Google “Project 2025.” It’s a 920-page manifesto for a potential second Trump administration that has something (bad) for everyone, but our great public lands estate is put in particular peril. Like most elk (and other) hunters in western states, I depend on public lands for hunting, hiking, camping and outdoor recreation in general. But more importantly, wildlife species like elk, deer, turkeys and dozens of others need that habitat for their survival.
As my friend David “Elkheart” Petersen (a former U.S. Marine Corps helicopter pilot and Durango resident) explains, “If you want to hunt, first you have to have animals to hunt. And if you want animals, first they’ve got to have habitat to live in. So, if you’re not trying to protect habitat and improve it and increase it, then you’re working against yourself as a hunter.”
Former Trump administration Bureau of Land Management Acting Director William Perry Pendley wrote the Department of Interior section of Project 2025. That’s a very bad sign. A July 19 High Country News story (“Project 2025’s extreme vision for the West”) noted that Pendley is “a vociferous opponent of protections for public lands and wildlife.”
During his time in the White House, former President Donald Trump (with the assistance of Pendley) orchestrated the largest reduction of protected public lands in U.S. history, weakening safeguards on nearly 35 million acres. The Department of Interior section of Project 2025 (written by Pendley) starts on page 517 and includes, for example, these proposals.
Restoring mining claims and oil and gas leases in Colorado’s Thompson Divide (p. 523); reviewing national monument designations with an eye to reducing their size (p. 532); seeking repeal of the Antiquities Act of 1906 (p. 532); putting states in charge of managing the greater sage grouse (p. 534), etc. And that’s just the tip of a very rotten iceberg that would decimate public lands habitat.
There are those who will tell you “Trump has disavowed” Project 2025. But his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, wrote the foreword for the book version of the 900-page proposal. In addition, one report showed that 31 of 38 authors and editors of Project 2025 have been or continue to be on Trump’s team. Not to mention that Trump lies like you and I breathe. The Washington Post, which kept score, put the number of lies during his four years as president at 30,573.
However, normal, rational people rely on facts to guide their decision-making. And here in Colorado, every Parks and Wildlife District Wildlife manager I talk to emphasizes that the proliferation of motorized and mechanized trails (legal and illegal) is negatively impacting elk herds. For example, the U.S. Forest Service alone already has a staggering 130,000 miles of motorized and nonmotorized trails available to mountain bikers.
“As I analyze a new area, the first thing I do is pull it up in my hunting app and study all access in and out. This includes roads, off-road routes and hiking trails,” American Hunter Field Editor Mark Kayser explains. “And with today’s invasion of e-bikes, I am also researching to see if they are allowed in the area. The fewer designated routes the better for increased possibilities of elk meetings.”
“In conclusion,” Petersen wrote in a 2013 Traditional Bowhunter story, “the three-part formula for assuring a rich elk hunting future in North America could hardly be simpler, or more in need of our acknowledgment and help right now. Those three essential elements are: habitat, habitat and habitat.”
No matter what Trump says currently, the public land degradation and/or liquidation proposed by Project 2025 and started during his administration will accelerate if he returns to office. If you’re a hunter, angler, hiker, climber, mountain biker or anyone who recreates on or values our great public lands estate, beware. Pendley, Trump and Project 2025 are coming for our public lands.
David Lien from Colorado Springs is a hunter, author and former Air Force officer. In 2014, he was recognized by Field & Stream as a “Hero of Conservation.” This op-ed is his personal opinion and not that of any other group/organization.
