** Meet the Texas extremist group fighting 30x30 in Colorado
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Wednesday, April 28, 2021
The Colorado River near Garfield County, one of four Colorado counties to pass a resolution opposing the 30x30 goal. Source: Library of Congress ([link removed]) .
Colorado has become a battleground for efforts to disrupt and thwart local support for conservation. The American Stewards of Liberty, a Texas-based group with a history of anti-government, anti-public lands ideology has convinced at least four Colorado counties ([link removed]) —with incomplete or outright false information—to oppose the proposal to protect 30% of America's lands and waters, commonly known as the 30x30 goal.
The Biden administration included the 30x30 goal in its January Executive Order ([link removed]) on tackling climate change and instructed the Interior Department and the Department of Agriculture to provide the scaffolding within 90 days for how the initiative could move forward. According to ([link removed]) Interior spokesperson Melissa Schwartz, "The Interior Department is on track to deliver the report to the National Climate Task Force on time and looks forward to sharing the report with the public in the coming weeks."
However, in the absence of further details, the American Stewards of Liberty has been whipping up anti-30x30 sentiment ([link removed]) among local governments across the Western U.S. and pushing county commissioners to pass anti-30x30 resolutions. The group has pushed misinformation about a private lands takeover as part of the federal government's 30x30 effort. However, both the government and groups supporting the initiative have been explicit ([link removed]) that landowner rights and strictly voluntary private land conservation are key to success. Scott Braden, the director of the Colorado Wildlands Project, agrees that conservation efforts should be guided by local input, not highjacked by “a group from Texas making wild claims.
([link removed]) ” Speaking further on the American Stewards of Liberty, Braden says ([link removed]) , “I think this group is going around projecting fears about what is unknown. They are turning this into a bogeyman and ginning up conflict. Biden’s climate order takes great pains to say that they will work with state and local governments on this.”
The roots of anti-public lands extremism ([link removed]) within the American Stewards of Liberty run deep: Margaret Byfield, the founder of the American Stewards, is the daughter of Wayne and Jean Hage, who illegally ran cattle on public land in the 1990's. The group has received funding ([link removed]) from conservative “dark-money” billionaires, including the Koch brothers and the DeVos family. Trent Loos, a Nebraska radio show host who sat on a Trump Administration Agricultural Advisory Team and is now part of the American Stewards for Liberty anti-30×30 campaign, has opined that Hitler and Nazism gave birth to the ecology movement.
Quick hits
** Biden has targeted Trump energy and environmental policies at rate of one per day in first 100 days
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Washington Post ([link removed])
** Federal officials offer $10k reward for info about vandalized petroglyph near Moab, Utah
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KSL.com ([link removed]) | Fox13 ([link removed])
** Hearing witnesses say national parks must improve information on disability access
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The Hill ([link removed])
** Meet the Texas extremist group fighting 30x30 in Colorado
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])
** Interior Department on track to share its 30x30 report with the public in the coming weeks
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E&E News ([link removed])
** Forest Service intervenes as popular climbing area is being "loved to death"
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WyoFile ([link removed])
** Capturing methane from shuttered coal mines can help address climate change and reduce energy costs
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High Country News ([link removed])
** 90% of the Chaco Canyon region has been fractured by oil and gas drilling
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KJZZ ([link removed])
Quote of the day
When people talk about climate, I think jobs. Within our climate response lies an extraordinary engine of job creation and economic opportunity ready to be fired up.”
—President Joe Biden ([link removed])
Picture this
** @Interior ([link removed])
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Managing water in the Western U.S. is more complex than ever before. The Colorado River Basin is experiencing its worst drought in recorded history and water levels at Lake Powell will be visibly lower this season. See @usbr ([link removed]) 's new 24-month study: [link removed] ([link removed])
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