This commentary was originally published by Writers on the Range.
When I led the Bureau of Land Management under President Joe Biden, the hardest part of my job was reassembling the agency after the first Trump administration had scattered its headquarters from our nation’s capital. The move crippled the agency — as intended.
Opinion
That experience led me to understand that the current Trump administration’s unpopular plan to move the U.S. Forest Service headquarters will be every bit as destructive. It will hurt forests, wildlife and communities that rely upon our public lands and waters.
In 2020, almost 90% of the BLM employees ordered to move West chose not to, forcing them out the door. With those seasoned employees went years of wisdom and knowledge of how things are supposed to work, of how to deliver for the American people.
Today’s Forest Service plan goes farther, aiming to close regional offices and shutter dozens of the agency’s research centers, as we face what some say will be a horrific wildfire season.
The Forest Service and the BLM combined manage 20% of our country’s lands and waters. These public lands — the places we camp, hike, watch birds, hunt and simply wander in nature — are truly one of America’s best ideas. For Westerners, they are a deep part of our identity.
There is a reason Forest Service headquarters are based in Washington. It’s where our nation’s leaders work. Believe me, I did not want to move to the capital from my home in Montana to run the BLM, but to be able to fight for Western people and places, I had to go to the seat of our nation’s power.
I was often in the Department of the Interior secretary’s offices. I frequently walked to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director, talking through thorny problems such as how to protect wildlife while permitting transmission lines. Washington is where people manage relationships with Congress, where budgets get made.
The administration says all their changes are about bringing leadership closer to where the work happens. That’s a political talking point, and it’s false.
If DOGE’s dismantling of government agencies last year provides any lesson, then cruelty and disruption are the real point. These changes aim to create chaos, deliver the administration’s stated goal of traumatizing employees, and imperil the very existence of public lands — lands that belong to all Americans. We improve the management of our forests by giving foresters the resources they need and letting them make decisions based on sound science and collaboration, not by gutting their agency.
Over the course of the last year, the Forest Service forced or coerced roughly a quarter of its approximately 30,000 employees to leave. In this latest round of engineered chaos, thousands of people will be reassigned and ordered to move. If BLM history is any guide, almost all will leave their positions rather than uproot their families. The agency could soon be left with roughly half its former ranks.
Think of your job. Now, think of half of your colleagues gone. Would your organization be able to recover from the loss and demoralization to do its work?
There are inevitable repercussions to this radical attack on our public land management agencies: Campgrounds will close. Trails won’t be maintained. High fuel loads near communities will go unaddressed. Wildfires will become even harder to fight. More sawmills will close. The health of our land, waters and wildlife will decline. With things going wrong on the ground, some will demand that these lands be transferred to states or sold to private industry.
That’s exactly what the people in power today want. The choice of Utah for the Forest Service headquarters — home to U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, who leads the charge on public land sell-off, as well as to the state that is suing to try to take over millions of acres of your public lands — reveals the administration’s true agenda.
The inevitable does not need to happen. There is one power to stop our public lands from being mismanaged to the point of selloff: It’s the outrage of the American people.
Americans overwhelmingly support public lands and want future generations to enjoy the freedoms found in them. Our public forests, rivers and deserts deserve to be treated better, and the federal land managers who work tirelessly deserve better. It’s up to us to demand it.
After living in Wyoming all my life, I can’t imagine a place where everything is private. I’ve read enough and heard enough about the wealthy in Europe owning everything and no one recreates on their land but them, pretty much the way of large ranches in Wyoming these days. It’s hard to watch land ownership change when each new landowner comes in with their no trespassing signs. I was lucky enough to live at a time that this wasn’t so much the case. I think perhaps why I am so adamant about it, is that I feel that this state belongs to me and everyone here, not just for whatever we can drill for, take from the surface or make money on. But I don’t think like everyone, especially here and now.
“Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children’s children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.”
Theodore Roosevelt
The plan to erode the Land Management Agencies continues as separating responsible managers from their jobs is just part of the plan to disperse our public lands to the States where they will be sold or given away. The plan speeds up during Republican Administrations and slows down during Democratic Administrations but is never fought well by the Democrats, due to whom gets elected in Western States. The typical Republican voter in Wyoming cannot believe or fathom that Harriet Hageman would participate in selling out our public lands, so they continue to vote for the Party that has a long term plan to wreck our Public Lands.
The creation of a separate Fire Service in Wyoming Forestry mirrors what is occurring in the Federal Agencies and while this will be sold as a “benefit” to fighting fires, it is really a trojan horse to erode Public Lands Agencies. Easy to see if close enough, but hard to fight or understand at the State level.
The only way to solve this issue is vote for Democrats from Western States like Wyoming, Montana and Utah instead of Republicans like Hageman and Lummis. Unfortunately, the US only elects Democrats from western coastal communities combined with urban representatives like Cortez or Sanders and this coalition of Democrats does not help Public Lands cause, because they lack the focus and knowledge of what is being achieved and how to coop the current process to head off the loss of our lands to the Oligarchs that fund the Hagemans of the world. The issues are visible but there is no western public lands champion that I can see in the current environment that can articulate the issues well enough to change the eventual outcome, but I hope we keep trying nonetheless.
The Trump administration needs to be dismantled. I sure have my fingers crossed for the midterms. The king of bankruptcies is bankrupting America. He’s driving America into the ground, all the while enriching himself and his family. He’s treating the citizens of America like they’re dogs. I don’t know if MAGA is smart enough to see it.
Gordon, Trump merely continues the Bankruptcy. He isnt the cause. The Debt was an insurmountable 20 Trillion in 2017, 27 trillion in 2020, 35 trillion in 2024, it is now nearly 40 Trillion.
What you say Trump does, every DC politician does regardless of party.
Americans voting for the “lesser of 2 evils” has given us the unavoidable result.
Evil.
We can’t change the past so let’s focus on the future. Trump needs to go.
He was replaced by Biden last time, the next replacement will be just as bad as Biden was for this country.
“Trump needs to go” doesn’t resolve anything.
No one seems to recognize that DC politicians are not fixing a stinking thing on this sinking ship.
You continue to create your own facts, out of echo-chamber opinions and thin air. Biden and Democrats accomplished a fair bit that was “good” for this country. Our economy recovered from the pandemic faster and stronger than any other nation on earth. Record jobs growth. Passed the infrastructure investments and jobs act that Republicans repeatedly take credit for, despite voting against it. Passed the inflation reduction act. Passed the chips and science act. Passed the honoring our PACT act for veterans. Negotiated lower drug prices, reduced insurance premiums for millions. Strengthened consumer protections. Started no new wars. Alienated none of our allies. Managed to not destroy parts of the White House for narcissism and greed. Didn’t enrich himself to the tune of billions at the expense of tax payers. Managed to not send a rapidly increasing number of farmers and ranches into bankruptcy via tariffs and stupid economic policies. Could he/they have done more for struggling citizens? Yes. But, not without bipartisan support. There was very little of that. And there continues to be no plan in our GOP-controlled federal government to do much of anything to makes American lives better, unless you’re a fan of destroying institutions, personal vendettas and standing on the neck of first amendment rights and civil liberties. The two parties are not the same.
Biden was 100% better than the FELON
When it comes to presidents and our budget, I think our democratic leaders have done a much better job with money.
The issues that you have stated that’s going to happen have been happening for the last 40 years . The only thing worse is the states taking over management which they have shown they can’t manage what they currently have now .