Summary: Since Day One, the Trump administration has issued a flood of Executive and Secretarial Orders aimed at fast-tracking fossil fuel, timber, and mining interests on national public lands—while shutting the public out of the process. And, combined with rapidfire terminations of thousands of public lands employees, agencies do not have adequate staff to properly manage our national public lands and keep them healthy and enjoyable for California’s population.
As of April 24, 2025, the President had issued 139 Executive Orders—far more than recent administrations at this point in their terms. Many are designed to:
- Roll back environmental review
- Open up protected lands to drilling, mining and increased logging
One of the most damaging directives so far was the Unleashing American Energy Executive Order signed on Day One. It ordered agencies to remove any perceived “burdens” to energy development. Other departments soon followed with matching orders, or others that further threaten our public lands such as:
- SO 3418 which requires reviews of all lands withdrawn from mineral entry as well as existing land use plans, including national monuments.
- An order for Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production followed by a U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Memo requiring a similar increase, and an order to redefine “critical” minerals” to justify expanded extraction.
- A Direction to Repeal of Rules and Regulations that the administration deems are invalid with few guidelines about what constitutes a “valid” or “invalid” rule.
- Alternate NEPA permitting which allows Environmental Assessments to be completed in just 14 days and Environmental Impact Statements in 28 days (normally a years-long process). On top of that, it includes a “pay to play” provision that would allow companies to pay a fee in exchange for expedited permitting and exemptions from judicial review.
“Alternate” permitting timelines don’t allow for public input or sound science.
Public Lands Staff Terminations Compound Threats:
Many of the changes above haven’t yet caused direct harm to specific public lands, but the loss of experienced agency staff and reliable experts has already hurt the government’s ability to manage our lands, and our ability to get information about what is happening. On top of that, decisions to fire new employees takes away the expertise of recent graduates with up-to-date knowledge on methodology and technology.
Further, opaque, rapid decision-making and the turnover of DOI management to DOGE signal that big changes are coming fast.
For example, the Washington Post recently leaked that six national monuments—including California’s Chuckwalla National Monument—are under review for rollbacks.
Combined with actual legislation to sell off public lands now supported by the majority of House members in Congress, progress towards irrevocable losses for our public lands is closer than ever.
We’re fighting back by:
- Working with trusted Congressional allies and California legislators
- Leveraging state support to keep California a conservation stronghold
- Identifying places in California that are most at risk to raise awareness and mobilize local support
- Partnering with grassroots and grasstops advocates to defend at-risk places in California, like our new monuments.
Together, we can resist these attacks and preserve the integrity of our national public lands system.
