Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** The Trump administration's dismantling of the U.S. Forest Service
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Wednesday, September 24, 2025
A monarch giant sequoia on the Sequoia National Forest. Source: USDA Forest Service Photo by Alicia Embrey, Flickr ([link removed])
The Trump administration is eager to begin a new era for the U.S. Forest Service with a mission that maximizes logging, drilling, and mining, while dismantling the agency from within and abandoning its role as a protector of ecosystems and wildlife habitat.
In his Landline newsletter for High Country News ([link removed]) , Jonathan Thompson writes that over the last nine months, the Trump administration has issued executive orders calling for expanded timber production ([link removed]) and rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule ([link removed]) , declared “emergency” situations ([link removed]) that enable it to bypass regulations on nearly 60 percent of national forests, and proposed slashing the agency’s operations budget ([link removed]) by 34 percent.
In addition, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is proposing ([link removed]) a radical overhaul of the entire department that will include moving at least 2,600 of the agency's 4,600 Washington, D.C. employees to five regional hubs, with only two located in the Western U.S.—in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Fort Collins, Colorado. The goal, according to Rollins ([link removed]) , is to “bring the USDA closer to its customers.” However, the move would eliminate the Forest Service's nine regional offices, each of which oversees dozens of national forests within their region, providing budget oversight, guiding place-specific implementation of national-level policies, and facilitating coordination among the various forests. The public has until September 30 to comment on the proposal
([link removed]) .
** Quick hits
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Oil and gas leasing provisions in Big Beautiful Bill could impact hundreds of millions of acres of public lands
Deseret News ([link removed])
The Trump administration's dismantling of the U.S. Forest Service
Landline ([link removed])
In the West, utilities are shifting the cost of wildfire damages to customers
Grist ([link removed])
Congress gave a break to coal producers, but Wyoming worries it will carry the revenue loss
Wyoming Public Media ([link removed])
U.S. rivers are experiencing unprecedented and unexpectedly intense warming
NBC News ([link removed])
Natural gas pipeline ruptures in southern Wyoming, sending up huge flame seen from Colorado
Associated Press ([link removed])
Pueblo attempts to change its relationship with the Arkansas River with a new park where a dam used to be
Colorado Sun ([link removed])
Opinion: Erasing Native American stories from parks and public lands hurts all Americans
Native News Online ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” We’re trying to paint a picture here and say that your favorite parcel of public land could be on the chopping block if the industry simply points to it, pays nothing, and says they want it.”
—Justin Meuse, government relations director at The Wilderness Society, Deseret News ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@nationalparkservice ([link removed])
Everyone: Too bad summer is over
Us: 🎃
The leaves are changing, temperatures are cooling, and you can practically hear the faint whispers of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas” wafting through the air. Wait, what? Magical. Fall is back, people! It’s the official first day of fall, otherwise known as the autumnal equinox, aka you’re really wearing a pumpkin on your head?
Fall is a great time to experience parks. The autumn months splash many national parks with a rich array of colors to enjoy, #FatBearWeek ([link removed]) starts tomorrow, and there is plenty of pumpkin spice and all that’s nice to go around. Not a fan of fall? Get out.
Just kidding. Only three months til winter. Need inspiration for fall trip ideas and things to do? Go to nps.gov
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