Welcome to the Conservation Watchdog action center – we’re glad to have you with us in this fight.

Our public lands are under attack, but you can get involved and make a difference. The Trump administration has made it clear that energy dominance is their priority above all else, jeopardizing our clean air, water, wild places and way of life in western Colorado. It’s time for our community to stand up to defend the places we love.

On this page, you’ll find information about national threats most likely to affect our local public lands and shared environment as well as tools to join us in the fight. This work is going to take all of us, and Wilderness Workshop will keep you in the loop on ways you can continue to speak up and push back.

Below we’ve compiled some helpful resources to help you get started.

The Top Threats We’re Tracking Right Now

Unleashing American Energy
On day one, President Trump issued an Executive Order that purportedly aims to “unleash” American energy by promoting fossil fuel development on our public lands. The Executive Order revoked President Biden’s directives on climate change and environmental justice, and directed federal agencies to immediately begin planning for a new wave of “energy dominance.” Newly appointed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum took up the mantle right away, issuing a Secretarial Order that directs agencies to “prioritize reducing barriers to the use of Federal lands for energy development” – including leasing more public lands for oil and gas drilling, speeding up oil and gas permitting and revoking regulations and policies that protect public lands, natural resources and human communities from the impacts of fossil fuel development. We’re ready to fight these directives at every turn, and we’ll be asking you to stand with us along the way.

Political appointees representing Big Oil
President Trump has appointed people with close ties to the oil and gas industry to oversee our public lands. The Senate has confirmed former North Dakota governor Doug Burgum to be the next Secretary of the Interior. Governor Burgum co-hosted an event honoring fracking executives, opposed the goal of protecting 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, and joined a legal challenge to block the Bureau of Land Management’s landmark conservation initiative, the Public Lands Rule. President Trump also nominated Kathleen Sgamma, longtime president of the oil and gas trade group Western Energy Alliance, to lead the Bureau of Land Management. Sgamma was a co-author of Project 2025, led the oil and gas industry’s legal challenge to the BLM’s modernization of oil and gas regulations, and has argued that the cure to climate change is worse than the problem (!). With these foxes guarding the henhouse, we can expect oil and gas drilling to be prioritized over all other uses of our public lands, and protections rolled back for wilderness, wildlife and water.

White House council to promote fossil fuels
President Trump also established a “National Energy Dominance Council,” led by Interior Secretary Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, to advise the president on fast-tracking fossil fuel development and unwinding the Biden administration’s efforts to combat climate change. Besides being bad public policy, this is out of step with public sentiment. New polling shows that regardless of political party, 72% of westerners want leaders to conserve public lands, compared to 24% who think public lands should be used for oil and gas development.

Burying climate science
The Trump administration ordered the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, to remove all websites related to climate change, including those detailing climate policies and climate data. To comply with this order, the Forest Service removed important climate research and climate adaptation resources such as wildfire vulnerability assessments. Burying the climate crisis won’t make it go away – and we’ll be working to ensure climate change is given the attention it needs.

How can I make a difference?

1) Contacting your elected officials

One of the most important things you can do to push back against the Trump agenda is to contact your federal elected officials and remind them these initiatives are not in Colorado’s best interest. A quick phone call or short email, letting them know you want them to stand strong for public lands, can make a meaningful difference. If you live in western Colorado, we’ve compiled contact info for your members of Congress. If you do not live in western Colorado, please visit this link to find your members of Congress.

Senator Micheal Bennet
(202)-224-5852
Send an email

Senator John Hickenlooper
(202)-224-5941
Send an email

Representative Joe Neguse (CO-2)
(202) 225-2161
Send an email

Representative Jeff Hurd (CO-3)
(202) 225-4676
Send an email

In addition to voicing your concerns with the issues described above, here are some important messages to emphasize when speaking with members of Congress or their staff:

• Trump’s energy dominance agenda is out of step with public sentiment in Colorado. Nearly 76% of Coloradans prefer that leaders place more emphasis on protecting water, air, wildlife habitat and recreation opportunities over maximizing the amount of land available for drilling and mining (2025 State of the Rockies Polling).
• Protected public lands are the backbone of Colorado’s economy and way of life. According to the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office, outdoor recreation contributes more than $62 billion to our state’s economy and supports over 500,000 jobs, or 18% of our workforce.
• Colorado’s public lands are home to some of our state’s most important wildlife habitat, treasured recreation areas, wildlands that should be protected for future generations, critical water resources, famed Colorado scenery and Indigenous cultural sites. We shouldn’t sacrifice these values for short-term gain.

2) Writing letters to the editor

Writing letters to the editor is another important way to speak up for our public lands and get the attention of important decision makers like elected officials, including our members of Congress. These are letters that a community member writes to the editor of a paper to increase the public’s awareness of a specific issue, and they can make a big difference. Letters to the editor are also a great way to demonstrate where public sentiment lies.

For example, if you read an article about President Trump’s cuts to the federal workforce, you can write a letter to the editor in response voicing your perspective on why those actions are harmful to our public lands and communities. Typically, news outlets provide contact information for submitting a letter to the editor in XYZ place.

When writing a letter to the editor, here are some tips to consider:

• Be clear and concise. Many newspapers will have word counts you’ll need to follow, so make sure you’re effectively communicating your point within the parameters you have.
• Personalize it. Our personal stories or connection to an issues will always be the most powerful persuaders
• Make it timely and relevant. Can you connect this issue to anything else going on in the news? Can you draw a local connection to a national issue? That may increase your chances of publication.
• Cite any relevant data or studies. Bolstering your argument with these lends credibility to you as the author.
• End with an ask or call to action. This is a great way to inspire action and get more people involved in your cause.

If you would like additional support for writing a letter to the editor, reach out to Wilderness Workshop’s Advocacy Director Erin Riccio at erin@wildernessworkshop.org