail: Interior Reorganizing to Better Quash Dissent
There are different bureaus with different missions that sometimes conflict. A unitary command would prevent these conflicts from surfacing.
BLM Commercial Grazing Program Goes Underground
Agency Stops Posting Performance Data and Hides Basic Programmatic Information
Arctic Refuge Drilling Scientific Concerns Suppressed
Memos Outlining Major Environmental and Public Health Information Gaps Buried
Undisclosed Statements of Scientific Concern: ANWR Drilling
Made with Visme Infographic Maker
Water & Brimstone
Environmental scientist Barry Sulkin begins to study the impact of recreational ATV activity on the rivers and creeks that feed into the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River, a protected national treasure
Public Land Livestock Fees Hit Rock-Bottom
Full Cost of Federal Grazing Program Well Overdue for Complete Analysis
Not All the Trump Administration Wants a Wall
EPA Guidance Says Surveillance Technology Supplants Need for Physical Barriers
Yellowstone Closes Hiking Destination to Hike Bandwidth
Mt. Washburn Build-Out Shows Cell Service Trumps Massive Infrastructure Needs
Clueless Oversight Promotes Damaging Livestock Practices
House Hearing Ignores Declining Range Conditions and Costs of Welfare Ranching
How Park Ban on Plastic Bottles Got Throttled
Misstatements Masked Lack of Current Data or Consultation Except with Industry
National Bison Range a Ghost Town This Summer
Visitor Center and Restrooms Closed Two Days a Week at Big Tourist Destination
Alaska Permanent Fund Weans off Fossil Fuel Companies
Both Portfolio Percentage and Return-on-Investment in Oil & Gas Down Sharply
SETTLEMENT REACHED IN LATEST LAWSUIT OVER NATIONAL BISON RANGE
From: KPAX.com “Development of a Comprehensive Conservation Plan, as required by law, ran into a snag a couple of years ago when the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility filed suit. PEER was particularly worried when the Fish and Wildlife Service began...
U.S. AGREES TO CRAFT CONSERVATION PLAN FOR MONTANA BISON RANGE
From: Great Falls Tribune “The settlement filed last week in U.S. District Court resolves a 2016 complaint from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, an advocacy group based near Washington, D.C." Read more . . . Read the PEER story
NATIONAL BISON RANGE SETTLES TIMELINE FOR PLAN
From: Missoulian ““During the litigation, (Interior Secretary Ryan) Zinke decided against the transfer,” said Paula Dinerstein, attorney for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), which led a long list of opponents to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife...
CLIVEN BUNDY IS A FREE MAN. HIS COWS ARE STILL A NUISANCE
From: Mother Jones ““There’s sort of a metaphor between Bundy and his cows: They’ve both gone rogue,” says Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a nonprofit that represents employees from agencies such as the BLM. " Read...
