Issues

Western Values Project advocates for a responsible and balanced approach to the management of public lands that respects all the values of Western landscapes. 

Under the Trump administration, industry lobbyists, special interests, and their allies in government too often dominate public lands management decisions for their own narrow benefit that negatively impacts America’s outdoor heritage. Through research-driven public accountability, we inform the public of corrupt special interest influence in order to defend America’s public lands by exposing their influence on policymakers who are charged with making key decisions affecting the future of America’s public lands.

Fighting Public Land Seizures and Sale

Transferring and selling federal public lands is gaining momentum again under the Trump administration, with land transfer extremists and anti-public lands zealots now holding key positions in the Interior Department. 

Public lands are part of Americans’ birthright. Once public lands are sold or privatized, those lands are gone for good — and as history shows, transferring the rights of our shared public lands to states or local governments is the precursor to limiting public access and the ultimate privatization of those public lands. We aim to make sure that attempts to seize nationally held public lands aren’t successful.

Protecting Valuable Areas

The Trump administration has been responsible for the largest reduction of public land protections in U.S. history. This administration’s culture of corruption is destroying our public lands and limiting access to the lands we use to hunt, fish, camp, hike, and recreate without oversight and accountability. If the special interests influencing the Trump administration get their way and aren’t held accountable, they will rob future generations of the opportunity to enjoy our public lands and outdoor heritage.

Responsible Resource Development

Energy development on public lands has been a catalyst for growth, change, and conflict in communities throughout the West. Developing fossil fuels on lands owned by the federal government will continue until the American energy economy transitions completely to cleaner, more efficient sources of energy. However, America’s public lands must be managed in a way that balances all uses — activities should not happen in places that are important to outdoor recreation, tourism, and the multi-billion-dollar economy they support.

Join the effort to strengthen the American West.