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


** Senator Mike Lee backtracks on national parks sell-off amendment
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Monday, December 22, 2025
Featured image: Sen. Mike Lee in October 2020. Photo: Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons ([link removed])

Following days of widespread public backlash, Utah Senator Mike Lee has reportedly ([link removed]) withdrawn ([link removed]) an amendment to a Senate appropriations bill that could have paved the way for the sale of national parks.

If passed, the amendment would have removed language ([link removed]) that requires the federal government to protect and maintain the current boundaries of national park units. Despite Senator Lee's many previous attempts to dispose of America's public lands ([link removed]) , Lee's office claime ([link removed]) d ([link removed]) that he never intended the change to allow for the sale of national park land, and that the original language was pulled because it would have inadvertently blocked routine land exchanges. “I categorically oppose selling national parks,” said Senator Lee
([link removed]) in a statement to Utah News Dispatch.

The Senate left for holiday recess without finalizing the spending package after Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper held up the process by demanding protections for the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) ([link removed]) . The delay keeps the bill open for further amendments when Congress returns in January.

Interior energy leader exits unexpectedly just three months after confirmation

Leslie Beyer, who served as Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the Interior department, abruptly left the agency ([link removed]) just a few months after her confirmation in September. Interior did not provide a reason for Beyer’s departure. The role will be temporarily filled by Lanny Erdos, a former coal executive and the current director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.


** Quick hits
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The year Trump broke the federal government

Washington Post ([link removed])

Colorado River water negotiators appear no closer to long-term agreement

Colorado Sun ([link removed]) | Associated Press ([link removed]) | Las Vegas Review-Journal ([link removed]) | Politico ([link removed])

Following backlash, Senator Mike Lee backtracks on national parks proposal

Outside ([link removed]) | Utah News Dispatch ([link removed]) | More Than Just Parks ([link removed]) | National Parks Traveler ([link removed]) | Deseret News ([link removed]) | SFGate ([link removed])

Opinion: Steve Pearce's nomination threatens our public lands

Las Cruces Sun News ([link removed])

Mexican wolves are rebounding, but are they ready for delisting?

High Country News ([link removed])

BLM sets special oil, gas lease sale for unsold northwest Colorado leases

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel ([link removed])

Trump’s pick to lead BLM: ‘A first real test’ for new Senate public lands caucus

Public Domain ([link removed])

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service chief orders ‘comprehensive’ review of wildlife refuges

E&E News ([link removed])


** Quote of the day
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” The BLM’s mission is not exploitation. It is care. It exists to manage public lands for the benefit of all Americans, today and tomorrow. Pearce’s record reflects a worldview that treats land as a commodity to be carved up, rather than a trust to be safeguarded.”

—Las Cruces Councilor Becky Corran and New Mexico Representative Angelica Rubio, Las Cruces Sun-News ([link removed])


** Picture This
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[link removed]

@usinterior ([link removed])
Surrounded by a cathedral of frost, a moose at Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge settles down after a breakfast of browsing cottonwoods. The Wyoming refuge protects a mosaic of riparian, wetland and upland shrub habitats along 36 miles of the Green River.

Photo by @usfws ([link removed])

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