Public Lands

Of Counsel

Jeff serves as Of Counsel to PEER, where he specializes in civil service, scientific integrity, and whistleblower protection issues. Jeff was PEER’s Executive Director from 1997 to 2019 and its Pacific Director from 2019 to 2025. Previously, he was the Policy Director and a staff attorney at the Government Accountability Project, representing whistleblowers from both the public and private sectors. Before coming to DC, Jeff worked in California state government for 17 years, mostly in the State Legislature as counsel to various committees where he drafted hundreds of laws on topics ranging from energy conservation to the rights of employed inventors. Jeff served stints as a deputy district attorney and an appellate court clerk. He is a graduate of the California Correctional Officers Academy.

COMMENTARY | Park Service’s Inhumane Inertia

by Jeff Ruch | December 9, 2022
The Biden administration has left several disastrous Trump policies in place - from allowing inhumane hunting practices to not taking action on park crowding ...

PEERMail | Banning Lead Ammunition in National Parks

by Susan Sargent | November 29, 2022
One of the great tragedies of lead ammunition is the widespread poisoning it causes to wildlife ...

PEERMail | Are Wild Horses to Blame for Failing Rangeland Health?

by Susan Sargent | November 14, 2022
BLM must address overgrazing on public lands and stop scapegoating wild horses for failing land health ...

COMMENTARY | Home on the Range: Wild Horses on Public Lands

by Chandra Rosenthal | November 9, 2022
Wild horses are given a bad reputation for damaging public lands but BLM data shows that livestock are the real problem ...

REPORT | Bureau of Land Management Land Health Status – 11-09-2022 (PDF) 

Huge swaths of BLM lands are failing fundamental land health standards with current livestock grazing management identified as a significant cause ...

COMMENTARY | Biden’s First Monument Not Very Monumental

by Jeff Ruch | October 19, 2022
Is Camp Hale the least protected national monument in American History ...
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