View from Cedar Mesa, Bears Ears NM, Utah                                                                                                    (Mike Painter)

 
February 13, 2025

Dear CalUWild Friends & Supporters —

FYI: This is a long, dense Update that covers a lot of important ground.

We’ve been busy since the last Update went out, and a lot has happened in that time. The California election dragged out, and in fact, the District 13 House race was the last in the nation to be decided, with Adam Gray (D) winning by a margin of 182 votes. The end of November and beginning of December were spent organizing for a public meeting with the Forest Service in Weed, California, supporting the proposed Sáttítla National Monument, northeast of Mt. Shasta. The meeting was a huge success, with support for the proposal coming almost unanimously from the 100-plus people who spoke.

However, this meant that our Annual Membership Appeal got off to a late start. A big Thank You to everyone who has responded so generously. And if you haven’t yet made a contribution, it would be greatly appreciated if you still considered one. Information is at the bottom of this Update.

Beginning in January, activity began in Washington, DC, as the 119th Congress came in, and there were numerous Zoom meetings with our various partners looking at the landscape we are facing with the new administration. One thing that has emerged is that everyone is energized and committed to working together to protect our public lands.

On January 9, President Biden announced his intention to designate Sáttítla Highlands and Chuckwalla national monuments in California. He planned to sign the proclamations at an event in the Coachella Valley, but high winds cancelled the event, the morning of the day that the disastrous fires broke out in Los Angeles. He signed the proclamations at the White House the following week, links to which you can find in ITEM 6, below.

The next week saw the new administration sworn in, and officials have wasted no time or effort to try reverse many of the gains made over many years, both by executive order and by nominations to various positions in the administration. It’s hard to keep track of all of the threats, nor will it be possible to respond to every single one that arises. And unfortunately, it’s not just public lands that are under threat, so we encourage you to keep informed about other issues as well, to the best of your capacity.

The good news is that Americans overwhelmingly support the protection of public lands, even in states like Utah, where the politicians are downright hostile. Working together we can still have an impact.

There is more going on than can comfortable fit in one Update, so there may be interesting topics missing, but I’ve done my best to include the most important things, without it being completely overwhelming.

 
Thank you for your support,
Mike Painter, Coordinator

 
IN GENERAL
1.   The State of Things
          A.   The White House
          B.   The Department of the Interior
          C.   Congress
          (ACTION ITEM)
2.   Fee-Free Days on Public Lands in 2025

IN GENERAL
1.   The State of Things
          (ACTION ITEM)

If you’ve been following the news at all, you know that a state of complete chaos exists in Washington right now. That has made it difficult to provide reliable information that is current. But here is some of what we know.

          A.   The White House

The White House is pushing to get its Cabinet nominees through the Senate confirmation process as quickly as possible, and there has been little effective opposition to any of them. It seemed as though opposition might be growing, but it was short-lived.

The president has fired the inspectors general in multiple agencies, including the Dept. of the Interior and the Dept. of Agriculture (which oversees the U.S. Forest Service), ignoring the 30-day notice to Congress required under law. The so-called Department of Government Efficiency, headed up by Elon Musk, is gaining unprecedented access to government information and proposing drastic cuts across the board to the number of federal employees, either by termination or reclassification—likely followed by firing and replacement by political appointees. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility has filed suit against the reclassification scheme, and other lawsuits have been filed as well.

Mr. Musk has proposed a buyout of questionable legality to federal employees. So far, several restraining orders have been issued in some of those cases. The vice president has stated publicly that courts shouldn’t be ruling on Executive Branch actions. The White House claims that 75,000 employees (approximately 3% of the workforce) have accepted the offer.

Finally, today the president signed orders requiring agency heads to terminate all probationary employees, numbering as many as 200,000.

It is certain that these combined actions will affect our public lands agencies.

          B.   The Department of the Interior

The Senate confirmed North Dakota’s former governor Doug Burgum as Secretary of the Interior by a vote of 79–18. Both of California’s senators, Alex Padilla (D) and Adam Schiff (D), voted against his nomination. Secty. Burgum is a proponent of oil & gas development and mining on public lands, and has said that natural resources are part of America’s “balance sheet,” requiring “a return for the American people.” North Dakota Indian Tribes were quoted as considering him an ally. Ironically, North Dakota filed multiple lawsuits against the Interior Department while he was governor.

Among his first actions was to issue a secretarial order ordering that various agencies in the department prepare, within 15 days, action plans to review many policies and designations from the Biden Administration and further back, including BLM’s Public Lands Rule that was finalized last year. (The list is extremely comprehensive but too long to recite here, so please read the order if you’d like more details.)

Not all the language was transparent, however, and one clause instructs that action plans include “the steps to be taken that would accomplish, at a minimum … actions to review and, as appropriate, revise all withdrawn public lands, consistent with existing law, including 54 U.S.C. 320301 and 43 U.S.C. 1714.” The two Code sections refer to the Antiquities Act, allowing presidents to designate national monuments, and to mineral withdrawals, respectively. This raises legitimate concerns that they are planning boundary adjustments or even rescinding some designations (which would not be surprising, given the first-term shrinkage of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments).

Some people had initially thought Secty. Burgum would be somewhat moderate, but he is implementing the White House anti-environment program “full-steam ahead.” Here are two articles concerning the Secretary:
From the North Dakota Monitor: Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum confirmed as Interior secretary

From ProPublica: North Dakota Sued the Interior Department at Least Five Times Under Gov. Doug Burgum. Now He’s Set to Run the Agency.

In other news announced yesterday, Kathleen Sgamma has been nominated to be Director of the Bureau of Land Management. From the perspective of the extractive industries, there could hardly be a better pick. Ms. Sgamma has been the president of the Western Energy Alliance since 2006, a trade organization promoting increased oil and gas production in the United States.

California Rep. Jared Huffman (D-2), the Ranking Member (the title given the top Minority party member) of the House Natural Resources Committee had this to say:

          C.   Congress

2025 kicks off the 119th Congress. Republicans have the majority in both the House of Representatives (currently 218-215, with 2 seats vacant) and Senate (53-45-2, where two Independents caucus with the Democrats). The House margin is the slimmest in history.

Both of California’s Senators, Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, are Democrats. Sen. Padilla retained his seat on the Energy & Natural Resources Committee and serves on the Environment & Public Works and Judiciary committees as well. Sen. Schiff is a member of the Environment & Public Works Committee; the Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry Committee; and the Judiciary Committee.

California’s House delegation continues to be the largest, with Democrats having an overwhelming majority, 43-9. Some GOP members may occasionally be allies in protecting against public land rollbacks.

California Rep. Jared Huffman (D-2) was chosen as the Ranking Member (the top Minority party member) of the House Natural Resources Committee. He had challenged Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), the former chairman of the committee and with seniority, for the position, saying that Mr. Grijalva had missed too many hearings due to health problems. Mr. Grijalva eventually withdrew his candidacy but retained his seat on the committee, as “Ranking Member Emeritus”.

Congress has already had a couple of public lands bills introduced. H.R.521 would repeal the Antiquities Act by reserving the right to designate national monuments to Congress alone. Introduced by Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy (R) (a niece-by-marriage of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy), it has 13 cosponsors, all Republican, including two from California, Doug LaMalfa (CA-1) and Vince Fong (CA-20), who replaced Kevin McCarthy, who resigned last year. In the Senate, Utah’s Mike Lee (R) has introduced S.220 which also reserves the right to establish national monuments to Congress alone. It has one cosponsor, Sen. John Curtis (R), also from Utah.

 
ACTION:   It is critical that all concerned citizens contact their House Members and Senators and tell them to be strong supporters of public lands and the environment and to oppose the administration’s potential rollbacks. In addition, it is critical to let them know your thoughts on the administration’s reorganization of the Executive Branch agencies and its dismissal of employees and nominations to positions.

CalUWild’s website contains a full listing of California Senate and House office phone numbers in Washington, DC.

If you want to go an extra step, schedule a meeting at their district offices and talk with a staffer in-person. The House will not be in session Feb. 14–21, and members should be in their home districts, so be on the lookout for events, such as town halls, where the member might appear.

Finally, consider getting involved with a group such as Indivisible, which is one of the leaders in keeping citizens informed about threats to our democratic system.

 
2.   Fee-Free Days on Public Lands in 2025

The National Park Service and other management agencies waive entrance fees on special days, such as include national holidays or area-specific ones. Special fees still apply. For the Park Service, the days are:

The other agencies have calendars as well, with some slight variations. A full list can be found here.

 
IN UTAH
3.   Red Rocks Bill to Be Re-Introduced
          Cosponsors Needed
          (ACTION ITEM)

America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act has been CalUWild’s main legislative priority since Day 1. It will be reintroduced again in the 119th Congress, most likely sometime in March. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) will again be the lead sponsor in the House, while Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) will lead in the Senate. I will be joining members of the Utah Wilderness Coalition in Washington, DC, the first week of March to discuss the bill with various California congressional offices.

Please support our efforts by contacting your representative and senators, asking them to become original cosponsors of the bills (listed as such when the bill is introduced, which shows a stronger level of support). They should contact the offices of Rep. Stansbury and Sen. Durbin to sign on.

CalUWild’s website contains a full listing of California Senators and Representatives, their previous cosponsorship, if applicable, and their Washington, DC office phone numbers.

 
4.   Lawsuit Seeking Control of Utah Public Lands
          Dismissed by U.S. Supreme Court

We reported in our September 2024 Update that the State of Utah had tried to sue directly in the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking a ruling that the federal government continued to manage too much land in the state after all these years of statehood. (This was done despite the fact that Utah’s own constitution disclaimed any future interest in those lands.)

Most legal experts expected the suit to be unfounded, and the Supreme Court agreed, dismissing the state’s motion, without comment. The dismissal leaves the state the option to file a suit in Federal District Court, which might then work its way up to the Supreme Court again. However, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance has filed suit in Utah State Court, asking that the governor and attorney general be barred from pursuing any further litigation.

If you are interested in reading about the issue in more detail, here are links to several articles and an op-ed:

 
IN CALIFORNIA
5.   Pt. Reyes National Seashore
          Ranch Buyout Announced

Ending years of controversy, much of which we’ve covered here, the National Park Service (NPS) announced an agreement last month to buy out the leases of most of the remaining dairy and beef ranches in Pt. Reyes National Seashore.

The agreement was the final result of two lawsuits filed against NPS by the Resource Renewal Institute (CalUWild’s fiscal sponsor, though we played no part in the suit or negotiations), the Western Watersheds Project, and the Center for Biological Diversity. The groups initially sued over plans to issue 20-year leases to the ranches in the Seashore. NPS then redid its management plan, with the final decision allowing ranchers to actually expand their operations, despite an overwhelming majority of public comments in favor of removing the ranches.

The organizations sued again, and this time, settlement negotiations began, which The Nature Conservancy (TNC) took part in, with the voluntary agreement being the result. Twelve ranches will vacate the Seashore by Spring 2026. TNC will provide the funding, to be raised from private donors, to buy out their leases, as well as help with resettlement of displaced tenants and their employees. Two ranches opted out of the discussions and will remain; NPS will work to negotiate long-term leases with them.

NPS, TNC, and the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria (Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo people, descendants of the original inhabitants) will cooperate in the management and restoration of the landscape.

Unrelated to the agreement itself, NPS announced in December a decision to remove the sturdy fence at the northern end of the Seashore, separating one of the Tule elk herds from the ranches and the rest of the Seashore. The fence was controversial because it cut the elk off from water sources, leading to substantial die-off during drought years.

Bay Nature published a comprehensive article following the announcement: A Legal Settlement Will Usher In a Wilder Point Reyes

 
IN THE PRESS & ELSEWHERE
6.   Links to Articles and Other Items of Interest

If a link is broken or otherwise inaccessible, please send me an email, and I’ll fix it or send you a PDF copy. Gift links are temporary links from some websites, allowing non-subscribers to view articles for free for a limited time. As always, inclusion of an item in this section does not imply agreement with the viewpoint expressed.

In California

In Arizona

In General

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