Photo Credit: WildEarth Guardians

Public lands in public hands – exposing greedy land-grabbers and fighting privatization

Public Lands in Public Hands

Public lands provide limitless opportunities to experience everything from majestic red rock canyons to ancient sequoia groves, vast mountain wildernesses, and the stunning Sagebrush Sea. Many of these areas are protected from development as National Parks, Monuments, Forests and Wilderness Areas, providing the last remaining places for clean water and air, and homes to a remarkable diversity of wildlife, birds, and fish.

Unfortunately, exploitation and privatization of the commons is as old as the West, and protection of, and public access to, these lands is not assured. Wealthy, entrenched interests are lobbying their friends in Congress, pressuring federal agencies, and supporting the message of radicals like the Bundy family that they are the rightful owners of public lands and can do with them as they see fit.

We can’t stand by and let this happen. Guardians works to expose the efforts of greedy land-grabbers to keep public lands where they belong: in public hands.

Public Lands in Public Hands Key Strategies

The Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management are required by law to serve the public, rather than private proponents, when trading or selling public lands. Still, too often agency proposals reward privatizers with valuable land or access to minerals and offer little value in return for the rest of us. Guardians monitors agency land trades and sales from initial proposal to final decision to make sure the public interest is upheld. When it’s not, we challenge the actions in court.

Several Western states—led by Utah—have demanded that all public lands inside their borders be handed over to them, claiming it’s required by the Constitution. This discredited theory is promoted by far-right groups whose corporate funders stand to profit from state ownership. Meanwhile, the impacts would be enormous: more clearcutting and mining, less environmental oversight and public access. Guardians organizes opposition to state efforts to steal public lands and works to expose the big-money interests behind the movement.

Too many members of Congress treat their districts’ public lands as personal fiefdoms. They sponsor legislation for land deals exempted from fundamental laws such as the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act in order to conceal that they serve the needs of the rich and well-connected rather than the public. Guardians exposes the politicians’ shady bills and organizes opposition to fight for the public’s interest.

National monuments protect priceless cultural and geologic treasures; for instance, Bandelier National Monument in Arizona preserves Ancestral Puebloan culture, including homes, kivas, and rock paintings, and Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in California and Oregon protects the biodiversity of a unique ecosystem at the junction of two mountain ranges. Unfortunately, national monuments are also a beachhead in current attacks on public lands: President Trump claimed to be restoring the rights of Utahns when he issued orders drastically shrinking Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments.

Guardians defends the rights of all Americans to preserve national monuments for future generations. We are committed to fighting monument reductions from the president and Congress.

Public Lands Grabs

Public lands privatization schemes are alive and well in the U.S., but most Americans don’t know about them. Our report aims to change that and to raise awareness of the many proposals that threaten to rob us all, parcel by parcel, of public lands.

read the report

How You Can Help

Help protect the magnificent wild places of the West! Be a guardian for public lands by joining the conversation, learning about current issues, and making your voice heard. Together, we’re a powerful force for nature.

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Public Lands Press

Grazing permits on Colville National Forest threaten imperiled bull trout

Jul 19, 2021

SPOKANE, WA—To defend t…

Logging without laws lives again

Missoulian | Jul 20, 2021

In 1995, Congress passed the now infamous “Salvage Rider,” which effectively suspended environmental safeguards for three years allowing the U.S. Forest Service to ramp up industrial logging and road building across the American West, including in previously protected ancient, old-growth forests.

Court upholds limits on Flathead Forest roads in grizzly territory

KPAX | Jun 28, 2021

Federal land and wildlife managers failed to safeguard grizzly bears when they sidestepped road density limits in the Flathead National Forest Plan. But other parts of the plan can stand, according to a federal court ruling.

Nicholas Bascom

Wildlife Program Intern

Nick is a 3rd year law student at UCLA serving as a summer intern with WildEarth Guardians in the Wildlife Program. For Guardians, he concentrates mostly on protecting imperiled species via the Endangered Species Act. At UCLA, his focus is on environmental law and tribal legal development. Before law school, he taught for many years and wrote for Science News and Research Penn State. His first novel, Mordor, California, will be published in the fall. He lives with his wife Camrynn, his son Kyber, and his dogs K.C. and London.

Javier Gallegos

Photography Intern

Javier is the Summer 2021 photography intern for WildEarth Guardians. His work focuses on photographing the Rio Grande and its impact on ecology and human life. He became concerned with the drying of the river from his experience of growing up in El Paso, Texas, without water in the Rio Grande. Only in pictures of other parts of the country did he know what a river was supposed to be like. He is currently a senior at New Mexico State University with plans to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism & Professional Communication and a minor in History in the spring of 2022. Javier enjoys watching stand up comedy and video games in his free time.

Siera Schroeder

Intern

Siera is a rising 3L at the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law. Growing up in upstate New York she fell in love with the outdoors but it wasn’t until she moved to Denver, Colorado that she realized how deep her passion and love for the outdoors – especially trees and water – actually ran. She now takes every opportunity she can to row or raft down a river, or go and see some trees! One may even say she’s become a real tree hugger. Siera hopes to translate her love and passion for the outdoors and all its wonders into a successful legal career advocating for the protection of the natural environment so it might be preserved for future generations to love and enjoy.

Rachel Pemberton

Intern

Rachel is a rising 3L at Lewis & Clark Law School focusing on environmental and natural resources law. Combining her interests in the natural and social sciences, she received her Bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from the University of Washington in 2018. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest exploring parks and forests has made her passionate about protecting public lands, wildlife, and clean air and water for present and future generations.

Reza Sadeghzadeh

Wild Rivers Program Intern

Reza is a rising 3-year law student at University of Oregon School of Law. He received his B.A. from Humboldt State University, where he quickly fell in love with the Pacific Northwest. As an intern for the Wild Rivers Program, Reza’s work is focused on protecting the western yellow-billed cuckoo and the Upper Willamette Chinook salmon and Winter Steelhead. In his free time, Reza is usually doing some outdoor activity like backpacking, cycling, or diving.

Contact

[email protected]

Simon Miller

Intern

Simon Miller is a 2021 summer intern for WildEarth Guardians. He is a rising Junior at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Simon is a Political Science major that has a passion for examining, improving, and defending the laws and regulations that make our world a better place for people and wildlife. Simon grew up and still lives in Oak Park, the first suburb west of the Chicago city limits.

Contact

[email protected]
303-501-5815

Andrew Rothman

Wild Places Program Director

A native of Wisconsin, Andrew’s interest in wildlife started in his youth, thanks to his many trips to their family cabin in the Northwoods. Growing up in the 80’s, Andrew’s interests in native wildlife expanded to that of the rainforests of Latin America that he learned were rapidly being destroyed. A lifelong aspiration to help protect wildlife and their habitat ensued.

Andrew’s professional career has led him toward fulfilling those aspirations. Andrew helped thousands of people increase their connection to nature as the Assistant Naturalist at the renowned Horicon Marsh with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Andrew founded his own non-profit organization, Rainforest Biodiversity Group, to help protect and restore habitat for the endangered Great Green Macaw in Costa Rica; helping private landowners establish private reserves and creating Latin America’s first Birding Trail along the way. Andrew spent over a decade working with American Bird Conservancy managing a portfolio of projects in nearly a dozen countries in Latin America leading to the protection and restoration of thousands of acres of grassland, forest and wetland habitat for migratory and highly endangered endemic birds. Here he also helped establish ABC’s Great Lakes Program, co-authored the Golden-winged Warbler Non-breeding Grounds Conservation Plan, the first plan of its type for a songbird, and helped establish ABC’s Impact Investing Program, which looks to find ways to demonstrate how non-philanthropic capital can be invested for conservation outputs. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, with degrees in Biology and Wildlife Management, Andrew continues to bring innovative solutions to complex conservation problems.

Andrew enjoys international travel having visited 28 countries. He also enjoys rock climbing, skiing, yoga, hiking and fine dining. Andrew is the descendant of two WWII concentration camp escapees.

Contact

[email protected]
928-242-3292

Jack Meyer

Greater Gila Arizona Advocate

A local to Arizona’s White Mountains, Jack Meyer brings to the Greater Gila campaign a reverence for the wildlife and wild places that shaped him. Jack has worked on social and environmental justice issues throughout his adult life and during his time as an Environmental Studies student at Northern Arizona University. In 2014 he began working with 350.org’s fossil fuel divestment movement, and has founded chapters for Our Climate and the Sunrise Movement in Arizona to advocate for science based policy solutions to address climate change. After a year in Tennessee working with Appalachian Voices on their energy democracy campaign Jack is back in the West as WildEarth Guardians Greater Gila Advocate for Arizona.

Feel free to send him an email to chat about the work he is doing to protect public lands across the Greater Gila Bioregion.

Zoe Camporaso

Wildlife Program Intern

Zoe is an intern in the Wildlife Program at WildEarth Guardians. She is majoring in Environmental Science at Lewis & Clark College, with a minor in History. She is passionate about soil science and the rights of land. Zoe enjoys vegetable gardening and one of her life goals is to swim in as many bodies of water as possible.

Megan Sweeney

Wild Places Intern

Megan is a rising 3L at the University of Oregon School of Law. Originally from Jupiter, Florida, she grew up scuba diving, snorkeling, and hiking in a state with unique ecosystems such as everglades and coral reefs, shaping her into the environmentally conscious individual she is today. Working at a sea turtle hospital and watching toxic algae blooms negatively affect both coral reefs and endangered species inspired her to drive positive change and pursue a career in environmental law.

She attended the University of Florida and graduated in 2018 with a BS in Marine Science with minors in Mathematics and Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. After graduation, she worked as an intern at JLA Geosciences, a hydrogeological contracting firm where she learned the importance of sustainable water and land management. Megan is very involved with the environmental law community through her leadership roles in the Land Air Water Environmental Law Society. Megan helped organize both the 2020 and 2021 Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) through her positions as a 1L Representative and a Conference Co-Director. During her 3L year she will serve as a Land Air Water Co-Director. She has also been involved with the University Oregon’s Environmental and Natural Resources Center as a Fellow on the Oceans, Coasts, and Watersheds Project.

Her research is focused on Biocriteria and reforming the CWA to better protect coral reefs and better address agricultural runoff. During her 2L year she also competed in the Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition. During the summer of 2020 she worked for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. In the fall of 2020, she had a judicial externship at the U.S. District Court District of Oregon working for the Honorable Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai. Megan is very excited to gain further litigation skills by working in the Wildlife Program at the Portland Office of WildEarth Guardians.

Public lands in public hands – exposing greedy land-grabbers and fighting privatization

Public Lands in Public Hands

Public Lands in Public Hands Key Strategies

How You Can Help

Recent Stories From Public Lands

Public Lands Press

WildEarth Guardians protects and restores the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the American West.

Nicholas Bascom

Wildlife Program Intern

Javier Gallegos

Photography Intern

Siera Schroeder

Intern

Rachel Pemberton

Intern

Reza Sadeghzadeh

Wild Rivers Program Intern

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Simon Miller

Intern

Contact

Andrew Rothman

Wild Places Program Director

Contact

Jack Meyer

Greater Gila Arizona Advocate

Zoe Camporaso

Wildlife Program Intern

Megan Sweeney

Wild Places Intern