Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities


** AZ rep. introduces bills to eliminate two national monuments
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Thursday, September 18, 2025
Ironwood Forest National Monument, BLM Arizona via Flickr ([link removed])

U.S. Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona has introduced ([link removed]) two bills that propose to eliminate two national monuments in Arizona. The bills would eliminate Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, designated by President Joe Biden in 2023, and Ironwood Forest National Monument, designated by President Bill Clinton in 2000. Both monuments were designated using the authority granted to presidents by the Antiquities Act of 1906 ([link removed]) .

Both monuments have been in the crosshairs since the beginning of the second Trump administration. In his first day on the job, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered a "review" of national monuments ([link removed]) designated by previous presidents. An internal Interior Department memo ([link removed]) from April 2025 confirmed that eliminating national monuments—including Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni and Ironwood Forest ([link removed]) —remains a policy objective of the administration and its allies in Congress. Ironwood Forest National Monument was
featured during the Center for Western Priorities' Keep Parks Public ([link removed]) road tour stop in Tucson, Arizona last month.

"This is an affront to the freedom of all Americans who rely on these landscapes for cultural, recreational, economic and health benefits," Scott Miller, southwest regional director at The Wilderness Society, said in a statement ([link removed]) . "It will threaten critical habitat for wildlife and desecrate our treasured natural places, and flies in the face of the massive broad Tribal and local support for these places."


** Quick hits
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The wild areas facing the most threats under Public Lands Rule repeal

Source NM ([link removed])

Interior changes priorities, requirements for Land and Water Conservation Fund

Summit Daily ([link removed])

Utah advocates fear a ‘slow creep’ of development without the Roadless Rule

KUER ([link removed])

New border wall 'a nail in the coffin' for biodiversity in southern Arizona

Tucson Sentinel ([link removed])

U.S. senator calls on Big Oil to disclose suspected lobbying over Trump plan to axe key climate rule

The Guardian ([link removed])

Feds combine several wildland firefighting operations into new Wildland Fire Service

CPR News ([link removed])

Communities advocate for shutdown of the last uranium mill in the U.S.

Prism ([link removed])

Opinion: Keeping up the fight for public lands

Durango Herald ([link removed])


** Quote of the day
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” From sweeping executive orders promoting 'energy dominance' to secretive agency directives expanding oil and gas leasing, we’re in the midst of a wholesale attack on public land protections nationwide. The 'multiple use' doctrine has been weaponized to mean one thing: corporate use.”

—David Lien, Durango Herald ([link removed])


** Picture This
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@usinterior ([link removed])
The Dena’ina people call this special place “Yaghanen” — the good land. It’s also known as the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.

From ice fields and glaciers to tundra, forests and coastal wetlands, the Kenai Refuge is often called “Alaska in miniature.”

Alaska’s most-visited refuge is nearly two million acres in size. World-class fishing, camping and hiking opportunities draw people from around the world.

Photos by Lisa Hupp / @usfws ([link removed])

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