2021 Policy Updates

The Mountain Pact strives to keep our constituents informed on federal public lands, climate, and conservation policies that are relevant to western mountain communities. Below is a compilation of news alerts, policy, and campaign updates. Subscribe to receive these alerts.

Click here to read a recap of the great work we did together in 2021!

December 2021 Conservation Update

In this final Conservation Update of the year, we report that The Mountain Pact sent a letter to President Biden signed by over 115 Western elected officials urging him to use his authority under the Antiquities Act to designate more monuments; the winter recreation season has gotten off to a slow start with unusually warm temperatures; several national parks will implement reservation systems to better manage the influx of visitors; Tracy Stone-Manning, the new Director of the Bureau of Land Management, has plans to rebuild the agency; Utah’s Attorney General has selected a law firm to handle a potential challenge to President Biden’s decision to restore the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments; the Vail Town Council supports the CORE Act; and much more.

Over 115 Elected Officials Across the West Call on President Biden to Meet His America the Beautiful Goals, Establish More National Monuments

The Mountain Pact sent a letter to the Biden administration signed by over 115 Western state legislators, county commissioners, mayors, and council members from all eleven Western states. The letter thanks the administration for taking climate action and protecting our public lands through programs like the historic America the Beautiful initiative. The letter applauds the administration’s restoration of Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts national monuments and urges the President to use the Antiquities Act to protect more lands as national monuments.

November 2021 Conservation Update

In this Conservation Update, we report on how communities in The Mountain Pact network are being impacted by climate change and new developments in tourism and outdoor recreation; the confirmation of Chuck Sams III to lead the National Park Service; steps the Biden administration is taking that reflect its strong commitment to supporting the Nation-to-Nation relationships; the release of the Interior Department’s report that recommends higher fees for oil and gas leases; the administration’s plans to bar oil and gas leasing within a 10-mile radius around New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon; efforts to designate more new national monuments in Texas, Nevada, and Oregon; and much more.

Proposed 20-year Drilling Ban Near Chaco Culture National Historical Park

During a White House Tribal-Nations Summit, the Biden administration proposed a 20-year ban on oil and gas leasing within a 10-mile radius around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park a UNESCO world heritage site. The Greater Chaco landscape is the sacred ancestral homeland to many Indigenous communities. The Mountain Pact is grateful to the Biden administration for acknowledging the cultural and spiritual importance of this landscape and protecting it from short-term resource extraction and development.

October 2021 Conservation Update

In this Conservation update, we report on the restoration of protections for Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts national monuments; current and upcoming Biden administration nominees; a House Oversight Committee hearing with oil executives who were pressed to answer questions about their companies and climate change; how climate change investment is part of President Biden’s spending bill; and more.

Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments Restored!

In anticipation of Indigenous People's Day on October 11, President Biden signed three proclamations that restore protections to Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine national monuments after protections were stripped away by President Trump.

September 2021 Conservation Update

In this Conservation Update, we report that the Board of Commissioners of La Plata County, CO, passed a resolution in support of the America the Beautiful Initiative; the Bureau of Land Management will move its headquarters from Grand Junction, CO, back to Washington, DC; Tracy Stone-Manning has been confirmed as the new director of the Bureau of Land Management; Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has suggested a sharply limited role for fossil fuel extraction on federal lands and waters; a coalition of Native American Tribes has called on President Biden to take “immediate action” to restore protections to Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument, which the Trump administration cut by 85 percent; 62% of Nevada voters support protecting Avi Kwa Ame as a national monument; and, in urging climate action, President Biden said, “We don’t have much more than 10 years.”

August 2021 Conservation Update

In this Conservation Update we report that public land managers continue to face a record number of visitors to the country’s most popular parks; the severe impacts of climate change on some Western mountain communities; the U.S. Senate passed an infrastructure bill; President Biden has nominated Charles Sams III, a member and former executive director of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon, to become the permanent head of the National Park Service; the Interior Department will resume new federal oil and gas lease sales while it appeals a court order; the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report on the calamitous danger that human-caused climate change poses to the world; the devastating wildfires raging in California and much more.

July 2021 Conservation Update

In this Conservation Update we report on Frisco Town Councilmember Melissa Sherburne’s op-ed in support of the America the Beautiful initiative and the 30x30 goal; a new Mountain Pact report out this week; the ongoing crowding and associated management challenges at our public lands; the strong support for the Senate to confirm Tracy Stone-Manning as Director of the Bureau of Land Management; the Government Accountability Office report that says that the Department of Interior should strengthen the management of key data systems designed to oversee oil and gas leases on federal lands; the growing support for the America the Beautiful Initiative; Secretary Haaland’s visit to Colorado; and the raging wildfires and extreme heat across the West.

America the Beautiful Report

The Mountain Pact released a report entitled Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful - Now is the Time - Western Mountain Communities Working to Achieve the 30x30 Goal that highlights examples from all eleven Western states on what Western mountain communities are doing to conserve nature and contribute to the America the Beautiful Initiative. The report offers recommendations for on-the-ground conservation work, policy recommendations, as well as new strategies and projects to help achieve the goals of the America the Beautiful effort.

June 2021 Conservation Update

In this Conservation Update we report that crowds continue to flock to our public lands with gateway communities and agency managers struggling to keep up; Interior Secretary Deb Halaand has recommended that President Biden reinstate the original boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments; the Interior Department has submitted its interim recommendations about the future of the oil and gas program to the White House; the Colorado and Outdoor Recreation Economy (CORE) Act had a hearing in a U.S. Senate subcommittee; the wildfire season is off to a raging start as the West struggles with record-breaking heat; President Biden’s proposed budget has a bold climate agenda and suggests investing $2.8 billion to support economies, outdoor recreation, and access to public lands; and more.

May 2021 Conservation Update

In this Conservation Update, we report that public land managers and communities continue to be faced with the challenge of handling an influx of visitors; the Biden administration has picked Tracy Stone Manning to lead the Bureau of Land Management; the Town of Avon and Pitkin County, Colorado have joined five other communities in passing resolutions in support of the pause on new oil and gas leasing on federal public lands; Pitkin County and Frisco, Colorado have both passed resolutions in support of the 30x30 initiative; oil and gas company executives refused to attend a House oil and gas hearing; the Biden Administration has released its America the Beautiful report; the severe drought, which climate change is making worse, is ravaging the American West; along with much more.

America the Beautiful Announcement

In Early May 2021, the Biden-Harris administration outlined a vision for how the United States can work collaboratively to conserve and restore the lands, waters, and wildlife that support and sustain the nation. The recommendations are contained in a report, outlining a locally-led and voluntary nationwide conservation goal to conserve 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.

These efforts include participation and input from rural communities, Tribal Nations, private landowners, and many others on the frontlines of conserving, stewarding, restoring, and enjoying nature.

Over 140 western local elected officials in the Mountain Pact Network asked the Biden administration to move forward with this initiative earlier this year and many city, town, and county councils or commissioners have passed resolutions supporting the 30x30 initiative. In celebration of this announcement, The Mountain Pact network of western local elected officials released these statements.

April 2021 Conservation Update

In this Conservation Update, we report on the resolutions passed by communities in The Mountain Pact network in support of the executive orders that pauses oil and gas leasing on federal public lands and highlight the need to protect 30% of lands and waters by 2030; the ongoing challenges public land managers are facing because of the overwhelming popularity of our public lands during COVID; Biden’s decisions that reflect a deep commitment to addressing climate change; Interior Secretary Halaand’s visit to Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante national monuments; The Mountain Pact’s successful webinar with the US Director of the Campaign for Nature about the 30x30 effort; a new report that analyzes what states around the West are already doing to conserve lands and waters; and much more.

March 2021 Conservation Update

In this Conservation Update, we report on the confirmation of former New Mexico Representative Deb Halaand as Secretary of the Interior; the Department of Interior held a virtual forum as part of its comprehensive review of the oil and gas leasing program which will inform a department report; the Department of Interior is moving swiftly to take action on climate change; Nevada’s senators have introduced legislation to reform the oil and gas leasing program by ensuring taxpayers get a fair return on oil and gas leasing on public lands and end speculative leasing; 574 federally recognized tribes are gaining momentum in their long drive for collaborative management of the country's national parks and other public lands; President Biden introduced a $2 trillion, 8-year infrastructure plan; and more.

Rep. Deb Haaland Confirmed by Senate as Secretary of Interior

New Mexico Representative Debra Haaland was confirmed as the next Department of Interior Secretary. In response, The Mountain Pact network of Western local elected officials released these statements.

February 2021 Conservation Update

In this Conservation Update, we report that we have new communities in The Mountain Pact network; 500 organizations support Representative Deb Haaland, President Biden’s historic nominee for Secretary of Interior, who would be the first Indigenous cabinet member and Interior Secretary; after the confirmation hearing, Rep. Halaand secured the crucial support of Senator Joe Machin; the CORE Act, Grand Canyon Protection Act, and other public lands bills have been reintroduced in Congress and passed as a package in the U.S. House; the Biden administration has delayed a Trump rule that would allow companies to pay less money for drilling on federal lands; and the Acting Secretary of Interior signed an order that revoked former Secretary of Interior David Bernhardt’s order that would have unilaterally imposed new restrictions that would have limited the availability of Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) funding for federal land acquisitions; and much more.

Biden’s Interior Department Repeals Last Minute Trump Rules That Undermined the Great American Outdoors Act

The Department of Interior announced that it would be rescinding former Secretary David Bernhardt’s Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) secretarial orders that added a litany of arbitrary restrictions on LWCF funding.

The Interior Department's action today restores the intent of the bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act, which includes full and permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and restores the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership program.

In response, Anna Peterson, Executive Director of The Mountain Pact issued the following statement:

January 2021 Conservation Update

In this Conservation Update, we report that over 125 western local officials signed a letter organized by The Mountain Pact in conjunction with a report calling on President Biden and Congress to protect our public lands, take bold action on climate change, and support Western mountain communities; that President Biden has signed executive orders that indicate his strong commitment to tackling the climate crisis including one that pauses new oil and gas leases on public land and promotes protecting 30% of our lands and waters by 2030; and more around how federal conservation policies are impacting western mountain communities.

Mountain Pact Letter and Report to President-elect Biden Administration

After four years of catastrophic environmental policy that has damaged our nation’s public lands and communities, The Mountain Pact and over 110 local elected officials across the West are calling on the incoming Biden administration and 117th Congress to address the climate crisis, protect public lands, and support Western mountain communities. Letter & Report.