Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Interior dept. becomes a conduit for influence peddling and history erasure
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Monday, February 9, 2026
One of the six "Freedom Trucks" paid for with $10 million in taxpayer funds, with programming by the right-wing PragerU and Hillsdale College. Photo: IMLS ([link removed]) .
The Trump administration has sidelined the official, bipartisan organization set up to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary and created a financial black box that has received at least $10 million in taxpayer funds while also soliciting millions more from donors whose identities may never be released.
Reporting from The New York Times ([link removed]) reveals that Freedom 250, President Donald Trump’s hand-picked replacement for the official America250 celebration, is selling direct access to President Trump ([link removed]) , including photo opportunities with the president, for $1 million and up. Freedom 250 is also partnering with right-wing political and Christian nationalist groups, including PragerU and Hillsdale College, to create content for six "Freedom Trucks" that are traveling the country at taxpayer expense.
E&E News previously reported that Interior Secretary Doug Burgum instructed the Interior department to switch all semiquincentennial branding to Freedom 250 ([link removed]) , sidelining the bipartisan America250 organization that Congress created in 2016.
"It’s completely inappropriate for Secretary Burgum to force Interior department employees to take part in the blatant influence-peddling at Freedom 250," said Aaron Weiss ([link removed]) , deputy director at the Center for Western Priorities. "The Freedom 250 logo, and all of the corruption that it represents, should not be in government email signatures or plastered across the visitor centers that are supposed to serve all Americans, regardless of their faith or politics."
In Sunday's New York Times story ([link removed]) , a spokesperson for Freedom 250 claimed that "Freedom 250 is not accepting foreign donations." This is contradicted by Freedom 250 CEO Keith Krach, who spent the World Economic Forum at the Freedom 250-branded "USA House" in Davos, Switzerland, publicly soliciting foreign partners for Freedom 250 ([link removed]) .
The House Natural Resources Committee is holding a hearing on Tuesday ([link removed]) to discuss public-private partnerships in the semiquincentennial celebration. Witnesses at the hearing are expected to include representatives from the four congressionally-chartered foundations that partner with the Interior department. The National Park Foundation, which has been commandeered by Trump loyalists, is acting as the pass-through for money going to and from Freedom 250.
How Congress is weaponizing the Congressional Review Act against public lands
In the latest episode ([link removed]) of CWP's podcast, The Landscape, Kate and Aaron discuss how Congress is using the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to overturn public land management plans, creating chaos and uncertainty for federal lands. Steve Bloch from the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance ([link removed]) explains that the CRA, originally designed to review agency rules, is now being weaponized to repeal resource management plans and even national monument plans like the one in place for Grand Staircase-Escalante, despite these never being treated as “rules” before. Listen now ([link removed]) , watch on YouTube ([link removed]) , or subscribe on Apple Podcasts
([link removed]) . You can learn more when Kate joins an emergency webinar in defense of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument ([link removed]) at 6:00 pm Mountain Time tonight.
** Quick hits
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Tribal leaders push back on Trump administration erasing history at Little Bighorn
KTVQ ([link removed]) | Military Times ([link removed])
Trump opens marine national monument to commercial fishing
National Parks Traveler ([link removed]) | Associated Press ([link removed]) | New York Times ([link removed])
Trump administration's equity stakes in mining companies pose risks to U.S. markets and startups
CNBC ([link removed])
Tribes challenge proposed revocation of bison grazing permits in Montana
National Parks Traveler ([link removed])
Indigenous landowners soften resistance to Ambler mining road in Alaska
Anchorage Daily News ([link removed])
The mysterious devices speeding mining exploration in Utah
The Atlantic ([link removed])
Texas is becoming America's surprise public lands success story
Backpacker ([link removed])
Opinion: Regardless of party, Americans want their national forests kept intact
The Hill ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” We're here just to confront what Trump's trying to do. We want to teach our youth our history. That's why we got the signage up there.”
—Ernest Littlemouth, Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council, KTVQ ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@parkdisservice ([link removed])
A man, a plan, a mess 📋
Say what you will ‘bout Burgum, but he’s miserably consistent… when they tell you who they are, believe them
(Yes, that’s really Doug. The 80s were bad, but that doesn’t excuse the “knockoff Jimmy Pesto” vibes - though Jay Johnston *was* at Jan. 6th, so…)
#ProtectOurParks ([link removed]) #SaveOurParks ([link removed]) #NoParksWithout ([link removed]) #RehireRangers ([link removed]) #StopTheSnitch ([link removed])
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