In Southwest Colorado, our public lands are the backbone of our communities. The meandering Dolores River provides solitude and wilderness alongside grazing lands for local ranchers. Canyons of the Ancients National Monument south of Cortez honors sacred cultural sites while balancing management for recreation and extractive industries.
However, the careful balance and freedom our public lands offer are being threatened: Last week, the new Secretary of the Interior Doug Bergum released a cascade of shady secretarial orders that attempt to strip away protections and block access to public lands for everyday Americans by selling them to oil and gas companies and the wealthy. Simultaneously, thousands of Americans who work for already understaffed federal land management agencies were abruptly fired on Feb. 14.
The secretarial order, issued on Feb. 3, mandates a ridiculously expedited 15-day internal review of national monuments and lands withdrawn from fossil fuel and mining development, including areas with mineral withdrawals and administrative protections identified in management plans. These management plans take years of careful preparation, consultation with Tribal Nations/Pueblos/Tribes, and ample community involvement.
Similarly, the management of national monuments are driven by thoughtful plans that are tailored to the unique needs of communities and the remarkable resources they seek to preserve for all Americans. This move is wildly unpopular with the public – 84% of Westerners support presidential authority to designate national monuments in order to guarantee public access and protect the land, water and wildlife for future generations. This administration is indicating they will ignore many of these locally led processes, which is a slap in the face to local communities who painstakingly worked on over many years to develop well-balanced plans.
The mad rush to open up all lands to extraction is also based on a nonexistent problem: Domestic oil and gas production is at an all-time-high. Eighty-five percent of public lands are already open to oil and gas exploration and about half existing oil and gas leases are not even being used. This illuminates that the administration is trying to greedily sell off the 15% of protected public lands to corporate polluters, blocking access for everyone else.
If this administration is successful in prioritizing energy above all other uses, it would be detrimental for the places that all love for generations to come. Imagine an operational mine within the view shed of the Dolores River. Especially without proper planning and regulation, all it would take is an extreme rain to wash harmful chemicals into our water, poisoning everything, only to benefit wealthy CEOs who have never experienced a sunset over the Dolores River.
The thousands of federal workers who were callously fired last week are primarily seasonal or have worked at a given agency for less than a year. While being outrageously cruel to hardworking Americans, it is also detrimental to our public lands and parks. Overall, these jobs offer minimal wages and help manage visitation, clear trails, fight wildfire, and clean bathrooms. By removing them it further cripples land management agency’s ability to manage American lands and visitor safety.
While there is so much to care about right now, it is important for us all to call on our Colorado elected officials and ask them to speak out against these attacks on our shared heritage. Call Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, and Rep. Jeff Hurd to tell them our public lands are not for sale.
Politicians, billionaires and corporations do not, and should not, decide what happens to land that belongs to all Americans. These places are our home – they provide clean water, clean air, habitat for plants and animals, and places to recreate. It is now up to us to defend the places we love.
Rica Fulton is the advocacy and stewardship director for Dolores River Boating Advocates based in Montezuma County. She lives in and writes from Dolores.
