Interior's draft strategic plan cuts protections, boosts extractive industries

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

U.S. Department of the Interior headquarters in Washington, D.C. Source: Wikipedia

The Interior department's draft strategic plan aims to open up new lands to drilling and other extractive development while reducing federal land holdings and slashing environmental regulations, according to reporting by Jimmy Tobias, Chris D'Angelo, and Roque Planas in their Substack newsletter, Public Domain, who obtained a copy of the draft plan.

With its stated goal to “restore American prosperity,” the draft plan reads like an industry wish list that prioritizes oil, gas, and coal production, with the goal of opening new lands to development. It specifically calls for opening “Alaska and other Federal lands for mineral extraction,” and the “release” of federal lands to state and local communities for housing development. It also identifies returning “heritage lands and sites to the states” as a key objective, a thinly veiled reference to the seizure and sale of public lands, and a not-so-subtle objective to “assess and right-size monuments,” confirmation of the administration's intent to dismantle the boundaries of already protected national monuments.

The document includes language that Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has repeatedly used to describe America’s public lands and natural resources as “assets” on a “balance sheet.” The draft plan has a goal to “increase revenues” from grazing, timber, mining and other development on federal lands, but it simultaneously aims to “reduce the costs for grazing and other land uses,” which will likely only be possible by increasing the scale of such uses. The plan also mentions delisting species protected under the Endangered Species Act and “streamlining” the National Environmental Policy Act. It also indicates further cuts to the workforce of Interior agencies that are already reeling from mass firings and forced resignations and retirements as a result of Elon Musk and his DOGE operatives at Interior.

According to the draft, Interior will seek input from the public, Tribal nations and representatives, and Congress from May to July and plans to finalize the strategy by October.

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Public lands belong to the American people, not to drilling or mining interests. The BLM Public Lands Rule simply affirmed that conservation is just as valid a use of our public lands as development, and it brought common-sense and overdue reform to how these places are managed.”

—Alison Flint, senior legal director at The Wilderness Society, Colorado Sun

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@greatsanddunesnps

#EarthDay – People in this region have taken care of the Great Sand Dunes ecosystems for thousands of years.

· As part of their lifeways, Indigenous peoples have traditionally only taken what was needed, being careful not to waste natural resources. For instance, from bison they obtain jerky and pemmican that can last for months; hides for housing, boats, clothing, and shields; horns for cups and portable storage; sinew for cordage, sewing, and arrows; bones for marrow, projectile points, needles, farming implements, and jewelry; and tails for insect swatters.

· Ranchers who settled here preserved the wide-open spaces that we value today.

· When mining threatened the dunes in the 1920s, local chapters of the Women’s PEO, a philanthropic and educational organization, lobbied members of Congress and President Herbert Hoover to protect them. Their efforts were successful when Hoover established a national monument in 1932.

· Even through the 1960s, cars were still permitted on the dunes, threatening rare endemic species, leaving tire tracks, and making an unsafe environment for families. Congress designated the Great Sand Dunes Wilderness in 1976, and the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness in 1993, to protect the dunes and much of the mountain range from development and traffic.

· Plans for massive private groundwater extraction and export emerged in the late 20th century that would have significantly affected the dunes’ natural creek and wetland system. Local citizens again let their voices be heard, and through complex private/public partnerships and a vote of Congress, the small national monument was expanded into a large national park and preserve, protecting the natural hydrological system from tundra to wetlands, and also protecting water for agriculture in the valley.

Today we all share a role in maintaining this unique place for this and future generations. Happy Earth Day!

Photo: NPS/Patrick Myers

Image description: The dunes and snow-capped Mount Herard are reflected in a large wetland at sunset.

#NationalParkWeek #GreatSandDunes #Protection #Preservation #Conservation #FutureGenerations