A view in autumn between Telluride and Dolores Scenic Highway 145 in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. (Craig Zerbe/Getty Images)
Fall is here and hunting season is in full swing. Even as many of us turn our thoughts to filling freezers, it’s important not to lose sight of the conservation fights at our doorstep. For those who aren’t familiar with the 920-page manifesto that is “Project 2025,” just Google it. It’s a blueprint for dismantling American democracy and includes something (bad) for everyone, including hunters, anglers and anyone who recreates on our great public lands estate.
Like many Colorado elk (and other) hunters, I depend on public lands for hunting, hiking, camping, canoeing, and outdoor recreation in general. More importantly, wildlife species like deer, ducks, grouse, turkeys, and dozens more need that habitat for their survival. As I noted in a July Colorado Newsline opinion piece (“Project 2025 is coming for our public lands”), the Department of Interior section of Project 2025 starts on page 517 and includes, for example, the following proposals:
- Restoring mining claims and oil and gas leases in Colorado’s Thompson Divide
- Reviewing national monument designations with an eye to reducing their size
- Seeking repeal of the Antiquities Act of 1906
One proposal calls for a repeal of the Biden administration’s withdrawal of mineral and energy leases on 221,000 acres in the Thompson Divide. And then there’s national monuments created with the Antiquities Act, which has been used by 18 of 21 presidents since 1906 to establish or enlarge 163 national monuments.
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Hunters, anglers and other public lands advocates are encouraging President Joe Biden to protect the Dolores River Canyons region in southwest Colorado as a national monument. A multitude of stakeholders, including Sportsmen For The Dolores, are rallying outdoors enthusiasts to help push this proposal over the finish line.
However, in 2019 then-President Donald Trump reduced the size of Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by 45% and the Bears Ears National Monument by 85%, removing more than 2.2 million acres of protected public lands. The Trump administration went on to orchestrate the largest reduction of protected public lands in U.S. history, according to a study published in Science, an academic journal. It worked to weaken safeguards for nearly 35 million acres.
It’s no surprise, then, that the public lands-related (and other) Project 2025 proposals are very unpopular. A September 2024 Newsweek story (“Project 2025’s Unpopularity Continues to Grow”) references an NBC News poll that shows “57 percent of voters view Project 2025 as unfavorable, with only 4 percent seeing it as favorable.”
Unfortunately, Project 2025 proponents are now primed to take control of our federal government. This will inevitably lead to more public lands habitat degradation, if for no other reason due to their “drill, baby, drill” mantra, and more motorized and mechanized trails on public lands.
The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership estimates that 40% of Colorado’s most important elk habitat is affected by recreational trail use. Every Colorado Parks and Wildlife district wildlife manager I talk to emphasizes that the proliferation of motorized and mechanized trails (legal and illegal) is negatively impacting elk herds. In addition, multiple Western states have thrown their support behind a Utah lawsuit that could transfer millions of acres of public land into private hands.
In an amicus brief filed by Wyoming, Idaho, Alaska, and the Arizona State Legislature endorsed Utah’s request to have their case heard by the Supreme Court. “Selling off BLM land in an auction would allow private interests to swoop in and turn what was protected wildlife habitat or hunting grounds into whatever those developers could imagine,” MeatEater conservation director Ryan Callaghan explained.
Since the election there’s (rightly so) been a lot of handwringing and angst amongst those of us who now find ourselves preparing to play defense against a determined but misguided foe. So, take a week or two to shake off the shellshock and self-pity, and then get up and get back to work!
Conservation derives from the Latin conservare, meaning “to keep guard.” As America’s first conservationists, hunters have a century-old tradition of protecting public lands habitat and fighting those driven by myopic greed. Although greed never sleeps, neither do we when it comes to the protection of our wild public lands, waters and wildlife.
Project 2025’s minions think they have a mandate to dismantle democracy, public lands, and everything that’s good and decent about these United States of America. They underestimate our resolve. They will overreach, badly, and we’ll be there, waiting.
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