Public Lands Issues We Hope Will Die in 2020

Photo credit: Jeremiah Watt Photography

It’s 2020 and what better way to welcome the new decade than to ask the Outdoor Alliance staff what we most hope will die in 2020? Yeah, we have some ambitious advocacy resolutions, too, but we also think these 11 public lands issues really need to go away.

Louis, Policy Director

Trade show musical chairs. Let's all agree we're going to Denver twice a year, and be done with it.

Pretending to represent the interests of outdoor recreationists. From Zinke's "Made in America" task force to conservation proposals touting the OIA rec economy numbers while proposing to close bike trails, there's really no shortage of entities out there dubiously claiming to represent the interests of people who enjoy the outdoors.

LWCF heel dragging. I’m so tired of working on this. LWCF is arguably the most effective conservation program of the last 50 years. It has huge bipartisan support, and after an unreasonable amount of work, by a huge number of organizations, it was permanently reauthorized this year. But we're still fighting to ensure that all of the money collected through the program is actually spent on the purposes for which it was collected. I can recite my LWCF pitch more readily at this point than I could the Pledge of Allegiance. Can we please pass permanent funding and move on? 

Adam, Executive Director

Energy dominance. Let's huck energy dominance out the window. Sure, public lands help provide energy needed to run society, but how does "dominance" help us strike a smart, forward-thinking balance for all the uses of public land - climate resilience, clean air and water, ecosystem health and sustainable outdoor recreation for everyone? Clean water dominance? Recreation dominance? Sounds kinda dumb. How about in 2020 we kill energy dominance and reincarnate it as energy wisdom?

E-bike policy shenanigans. Let's kill the idea that electric bikes are the same as regular bikes. They are their own thing, and both the bike industry and e-bike users should be proud of this. What wonderful and climate-sensitive alternative to driving a car, and a way to empower more people to experience our public lands. Let's celebrate what e-bikes can do, acknowledge how they are different than regular bikes, and manage them accordingly. 

The idea that voting doesn’t matter. Let’s take the idea that voting does not matter and stab it in the heart. Whoever you are and whatever you believe, if you don't vote you just doubled the power of someone that disagrees with you (and decided to vote). If everyone takes a pass, then democracy can't work. Voting is more than having a say, it’s kind of a moral obligation. Fire it up!

Levi, Data, Information, and Research Manager

Environmental deregulation. According to a recent analysis, 58 rollbacks have been completed and 37 are in process.  

Tania, Communications Director

The public land heist. How many times do we have to kill variations of this scheme before politicians finally come to terms with the fact that no one wants to see America’s public lands sold off? It’s an issue we’ve been working on for five years and despite the fact that Americans overwhelmingly love public lands and want them to stay public, politicians keep coming up with new ways to try to sell off public lands. The latest shenanigans at the BLM, where a land sell off advocate is at the helm despite not having a Senate confirmation, are getting ridiculous.

Attacks on NEPA. NEPA isn’t perfect, but it protects our communities from pollution, ensures a public process (which means you get to have a say), and holds industries accountable for their environmental impact. The idea that an environmental review wouldn’t take into account climate change, or that comment periods should be cut down to ten days, needs to go.

Katie, California Organizer

The idea that climate change isn’t real. From catastrophic forest fires in Australia to hundred year floods seemingly happening every year, humans are causing climate change and we need to act now to create solutions.

People leaving their dogs' bagged up poop by the side of the trail, presumably to pick up later. Let’s all agree to stop doing this.

Inspired by Mother Jones.