** Great American Outdoors Act funding targets released
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Monday, November 23, 2020
Dinosaur National Monument is just one location where LWCF funds may be used to acquire private inholdings; but the Trump administration is undermining how these acquisitions could take place | M ([link removed]) aceij Ciupa ([link removed])

On Friday, Trump's Interior Department released detailed descriptions of proposed projects ([link removed]) that will be prioritized for funding through the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA).

The detailed projects come after the Trump administration failed to meet the original deadline to submit a project list to Congress ([link removed]) , delaying implementation of the landmark conservation bill. Even after submitting lists to Congress, the Interior Department has been continually vague about allocations for the new funding. In one case, a deferred maintenance backlog line item was simply listed as "Alaska," ([link removed]) with no explanation.

It has become clear that the Trump administration's support of the GAOA was nothing more than pre-election greenwashing. ([link removed]) Prior to this year's election, the administration tried repeatedly to gut the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), a key program that was fully funded as part of the GAOA. Only days after the election, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt signed an order kneecapping the implementation of LWCF and undermining the new law ([link removed]) . The new order ([link removed]) makes it substantially harder for agencies to make land acquisitions, among other changes.

After the release of new details, critics point out ([link removed]) that the funding priority lists have not grown substantially after the enactment of the GAOA—which provides hundreds of millions of dollars in guaranteed additional funding. The new list also favors state grant programs over federal acquisitions. However, the list does include more than $125 million allocated to the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in order to acquire private lands ([link removed]) from willing sellers. Planned acquisitions range from Alaska and California to Kentucky and Florida.
Quick hits


** Push emerges for the first Native American Interior Secretary
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New York Times ([link removed]) | Associated Press ([link removed]) | Native News Online [Opinion] ([link removed]) | Las Vegas Sun [Editorial] ([link removed])


** New federal proposal aims to block banks from not financing Arctic Drilling; Biden to face uphill battle
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Anchorage Daily News ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed]) | Washington Post ([link removed]) | The Hill ([link removed])


** New Mexico State Land Office begins to hold oil and gas operators accountable, increases enforcement of public land clean-up
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Associated Press ([link removed]) | Carlsbad Current-Argus ([link removed])


** Seven ways Biden can fight climate change without any help from Congress
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Mother Jones ([link removed])


** Trump undermines the Great American Outdoors Act even as funding targets are released
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HuffPost ([link removed]) | High Country News ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed]) | National Parks Traveler ([link removed])


** Arizona mandates cleaner energy as Colorado regulators speed up coal-fired power plant closures
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E&E News ([link removed]) | CBS ([link removed]) | Grand Junction Sentinel ([link removed]) | Colorado Sun ([link removed])


** Hunting in Idaho increases as people seek refuge from the coronavirus
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Associated Press ([link removed])


** Opinions: Clean water in Wyoming is too precious to pollute. So why inject wastewater into it?
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Wyofile ([link removed])
Quote of the day
As ranchers, we can personally speak to the benefits protecting this landscape will have for the agricultural community, including preserving high quality rangeland and protecting access to clean water... It is my hope that the senators of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee will listen to voices of ranchers on the Thompson Divide and pass the CORE Act to preserve the agricultural character of this iconic geography and region."

—Judy Fox Perry & William Perry
Ranchers from Colorado's Thompson Divide
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel ([link removed])
Picture this


** @USFWSRefuges ([link removed])
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Do you wonder what it's like to be among the dozen surveyors who abandon the creature comforts of daily life each summer to survey breeding birds in remote parts of Alaska? Here's a taste: [link removed] ([link removed])

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