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ROUND TWO:

Help Us Tell Congress to Protect Public Lands!

Congressman Kevin Kiley is Hosting

another Tele-Town Hall on

Thursday March 27th at 6:30 PM PDT

To ensure you get a call at that time, RSVP. By filling out this form before this afternoon, you will receive a call to join a few minutes before the event.

Ask Congress to Keep Public Lands in Public Hands and Prevent Protection Rollbacks

Members of Congress are potentially planning to sell off your public lands and increase the amount of logging, timber sales, and industrial development on them. If these Members of Congress have their way and begin selling off public lands, we will lose access to many beloved places and our way of life will be dramatically altered.  A public lands selloff, if enacted, would represent a dramatic shift in federal land policy and a significant loss for all Americans. It would affect everyone who loves and enjoys public lands in California and throughout the West.

Additionally, with recently designated National Monuments and the Antiquities Act potentially on the chopping block and efforts to ramp up mining on public lands to the “maximum possible extent” coming from the Trump administration, it is more important than ever that we urge officials to speak up publicly in support of outdoor spaces and access and to refuse to support legislation that strips public lands of their protections or otherwise harms these cherished spaces.

Ask Lawmakers to Stand Against Further Staffing Cuts at Land Management Agencies

Public lands are under threat from a severe reduction in the workforce. Over the last decade, agencies like the Forest Service (USFS), National Park Service (NPS), and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have faced staffing shortages and the programs protecting these areas and enhancing the public's experience of them have suffered for it. Now, these agencies face an even more dire staffing situation, with staff facing layoffs from the federal government. These reductions are putting outdoor recreation, public safety, and public lands and waters at risk. A federal judge in California has ordered six federal agencies to reinstate probationary employees who were fired last month, finding that their terminations by the Office of Personnel Management were unlawful. We are acutely aware, however, that the decision may get reversed on appeal. Further, the administration could simply begin cuts again, following different procedures, offering new justifications. The future remains uncertain, and many employees are still in limbo. As a result, we still encourage you to voice your concerns regarding large scale cuts to federal agency staff, and advocate that Rep. Kiley continues to speak out against future and further cuts which could decimate employment and economies in his district..

Congressman Kiley himself is part of an open letter from six members of congress to Acting Director Charles Ezell at the Office of Personnel Management asking for seasonal hiring authorities to be transferred to National Parks in order for basic services such as fee collection, sanitation, and transportation to continue. However, the letter doesn’t address other federal employee terminations. Public lands lovers of all kinds must raise our voices in opposition to these/future, similar cuts and ask our lawmakers and the administration to reinvest in the workforce that manages our public lands—staff who know these lands intimately, who live in the communities they serve, and who play a crucial role in preserving and protecting them for future generations.

Make your comments personal to you. What motivates you to speak for public lands? What do you love about federal lands, and why do you want to keep them in public hands? 

Here are a few talking points that may help you get inspired:

• Public Lands Are the Backbone of America:

• • Nearly 40% of the United States is public land, supported by taxpayers and managed by federal, state, or local governments. 
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  • The U.S. National Park System and public lands in general, are often called "America’s Best Idea," representing much of the American ideal. The nation is famous for our "wide open spaces" and its natural scenic beauty. Public lands are enormously popular among Americans of all political identities and efforts to sell off public lands are enormously unpopular with Americans. The vast majority of Americans still consistently support public lands and conservation. These sell offs do not represent the American people, and mass layoffs of the people who steward them does not represent the best interests of the American people. 
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  • Reps. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) and Ryan Zinke (R-MT) introduced bipartisan legislation that would ban the sale or transfer of most public lands by the Department of the Interior and U.S. Forest Service, and require congressional oversight of any public lands disposal. The proposal reflects the longstanding and widely held belief that public lands belong to the nation as a whole and should be passed down to future generations in good shape. Vasquez and Zinke’s bill should stand as a signal that keeping public lands in public hands is a vital cause transcending other political differences--and that selling off lands should be a non-starter. 

• Economic Sense:  
  • Public lands provide valuable ecosystem services like clean air and water, are a large source of government revenue, form the foundation of the $1.2 trillion outdoor recreation economy, and are instrumental to the well-being of local communities across the country. Public lands benefit surrounding communities and the country as a whole economically: rural Western counties with more federal land perform better, on average, than their peers in population growth, employment, personal income, and per capita income. Counties with national parks or national monuments support above-average rates of job growth and are correlated with higher levels of per capita income.
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  • Doug Burgum, President Trump’s appointed Secretary of the Interior, has argued that the U.S. government, if it is to be run like a business, should know the value of the corporation’s assets and use those assets “to get a return for the American people.” Yet, Americans across the political spectrum already see the return of these lands: they hold great value to Native peoples, recreationists, hunters, fishermen, gatherers; family ranchers; and countless other communities that rely on these areas for clean water and air, for joy and connection, and for the jobs/income that come from natural resource development, recreation, and tourism. Public lands serve the public every day. 
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• Loss of Access: 
  • The sell off of these lands means large privatization leading to loss of access and large-scale development.These lands would be "locked up" from public access and benefit. Corporate polluters who bought access to this administration see a future where our shared resources are stripped away for the benefit of a few. 

• • Staffing shortages caused by these layoffs will lead to a further lack of access and resources for the Americans who visit and use public lands: lack of staffing at visitor centers, out on the land, and at campgrounds will actively reduce accessibility as well as lead to facility and ecosystem degradation. 

Comment on Social Media

Social Media for Good: Whether you are in Rep. Kiley's district or not, we encourage public lands supporters to mobilize on social media. Leaving comments on Rep. Kiley's social media comments is a quick and easy way to show public involvement. Additionally, as comments on social media are public, they can also help educate and mobilize others to do the same. 

Donate to Friends of the Inyo

Friends of the Inyo has not been exempt from nationwide funding cuts to non-profits. With ranger staffing reduced by Trump's administration, our public lands need help from non-profit trail staff now more than ever. In 2024, Friends of the Inyo's Trail Ambassadors played a crucial role in stewarding the public land of the Eastern Sierra by restoring 665 miles of trails, packing out 3,715 pounds of trash, cleaning 293 campsites, engaging 222 volunteers, and educating thousands of visitors on Leave No Trace principles in each of the five Ranger Districts in the Inyo National Forest. This year, we are forced to reduce this staffing to cover 3-4 out of the 5 Ranger Districts. Please donate to help ensure Friends of the Inyo's Trail Ambassador staff can continue to provide on the ground work in partnership with the Forest Service to protect our beautiful lands in the Eastern Sierra.

Volunteer with Friends of the Inyo

Give back to the land and help support public land managers in this difficult time. Sign up to our Volunteer email newsletter to be notified of land stewardship volunteer opportunities. 

If you have any questions, please email allison@friendsoftheinyo.org.

Main Office:

621 W. Line St., Suite 201
Bishop, CA 93514

Satellite Office:

142 E. Bush St.

Lone Pine, CA 93545

Visit us online:

FriendsoftheInyo.org

Write to us:

info@friendsoftheinyo.org

Call us:

(760) 873-6500

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