National Parks Open for Mining? BLM Paves Way for Mineral Rights Claims on Public Land
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PEER | May 16, 2025
In 2023, NPS official Frank Lands explicitly ordered the mine to cease and desist any activities other than water quality monitoring. Now it has been given full permission by the BLM to resume its operation. “Mining is one of the most destructive land-based activities,” Jeff Ruch, ...
National Parks Report Record Visitation Amid ‘Catastrophic’ Moment
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PEER | March 10, 2025
The 34 locations were part of a larger list of hundreds of federal properties the Trump administration is looking to give up or sell, The Washington Post reported. That includes nine visitor centers and visitor contact stations. Examples include the Klondike Gold Rush Historical Site ...
‘They Can’t Do Their Jobs’: Trump Issues $1 Spending Limit for All Parks Workers
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PEER | March 6, 2025
Trump’s latest executive order applies to more than the National Park Service. According to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a nonprofit watchdog organization, it also impacts the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which will now have just two people designated ...
E-Bikes on Shaky Ground in National Parks Pending Environmental Review
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Susan Sargent | June 6, 2022
In 2019, P. Daniel Smith, NPS acting director at the time, issued a directive that ordered every park to treat e-bikes “in a similar manner” to traditional bicycles. That policy, called the Smith Directive, led to a “Final Rule” that now governs how the NPS treats them; as such, it ...