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.
The enemy has never been closer to getting into the gates, to paraphrase the old saying.
And that's what makes this talk from conservationist Randy Newberg and Ted Roosevelt IV, the great-grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt, so important of a listen. Because, if we're to take our foot off the gas pedal and return to apathy toward public outrage of public land selloffs, as these gentlemen discuss, we'll become what Europe is today: A land where only the wealthy are able to experience the joys of the landscape. No off-roading, no hunting, no fishing, no nothing. Unless you're a Duke or Duchess or some tech oligarch.
I listened to this podcast while out on a hike with my dog in the woods, probably not the best idea in lion and bear country, but it is what it is. Yet, the stark reality of their talk, in which Roosevelt IV talks about how we're pushing a cost onto our future children, r.e. selling off public lands so they can't enjoy it, was seared into my brain as I walked through the aspens and scrub oaks, and viewing the fresh deer tracks in the snow. This will all be gone unless we actually do something about it. Unless we continue fighting the Mike Lees, the Doug Burgums, and the oil, gas, mineral, and housing executives of the world.
We'd become like Europe or most other countries, places where public lands don't exist as you and I know them.
Go to France, to the United Kingdom, Germany, or anywhere, and you'll find stunning natural vistas for sure, but they're owned by someone. More often than not, they're owned by royalty or the landed gentry, i.e., the wealthy who can buy up huge parcels of land and close them off. And even though hunters, anglers, off-roaders, hikers, and campers came together to stop the big sale of public lands, we're already seeing instances of these closed-off places in the United States. Hawaiian islands are being purchased, often in shady backroom deals, by tech oligarchs like Mark Zuckerberg. There was a controversial land-swap with the Crazy Mountains in Montana. And ski resorts are petitioning local, state, and federal governments to expand their footprints into public lands.
There are, unfortunately, more and more examples of this coming out each and every day, along with all the regular land sales and swaps that occur with extractive industries, all of which close off access to once-prime public lands. It's a never-ending stream of horseshit that's being crammed down the American people's throats, one where the powers that be are pretending it's for the good of us all, even as we continue the refrain of "Not one acre."
They're still trying to sell off our inheritance, and we'll be worse off for it if we let them do it.
There's a lot to this conversation, though, as as you'd expect, Roosevelt IV, coming from the family he does, has a lot to say on public lands. It's well-worth your time to listen and get fired up. So call your congressional representatives, call your senators and house members and even local politicians. Tell them we're not behind their selloffs or trades or what-have-you. Tell them we shouldn't trade the most valuable thing about this country: our public lands. Because if we don't stand up now, we risk losing it all. And I don't want an America without them.
