Good public land conservation is being proposed all the time. The Public Land in Public Hands piece of legislation introduced earlier this year is proof of that, as it's meant to safeguard public lands while an administration does its level best to sell every square acre of it to extractive industries.
However, due to a variety of reasons on both sides of the aisle—I have a litany of issues with how both Democrats and Republicans treat public lands—they're struck down, never voted on, or fail to capture enough critical proponents that they die on the vine that is Washington's bureaucracy.
One such piece of legislation likely headed toward the great scrap heap in the sky is the Recreational Trails Program Full Funding Act of 2025. It's a mouthful of a legislative title, but it represents some truly key initiatives that'd be a great boon for public land access, yet likely won't get enacted. That is, unless enough folks call their state and federal representatives and start demanding they speak up for public lands.
