Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Americans oppose attacks on national parks and park staff
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Friday, November 14, 2025
South Kaibab Trail at Grand Canyon National Park. Michael Quinn/NPS ([link removed])
A new poll from the National Parks Conservation Association ([link removed]) released Wednesday reveals that a bipartisan majority of Americans reject recent and proposed cuts to national parks.
An overwhelming 69 percent of Americans ([link removed]) oppose President Donald Trump’s proposed $1 billion cut to the National Park Service’s budget, and 62 percent oppose the Trump administration’s plan to cut more National Park Service staff. In contrast, just 16 percent say they support the Trump administration’s continued staffing cuts to the National Park Service, and 12 percent back the proposed massive budget reduction for the agency.
“Protecting our national parks is a bipartisan issue,” said Theresa Pierno ([link removed]) , President and CEO for the National Parks Conservation Association. “Across party lines, Americans reject the senseless cuts to budgets and park staff that have left national parks teetering on the brink.”
The poll also found ([link removed]) that nearly 60 percent of Americans oppose opening lands in or adjacent to national parks for mining and drilling, and 77 percent, regardless of political affiliation, support the ability of presidents to designate national monuments via the Antiquities Act. The strong support for protecting public lands shows a clear disconnect between the American public and the Trump administration's goals for public lands.
** Quick hits
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Trump administration revokes ban on drilling and mining on millions of acres in Alaska
Associated Press ([link removed]) | The Hill ([link removed]) | Upstream ([link removed]) | Reuters ([link removed]) | New York Times ([link removed]) | Washington Post ([link removed]) | E&E ([link removed]) | Department of the Interior
([link removed]) [press release]
He once pushed to divest federal lands. Now he's Trump's BLM nominee
Public Domain ([link removed])
No national recovery plan for gray wolves, says U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Wyoming Public Radio ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed]) | Daily Montanan ([link removed])
The shutdown may be over, but its damage to national parks is just beginning
Wes Siler's Newsletter ([link removed]) | Forbes ([link removed]) | National Parks Traveler ([link removed])
Colorado State Land Board approves La Jara Basin sale, reversing a possible plan to cancel the 9-year deal
Colorado Sun ([link removed])
Report: Trump cuts to national parks are unpopular
National Parks Conservation Association ([link removed]) | National Parks Traveler ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])
Tribes that restored buffalo used some for food because of the shutdown
Associated Press ([link removed])
Opinion: The BLM public lands rule is important for Tribes and should not be undone
Anchorage Daily News ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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”
For 43 days, many national parks were left open, vulnerable and unprotected. The National Park Service, already pushed to its breaking point after losing 25 percent of permanent staff, is left to pick up the pieces. Furloughed park staff now face the daunting task of returning to parks to assess and address the damage, a process that could take months.”
—Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs for the National Parks Conservation Association, National Parks Traveler ([link removed])
** Picture This
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[link removed]
@assoc_nationalparkrangers ([link removed])
NOW LIVE: Our ads across Washington, D.C., condemn Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s push to defund, understaff & censor the National Park Service.
At Zion – Burgum’s decision to radically reduce the Park Service’s workforce has severely disrupted Zion’s ability to keep visitors safe.
Burgum wants you to believe that Zion, like the rest of the parks, is “open and fine,” but what he doesn’t want to say is that, whether fired or forced to retire, many of the park’s first responders – law enforcement, search and rescue, emergency medical – are gone.
It is only a matter of time before someone gets hurt and the NPS isn’t in a position to help.
Call your member of Congress. This has to stop - today.
#ProtectPublicLands #ProtectNPS
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