Over the summer, the country came together, put aside their political differences, and joined hand-in-hand to say in one unwavering voice: Not one acre. The rallying cry came after Senator Mike Lee, from my home state of Utah, threw in a truly massive public lands selloff into the Trump administration's "One Big Beautiful Bill." The idea was to get rid of it all, sell it to the highest bidder, and leave our country for the worse.
Surprise, surprise, everyone hated it. No, really, everyone hated the idea of a public lands selloff, as nearly every single American, no matter their background, economics, social or political views, love public lands. They love our national parks and forests, our roadless areas, our backcountry, and everywhere in between. They use them to hunt, fish, hike, camp, dirt bike, off-road, and more. It's the one issue in American politics that unites everyone.
And you'd think that this fact would halt the vultures aiming to do away with the prized American asset. You'd be wrong, as the fight to protect our public lands is still very much ongoing. There's the Ambler Road project getting re-greenlit. Secretary Burgum's attempted selloffs of public land, as well as his leaked assurances to oil executives that he'll get them what they want. The repeals of the Roadless and Public Lands Rules. The nomination of Steve Pearce to run the Bureau of Land Management, who's basically a carbon copy of Mike Lee. The cuts to both the BLM and the Forest Service.
