Conservation Watchdog Updates
Community members in Glenwood Springs gathered for a honk and wave in support of our public land managers. In western Colorado, our local federal workers are the people who care for our treasured public lands day in and day out. We put on a rally to support them. Photo credit: Francis Sanzaro.
This article first appeared in the Summer 2025 edition of Wild Works.
Since taking office on January 20, President Trump has wasted no time putting his anti-conservation agenda in motion. The relentless attacks on our wild places, water, climate and the public’s ability to participate in decision-making threaten ecosystems and our way of life in western Colorado.
In response to the significant and direct attacks on our public lands, Wilderness Workshop is prioritizing maintaining our recent conservation victories (like 20 years of protection for the Thompson Divide) and countering new threats to our public lands. A cornerstone of our response is engaging and unifying our community. We are stronger together.
In that spirit, we launched the Conservation Watchdog to share information about national threats most likely to impact our local public lands and give everyone the tools to join us in the fight. Our Conservation Watchdog online action center makes it easy to be an activist for public lands – by signing petitions, calling your members of Congress, writing letters to the editor, attending rallies, and more.
In the first few months of the Trump administration, through our Conservation Watchdog we rallied our community to take action on major threats, including:
Public Lands Sell-Off
The Trump administration and some members of Congress are laying the groundwork to sell off and privatize our national public lands. Selling off Colorado’s public lands would limit public access for recreation and strip away environmental protections that safeguard our air, water, wilderness and wildlife. While some policymakers suggest selling public lands can be a way to develop affordable housing, the reality is that the housing crisis demands comprehensive solutions that address zoning laws, building codes and underlying income inequality. Selling public lands to developers doesn’t constitute a serious proposal to address those problems–it’s a ruse to fund tax cuts for the wealthy and promote exurban sprawl. However, the good news is that as of press time, in the recent budget reconciliation process, provisions to sell off over half a million acres in the West were removed. The outcry and advocacy from thousands of folks like you worked! It is a win for now, but we anticipate these misguided efforts to sell off public lands will continue, and we need to stay engaged in this fight for the long haul.
Fossil Fuel Energy Dominance
On day one, President Trump issued Executive Orders declaring a fabricated “energy emergency” and promising 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.” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has outlined an agenda for leasing more public lands for oil and gas drilling, drastically limiting the public’s voice and role (one recent proposal would essentially eliminate public comment on new fossil fuel and mining developments), and revoking regulations and policies that protect public lands, natural resources and human communities from the impacts of fossil fuel development. The Administration is also pushing out orders to increase coal production and bury climate science. This fossil fuel agenda puts our local landscapes at risk, from the Thompson Divide to the North Fork Valley.
Logging our National Forests
The Trump administration has also issued a series of orders to drastically increase logging on our national forests. These include direction to the Forest Service to increase timber production, reduce public comment and expedite timelines for timber sales, as well as increase forest land offered for timber sales. A memo from the Forest Service Chief’s Office specifically directs regional foresters to develop strategies for increasing timber volume offered, leading to an agency wide increase of 25% over the next 4-5 years. Another alarming memo, from the Secretary of Agriculture, unilaterally makes a ridiculous “Emergency Situation Determination” for more than 110 million acres of national forest land. This determination enables the Forest Service to shortcut environmental review, public participation and judicial review for logging and other timber harvest activities. We’ll be a vigilant watchdog for the White River National Forest to keep harmful logging projects away from wildlife habitat, recreation destinations, water resources and other values of our public lands.
Land Management Staffing and Funding Cuts
In February, President Trump and Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” – which is not a real government department – indiscriminately fired thousands of people from federal land management agencies, including the Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife Service. Ever since, the agencies have been consumed in a firestorm of court orders, mass resignations and demands for deeper staffing cuts. These actions will have drastic and immediate negative impacts on Colorado public lands and the communities that rely on them. Here in western Colorado, local federal workers are the people who care for our treasured public lands day in and day out – restoring wildlife habitat, maintaining trails and campgrounds, protecting our wilderness areas, fighting wildfires, managing ever-increasing tourism and visitation, and more.
Join our Conservation Watchdog action community! Take a stand for public lands – and the wilderness, wildlife, crystal clear rivers and mountain fresh air that make our home special.
