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.
Environmental and public health risks are being ignored by regulatory agencies and decisions heavily influenced by profit-driven industries.
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
Laudable or laughable? Southern Utahns, others talk Biden’s proposed public lands rule
President Joe Biden’s administration proposed a new public lands rule emphasizing conservation. The “Conservation and Landscape Health” rule, first proposed in March, lists conservation as a use of BLM lands on par with grazing, recreation and resource extraction,...
COMMENTARY | Is Congress Too Dysfunctional to Fund the National Parks?
In past decades, America’s best idea was one of the few domestic programs enjoying bipartisan support.
Officials: Error led to routing planned transmission line through national monument
The potential destruction of ice age fossils in a Southern Nevada national monument by a proposed energy transmission line is due to a decade-old mapping error, according to federal employees, but at least one government accountability group isn’t buying it. “We are...
Feds Withhold Minnesota Grant Due to Overlogging
DNR Told to End Timber Cuts in Wildlife and Aquatic Management Areas
COMMENTARY | Florida’s Environment – A Native Floridian Perspective
Florida must take significant steps to promote coastal resiliency and protect all communities against the effects of climate change and water pollution.
Groups Urge Interior to Do Its Homework on E-bikes
Better Impact Assessment Needed Before Unleashing E-bikes Across National Park System
Feeble NPS E-Bike Assessment Sheds Little Light on Impacts
Park Service Review Dodges Wildlife, User Conflict, Fire, and Other Effects
COMMENTARY | Managing Rangelands From Outer Space
The BLM has introduced satellite imagery as its latest land management tool – with predictably bad results.
BLM Conservation Rule Not Ready for Prime Time
Agency Lacks Capacity to Accomplish Intended Conservation Goals
National Park Chooses Carrying Capacity over Crowding
Mt. Rainier Openly Considers When Limits Needed to Save Park Resources
Cell Tower Casts Shade on Bryce Canyon Centennial
Regional Office Steamrolled over Park Management and Staff Objections
Change is Possible! National Parks Reclaim Their Skies
The first serious inroads have been made into curbing swarms of commercial air tours rumbling across some of America’s most besieged national parks.
Sharp Reduction of Air Tours Slated for Two Hawaii Parks
Current Incessant Overflight Levels Deemed Incompatible with Park Values
Commercial Air Tours to End at Mt. Rushmore & Badlands
Continued Swarms of Overflights Deemed Incompatible with Park Values
COMMENTARY | Questions About BLM’s Conservation Rule
There are serious concerns about many provisions of the new BLM conservation rule and its potential negative impact on public lands
BLM’s Sketchy Satellite-Based Range Management
Agency Sets the Stage to Renew 1, 372 Montana Grazing Allotments Renewed in One Fell Swoop – No NEPA
PEERMail | Conservation: Is this the Right Proposal?
A new regulatory proposal by BLM touting conservation sounds promising but is full of red flags.
Permit Renewal Shows BLM Not Serious on Range Reform
Despite Horrid Conditions No Recognition of Overgrazing or Climate Impact
San Francisco Parks Overflight Limits Grossly Inadequate
Suit Charges Air Tour Plan for Four Bay Area Parks Developed Illegally
BLM Oil Exemptions Threaten Sage Grouse in Wyoming
Groups Ask for Immediate Moratorium on Waiver of Habitat Protections