Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** New report finds mining claims threaten national parks and monuments
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Friday, April 4, 2025
Grand Canyon National Park ([link removed])
A new analysis by the National Parks Conservation Association illustrates the threat mining claims pose to national public lands, including national parks and national monuments. In The New Land Rush: Mining Claims Encroaching on National Parks ([link removed]) , NPCA mapped hardrock mining claims on national public lands and found that more than 3,700 current mining claims are within the boundaries of national parks or national monuments. More than 120,000 claims are within 30 miles of the boundaries of a national park or national monument—a quarter of all current mining claims on national public lands.
The findings underscore the need to reform the Mining Law of 1872, which has governed mining on national public lands for over 150 years and is woefully out of date. NPCA offers a number of policy recommendations to better protect communities and our public lands, including actions to hold the mining industry accountable and ensure companies pay for the minerals they extract and the clean-up efforts required to address mine pollution and waste. Learn more in the report ([link removed]) , which includes an interactive map and state-by-state fact sheets.
Unpacking Trump's mining and timber EOs
In the latest episode ([link removed]) of the Center for Western Priorities podcast, The Landscape ([link removed]) , Kate and Aaron talk to two experts about recent executive orders that negatively affect public lands. Mitch Friedman, founder and executive director of Conservation Northwest, ([link removed]) talks about how Trump’s executive order aimed at increasing logging in national forests ([link removed]) squares with existing law and forest management plans, while Rachael Hamby, policy director at the Center for Western Priorities, covers Trump’s recent order ([link removed]) seeking to ramp up mining on public lands
([link removed]) .
** Quick hits
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Fireworks follow talk about selling public land
E&E News ([link removed])
Burgum tries to address outrage at national parks funding cuts with secretarial order
National Parks Traveler ([link removed])
Coal plant ranked as nation's dirtiest asks for pollution exemption
New York Times ([link removed])
Trump takes aim at the people who protect national parks from climate change
Grist ([link removed])
Opinion: Finding balance in addressing the housing crisis without sacrificing our way of life
Nevada Current ([link removed])
Revealed: Trump’s fossil-fuel donors to profit from data-center boom and green rollbacks
The Guardian ([link removed])
A notorious, tree-chewing pest could be making a comeback in Colorado
CPR News ([link removed])
The horses and mules that moved mountains and hearts
High Country News ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” These lands provide more than just economic benefits — they offer healing and peace. The outdoors is a sanctuary for countless veterans who have sacrificed for this country.”
—Chris Rush, Bakersfield Californian ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@mypubliclands ([link removed])
Did you know that pronghorns, the fastest land mammals in North America, also have one of the longest land migrations? They often cross public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
We oversee more wildlife habitat than any other federal agency— including 75 million acres of pronghorn habitat. Our efforts help maintain self-sustaining populations and promote the natural abundance and diversity of wildlife on public lands.
Since 2018, we have improved over 2.2 million acres of pronghorn habitat. That’s an area 300 times the size of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport!
📸Alan Nyiri
@arizonapubliclands ([link removed])
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