How will public lands fare from this election?

I heard a lot of support for our Public Lands.
Clean water air and a right to more was front and center.

There will be serious ???'s looking for answers here on the instant building of data centers ,with no permits nor public input.
3 wells for that jupiter(Uranus) place on the border here with no permits or hearings. No open permit meetings.
Which public servants gave them the thumbs up?

Cant do that as a rancher or homeowner. Farmers have water cut and they gave them the okey doke.
 
My concern is that the party you're counting on the protect public access to government owned land is the same party that wants to prevent you from using for hunting, fishing & trapping.
I also think @Treeshark has a good point that yesterday's winners will overplay.

Hopefully in another election cycle or two the pendulum will settle more in the middle.
 
I also think @Treeshark has a good point that yesterday's winners will overplay.

Hopefully in another election cycle or two the pendulum will settle more in the middle.

If you want to see what sitting on your laurels and being cocky does, look at the last Canadian Federal election. Our Conservatives lost what should have been a landslide election by avoiding taking a stance on pretty much anything and assuming we would just elect them in. The Liberals ran with Mark Carney (our current PM) as their new leader and were aggressive in fighting back stupid attacks on our sovereignty (that worked).

One side thought they could win based on how bad and unpopular the sitting government was while the current government rebranded itself and ultimately won. Kind of like Trump V. Clinton.

I'm just hoping the mood in American politics settles down and that the economy improves. Not going to lie, being your neighbour has been tough the past couple years. I'm tired, man.
 
While it is probably, hopefully, maybe a win against the divestiture of public land I fully anticipate attacks on them from other angles like large scale solar and wind farms. Any new openings of Federal land for hunting and fishing that the current regime has made are probably in jeopardy too.
 
While it is probably, hopefully, maybe a win against the divestiture of public land I fully anticipate attacks on them from other angles like large scale solar and wind farms. Any new openings of Federal land for hunting and fishing that the current regime has made are probably in jeopardy too.
I am also concerned about having federal public lands now eyeballed not only for data centers, but “clean” energy and affordable housing now as well. Once you open that door, you can’t close it again.

But I’m honestly not that worried about losing “new” hunting and fishing opportunities. Most of the new stuff is a bunch of smoke and mirrors. Opening hunting for species that don’t occur at a given location, or for which the state has no season wasn’t a “win” in the first place. I think the big things (e.g. open unless closed) will remain in place. A lot of managers thought that should have been the case to begin with.

I also hope we do not toss out all of the lead ammo restrictions as has been talked about lately. The impact of banning lead shot for migratory waterfowl has been demonstrably positive as far as reducing lead poisoning mortality. And given the renewed war on habitat in the Duck Factory lately, they need all the help they can get.
 
Public land threats will be reduced fairly significantly but temporarily. My worry is the winners from last night may overplay their hand and lose badly in two years.
Let's look at the list of things affecting public lands over the last 22 months of Trump 2.

- Weakening of EPA enforcement on clean air and water
- Rollback of Monument designations on 4m acres to open the land to extraction
- Approval of mining in Boundary Waters
- Elimination of habitat protections under ESA
- Cutting of staff at land management agencies and slashing budgets
- Expansion of drilling and mining on public lands and waters
- Progress toward recision of Roadless rule
- redirecting LWCF funds away from land acquisition and to maintenance projects
- landswaps, clearing of land for border walls, pledging federal land for private projects, building stupid monuments to himself

I'm sure I missed some. If your biggest worry is Democrats overplaying their hand, you are missing the plot. We are probably protected from major Legislative attacks over the next few years, but as long as Vought and his team are in place, they will continue to chip away at public lands and environmental protections.
 
We are probably protected from major Legislative attacks over the next few years, but as long as Vought and his team are in place, they will continue to chip away at public lands and environmental protections.

In what scenario do you see Vought (or someone similar) retaining his current position two years from now?
 
Let's look at the list of things affecting public lands over the last 22 months of Trump 2.

- Weakening of EPA enforcement on clean air and water
- Rollback of Monument designations on 4m acres to open the land to extraction
- Approval of mining in Boundary Waters
- Elimination of habitat protections under ESA
- Cutting of staff at land management agencies and slashing budgets
- Expansion of drilling and mining on public lands and waters
- Progress toward recision of Roadless rule
- redirecting LWCF funds away from land acquisition and to maintenance projects
- landswaps, clearing of land for border walls, pledging federal land for private projects, building stupid monuments to himself

I'm sure I missed some. If your biggest worry is Democrats overplaying their hand, you are missing the plot. We are probably protected from major Legislative attacks over the next few years, but as long as Vought and his team are in place, they will continue to chip away at public lands and environmental protections.
And,

Repealing greenhouse gas emissions Clean Air Act standards for power plants

USFS Forest Plan amendments allowing motorized use everywhere
 
In what scenario do you see Vought (or someone similar) retaining his current position two years from now?
Retaining? in two years? You serious? I don't think you can fathom the damage he will try to do if allowed to stay in office for two years.

Articles of Impeachment are drawn up. If we are lucky he will be gone by March. There is still a LOT of drama to play out over the next 60 days and beyond.

 
Articles of Impeachment are drawn up.

That always ends well politically😂

A very small percentage of the US population knows or cares about most of that stuff on your list. Playing the long game is the best strategy, that’s all I’m saying.

We’ve seen this before.
 
Last edited:
Playing the long game is the best strategy, that’s all I’m saying.
Yes. He's been playing the long game for a while, and it is working. If we get comfortable with the situation as it is, public lands will disappear like a melting ice cube. Like you said, a small % of people care about any of those things (Edit: I hope people here do)

No, we haven't seen this before. Impeachment of lesser members of the Admin has never been done. It gets people on record. If you can bring up enough dirt, they resign or are fired before the vote. Hegseth is another one on the list. You think any R senator wants to be on record voting 'No' on that guy's removal?
 
Watch the video. You can skip the first half where he just blathers on about how great the renovation is going. Watch the second half and tell me anything will change with this Admin. Anything. I am still betting it will get worse before it gets better.

 
Back
Top