Momoko,
The administration and its anti-public lands allies in Congress are moving to slash staffing and close offices at the very agencies that safeguard our national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and other public lands. Now, with the federal government shut down, thousands more public servants are being furloughed—leaving ranger stations shuttered, fewer trail crews and firefighting support staff stretched so thin they can't keep up.
Disguised as "government efficiency," these cuts have one goal: to dismantle public lands and dissolve their professional oversight—so leaders can open the door to drilling, mining, logging and even selling off our natural heritage to the highest bidder.
Our cherished public lands deserve better. They are havens for wildlife and recreation, sources of clean drinking water, and contribute $1.1 trillion annually to the U.S. economy.
That's why we need 100 donors by MIDNIGHT tomorrow to help mobilize grassroots support and stop our leaders from hollowing out the agencies that keep our shared lands protected and safe. Momoko, will you rush a gift today to help us reach our goal and fight back?
Here's what's already happening:
- Bureau of Land Management: The White House requested a $198 million budget cut with a focus on undoing national monument designations and reducing money for conserving, restoring and connecting wildlife habitat, wetlands and migration corridors. The administration has also taken steps to rescind the Public Lands Rule, a move that will revert the BLM to managing public lands primarily for the good of drilling, mining and development interests over conservation and recreation.
- U.S. Forest Service: The administration is whittling the agency down to focus on providing more timber and minerals, regardless of the impact on communities, fragile ecosystems, clean water supply or capacity to mitigate intensifying wildfires across the National Forest System. As firefighting support staff, trail maintenance crews and forest scientists are being sacked, the administration is also moving to roll back the Roadless Rule, ending protections for more than 44 million acres of the healthiest forests left in America.
- National Park Service: Nearly 1 in 4 permanent staff have been lost as the administration works to push federal workers out the door, leaving the agency stretched to a breaking point. The administration's latest budget proposal would slash funding even further.
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Staffing cuts have targeted hundreds of field biologists and environmental scientists who monitor wildlife and document habitat loss. The expected impacts of these terminations range widely—from deep cuts to the program that helps prevent invasive lampreys from ravaging the Great Lakes, to the loss of rangers at the nation's only refuge focused on manatee conservation. By one estimate, one in 10 national wildlife refuges have no staff at all.
Every day, the administration's end goal becomes clearer: to deeply eradicate the functions of many of these agencies so they can justify a "solution" of turning public lands over to state or private management—a de facto sell-out. We will not let it happen.
We need you on our side to give this fight everything we've got. Please, Momoko, chip in today to help us marshal support and advocate for the lands we love and the people who care for them.
We need 100 donors by MIDNIGHT TOMORROW. Every gift matters—can we count on your support?
With gratitude,
Margot Krieger
Director of Membership
The Wilderness Society
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