I was recently on a podcast where I was asked a simple question: How do we best protect our public lands? Easy, by remembering that everyone, and I do mean everyone, loves these wild places.
For too long, public land users have siloed ourselves off from one another. There are the off-roaders, the hunters, the anglers, the climbers, the campers, the through-hikers, the rafters, and so on and so on. All public lands users, but deliberately walled off from everyone else, and done so by our own accord under the guise of "My recreation is more important than everyone else's."
But that's horseshit, and puts public land advocates on our heels against the concerted block of villains—Senator Mike Lee, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, etc—attempting to do away with our most cherished spaces. Everyone loves the outdoors. Everyone loves public lands. And everyone, and I mean everyone, supports public land recreation in real, tangible ways, as evidenced by the recent report by the US's own Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Outdoor recreation comes in all shapes and sizes, but hot damn, does everyone spend a ton of freakin' money around the country on it. How much? It drove $1.3 trillion in economic impact in 2024 alone, and yes, that includes off-roading.
The report by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis comes on the heels of the bare-knuckle brawls that have been occurring almost weekly over the last two years, as the Trump Administration and its acolytes have done their damndest to try and sell off our public lands. According to them, it'd served the American people better, as it would help "Balance the books."
More recently, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, who hasn't shown a single shred of interest in being the steward that job requires, told a crowd that if you can't see the value of selling off the nation's public lands, you're not "financially literate." I don't know about you, but if I was more financially literate, I feel like $1.3 trillion in economic activity spread across 50 states, supporting millions of American jobs in hundreds of different sectors would probably convince me I shouldn't try and sell it off for pennies on the dollar, which is what old Dougey is trying to do.
But more than that, the breakdown presented shows that everyone and their mother loves public lands, and that we all have an invested stake in their continued existence. Something that we, as public land users, need to remember the next time we're out on the trails.
For too long, we've fought amongst ourselves. Infighting and bickering, forgetting these places are mixed use by design. And the only people that serves are those evil-doers mentioned above. The Mike Lees, Doug Burgums, Donald Trumps of the world who'd rather see an oil field, housing development, or casino placed on top of the spots we used to hunt, hike, fish, camp, or off-road. It doesn't help us come together, it doesn't help our fight. It only hurts us, as we're not uniting and fighting with one voice.
Billions of our hard-earned dollars are spent on off-roading. Billions are spent on hunting. Billions are spent on camping and hiking. And when combined, it's over a trillion dollars.
The forces against public lands know we're bigger than they are. They know we not only have the numbers, but we have the financial might. They know that if we're united as one single block, they're screwed six ways 'til Sunday. That's why they're stoking those tribalistic fights among us. That's why you'll see them push hunters one way and campers another. That's why they'll mess with off-road routes or shooting restrictions. Divide and conquer.
We cannot let them do that. We cannot forget we're all public land users. That public lands are inherently mixed use. And thanks to those multiple uses, we all get to enjoy something that is so integral to being Americans: Our public lands.
