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.
Grazing and Rangeland Health
Livestock grazing allows heavily subsidized private operators to degrade our public lands.
Plastic Free Parks
Our national parks are drowning in a rising tide of plastic waste.
Cell Tower Invasion
Cell phone towers spread across national parks without proper planning and public input.
Off-Road Wreckreation
Off-road vehicle abuse is a growing problem on our public lands, especially in the West.
Oil and Gas Drilling
Environmental and public health risks are being ignored by regulatory agencies and decisions heavily influenced by profit-driven industries.
“Orphaned” Park Wilderness
Twenty-five million acres of recommended wilderness in our national park system are in limbo, marooned by politics.
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.
NEWS FROM PEER
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Price No Object for Federal Refuge Land Purchases
Consideration of Land Costs “Optimizes” Both Economic and Ecological Benefits
Court Lets Park Service Drop Desert Tortoise Protections
Park Service Wins Legal Victory at Mojave of Which It Should Be Ashamed
Documents Link Coke to Grand Canyon Plastic Bottle Reversal
Secret Decision to Block Single-Use Bottle Bans throughout National Park System
Grazing Punted From Federal Study of Land Changes in West
Scientists Told to Not Consider Grazing Due to Fear of Lawsuits and Data Gaps
Park Service Scientists at Point Reyes Vindicated yet Again
Marine Mammal Commission Confirms Shellfish Operation Effect on Seals
Things Don’t Always Go Better With Coke
Did Corporate Donation Sway Reversal of Grand Canyon Plastic Water Bottle Ban?
Federal Lawsuit to Keep Big Cypress Addition Lands Wild
Suit to Block Park Service Plan to Carve a 130-Mile Network of ORV Trails
Lawsuit to Halt GE Crops in All Midwest Refuges
Genetically Engineered Agriculture on 54 Refuges in 8 States Targeted as Illegal
Mexican Drug Gangs Invade Great Lakes Forests
Forest Service Cops in Michigan and Wisconsin Decry Agency Head-in-Sand Stance
Dunes Debacle in Delaware
Project Scraping Refuge to Protect Private Beach Homes Fails in 4 Days
Power Play at Delaware Water Gap and Appalachian Trail
“Fast Track” Review Masks Pre-Selection of Most Damaging Transmission Route
Big Questions About Big Cypress Hunting Plans
First Steps in Opening Vast Big Cypress Addition Lands to Hunting and Trapping
Fair Market Value Leases Could Fund Jersey Park System
Shale Gas Pipeline Highlights State’s Failure to Collect Full Payments from Utilities
Lawsuit to Uproot GE Crops From Southeastern Refuges
Genetically Engineered Crops on 25 National Wildlife Refuges in 8 States Are Illegal
White House Pact With Industry to Push GE Plants
High-Level Working Group Shielding Plan to Force GE Crops onto Wildlife Refuges
Park Service to Let Indians Remove Plants and Minerals
Abrupt Reversal of Conservation Mandate Raises Legal and Management Questions
Fracking Fluids Poison a National Forest
New Study Details Changes in Soil Chemistry and Devastation of Trees and Plants
The Big Cypress Wilderness Robbery
Park Service Scheme to Strip 40,000 Preserve Acres of Wilderness Eligibility Bared
Off-Roaders Seek Takeover of California Parks
Henry Coe and Red Rock Canyon State Parks Targeted in Financial Crisis Gambit
California Parks on Closure List Trigger Federal Payback
Nearly 1 in 5 Parks Set for Shutdown Used Fed Dollars with Promise to Keep Open
