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.
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NEWS FROM PEER
Mountain Bike Group Wants Access to Park Backcountry Trails
NPS Director Appears This Week at International Mountain Biking Convention
The Congressman and the Forest Fire: A Tale of String Pulling
Rep. Henry Brown Evades Forest Service Assessment for 4 Years, Penalty Waived
Off-Road Vehicle Route Designations Going Badly off Track
U.S. Senate Hearing Grasping for Solutions to Rising Toll of ORVs on Public Lands
Last Stand for the Mojave Cross?
Supreme Court Only Option to Stay Removal of Giant Cross after 9th Circuit Ruling
America’s Ten Most Imperiled Wildlife Refuges 2008
Threatened by Oil Drilling, Mining, Roads, ORV Use and, Above All – Politics
Shell’s Revolving Door Swings U.S. Arctic Drilling Program
Oil Company Grabs Top Agency Managers to Push What They Used to Regulate
New Battle at the Little Bighorn
Planned “Temporary” Visitor Center in Center of Battlefield Draws Historians’ Ire
Off-Roaders Booted From Arizona Monument Due to Abuses
Section of Sonoran Desert National Monument Off-Limits to ORVs for Two-Years
Bush order to Promote Hunting May Spark New Off-Road Curbs
Rangers Want Agencies to Help Hunting & Fishing by Ending Reckless Off-Roading
Congress to Take First Look at Off-Road Ravages on Public Land
Rangers to Testify Situation Out-of-Control as Anniversary of Utah Riot Nears
Justice Department Undercuts Park System for Mojave Cross
Administration Argues Park Service Lacks Authority on Private Land within System
Off-Road Violations Out of Control, Say Federal Rangers
In First-Ever Survey Southwest Rangers Call for Tougher Penalties
Off-Road Abuse Tearing Up National Monument in Arizona
Sonoran Desert National Monument Overwhelmed by Off-Road Traffic and Impacts
BLM Sees Worsening Off-Road Crisis Risking Visitor Safety
Ranger Ordered to Ignore Emergency in “Near Riot” at Utah’s Little Sahara
Off-Roading Becoming Monstrous Law Enforcement Headache
Off-Road Crime Outstripping All Other Violations Combined on Public Lands
Rangers Call Off-Road Vehicles Biggest Threat to Public Lands
“Rangers for Responsible Recreation” Launched to Combat “Wreck-reation”
Conservation Groups Call on Park Service to Protect the Florida Panther
Park Service Should Not Have Opened More Routes to Off-Road Vehicles in Big Cypress National Preserve
National Wildlife Refuge System Put on Starvation Diet
Scores of Vacant Refuges to Be Left With No Staff on “Preservation Status”
NATIONAL PARKS TOUT THEIR ECONOMIC BENEFITS
Internal Study Credits Parks with Generating $10 Billion and 236,000 Jobs
BLM Gives Back $700,000 in Federal Clean-Up Funds for Nevada
Agency Acquiesced to Atlantic Richfield’s Plan for Anaconda Mine Remediation
