DEFENDING PUBLIC LANDS UPDATE: March 6, 2025

Photograph by Alan O’Neill.

Dear Friends of Avi Kwa Ame,

Drastic changes are sweeping across the landscape of our protected public lands, and moving fast. Let’s unpack some of what has been happening in the past few weeks and what we can do about it.

Congress has unleashed a coordinated legislative attack designed to dismantle foundational conservation laws in order to allow industrial use of millions of acres of America’s cherished landscapes. Nevada Representative Mark Amodei and Utah Representative Celeste Malloy have introduced legislation to gut the Antiquities Act’s ability to be used by presidents of both parties to protect our American treasures, from Grand Canyon National Park to our own Avi Kwa Ame National Monument. Montana Senator Steve Daines also introduced a bill to prioritize extraction over all other uses on federal lands.

In addition to proposed legislation and the previously mentioned Department of the Interior orders that threaten the future of our protected public lands (see 02/12/25 update), at least 2,300 Department of the Interior workers had their positions terminated this month, and more were convinced to take the federal buy-out. Among them were 800 Bureau of Land Management employees and about 1,000 National Park Service workers. More severe staffing cuts have been promised for later in the year. The BLM and NPS have already been chronically underfunded for years, even as visitation to public lands has increased, and many employees have been doing the work of several people to get things done.

The National Park Service at Lake Mead (NPS shares management of parts of the monument) is down 13 employees plus more who took the buy-out, and departments in every part of the BLM and department of the Interior have been affected. These department-wide cuts have serious impacts on every aspect of co-stewarding this space, from postponing the monument’s Management Advisory Committee meetings (thereby impeding the creation of a permanent management plan), to being short staffed for restoration projects and public activities, and slowing down every process in between. This interview on City Cast Las Vegas, How Federal Cuts Could Impact Your Summer Vacation, does a good job of discussing how this will affect the visitor experience.

If you are as concerned as we are about these developments, here are a few things you can do this week to help:

1. Add your voice to the letters to Congress through filling out this form from Monuments For All to oppose the above congressional bills.

2. Call your Congressional representative to express your concern about national parks, monuments and other protected lands being understaffed. You can also leave a voicemail after 5pm. In Nevada, our Avi Kwa Ame-related representatives are:

Rep. Dina Titus
(702) 220-9823

Rep. Susie Lee
(702) 963-9336

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto
(702) 388-5020

Sen. Jacky Rosen
(702) 388-0205

3. Show your support for our wonderful local BLM and NPS workers. You can send their offices a thank you email, card, or even send them flowers. Here are the addresses for the two main offices that serve Avi Kwa Ame National Monument:

BLM Las Vegas Field Office
4701 N Torrey Pines Dr, Las Vegas, NV 89130
email: blm_nv_sndo_web_mail@blm.gov

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Administrative Office
601 Nevada Way, Boulder City, 89005
email: LAKE_Volunteer_Coordinator@nps.gov