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


** Interior official's financial disclosure reveals potential conflicts of interest
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Friday, December 5, 2025
The Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior Building, U.S. General Services Administration ([link removed])

A review of associate deputy Interior secretary Karen Budd-Falen's financial disclosure documents, conducted by Public Domain ([link removed]) , raises more questions than it answers about Budd-Falen's potential conflicts of interest. Budd-Falen has a long anti-public lands history, including as an attorney representing ranchers and others in support of extreme anti-public lands positions, and as deputy Interior solicitor for fish, wildlife and parks during the first Trump administration.

According to Budd-Falen's latest financial disclosure, she also owns multiple ranches in the West, as well as stocks in oil and gas companies, creating the potential for conflicts of interest with her work at the Interior department, which oversees grazing and oil and gas drilling on national public lands. "According to this form, she returned to Interior in March and still held Exxon Mobil stock as of May. She’s making millions of dollars a year from her cattle ranches. If Budd-Falen were to work on any sort of grazing policy at Interior, she would be in a position to further enrich herself," said Aaron Weiss ([link removed]) , deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities.

Report: Integrity of national parks depends on the Land and Water Conservation Fund

A new report ([link removed]) by the Trust for Public Land highlights the importance of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) for buying private property from willing sellers, including parcels within national parks, so that those parcels can become public lands. The Trump administration has floated using those dollars for maintenance instead ([link removed]) , which would be inconsistent with the law that created LWCF. The report presents data that show the extent of private inholdings within national parks, and urges Congress to protect LWCF funds for their original intended purpose.


** Quick hits
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Westerners denounce Trump’s pick to lead Bureau of Land Management

National Parks Traveler ([link removed])

Clean drinking water for millions of people at risk as Trump admin targets national monuments

Center for American Progress ([link removed]) | Inside Climate News ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])

Trump orders DEI out of national park bookstores and gift shops

KQED ([link removed]) | National Parks Traveler ([link removed])

Colorado considers first-of-a-kind rules to protect streams, wetlands as federal regulations are rolled back

Colorado Sun ([link removed]) | Rocky Mountain Community Radio ([link removed])

Wildlife crossings could see permanent federal funding through bipartisan bill

Mountain Journal ([link removed])

National parks aren’t just for tourists. They’re an essential home for wildlife

High Country News ([link removed])

Chirp one out for the pika: Hot rocks from climate change are killing Rocky Mountain critters

Colorado Sun ([link removed])

The inside story of how a Nevada fir became the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree

Nevada Independent ([link removed])


** Quote of the day
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” Park Service staff should be managing parks, not censorship campaigns.”

—Alan Spears, National Parks Conservation Association, KQED ([link removed])


** Picture This
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@nationalparkservice ([link removed])
This is the ideal marmot body. You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.

❄️ WINTER IS COMING…and these absolute legends have been bulking up like it’s cheat-day, well, everyday. In just a few months they’ve gone full “bear-mode,” (They saw Fat Bear Week and said “hold my grass.”) packing on so much fat they can sleep straight through winter.

Here’s how they adapt and crush hibernation harder than your New Year’s gym resolutions:

✅ Turn into walking (well, waddling) fuzzballs (scientific term, thank you) with fat reserves that last up to 8 months.

✅ To bulk up, they primarily eat plants like grasses, leaves, flowers, and berries, but they are omnivores and also consume insects, seeds, and bird eggs when available. Second breakfast, please.

✅ Once settled in for winter, they drop their heart rate from 200 BPM (post-cardio vibes) to a chill 30 BPM. That’s one heartbeat every two seconds.

✅ Is it warm in here? They skip the heating bill entirely by throwing the coziest colony sleepover in one big burrow. Who’s snoring?

In conclusion, marmots spend over half their lives napping like champions. Respect the hustle…or lack thereof.

Image: A marmot standing upright on a rock at Rocky Mountain National Park. NPS/Schonlau

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