An Honest Conversation About the Protection of our Public Lands

An Honest Conversation About the Protection of our Public Lands

In just a little over a month since the new Administration took office, national headlines have highlighted a drastic and very quick downsizing of federal agencies through a multi-pronged workforce reduction strategy involving hiring freezes and rescinded job offers (even including seasonal employees), early retirement buyouts, and terminations that at first only targeted probationary employees but now also include tenured employees whose positions are being eliminated.

Sierra Forever’s federal agency partners in the protection of the irreplaceable public lands of the Sierra Nevada and Great Basin—the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service—have not been spared.

Especially worrisome is the possible fate of National Parks nationwide, where staffing is down by 20% since 2010, while visitation is up by 16%, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.

As quoted in a Feb. 7 article from San Francisco-based news website SFGate, 22 U.S. Senators, including California Sen. Alex Padilla, recently delivered a letter to newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, in which they wrote, “Without seasonal staff during this peak season, visitor centers may close, bathrooms will be filthy, campgrounds may close, guided tours will be cut back or altogether cancelled, emergency response times will drop, and visitor services like safety advice, trail recommendations, and interpretation will be unavailable.” This could close entire parks altogether, they wrote.

In the photo above, taken at Nevada’s Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge during the 2025 Public Lands Alliance Convention and Trade Show at the beginning of February, which several Sierra Forever staff members attended, it is easy to see that our wild spaces and the services and infrastructure necessary for their protection and maintenance are intended for people. We humans are a part of nature as well, and our enjoyment as well as our proper stewardship of public lands must be ensured if these special places are to endure for the future enjoyment of those that will come after us.

The management of our public lands, as they say, “takes a village.” As the official nonprofit partner to our federal land management agencies, we at Sierra Forever are just that: a partner helping, where needed, to protect these unique natural resources. During the PLA convention, we unfortunately had no federal agency staff present to fulfill their important role in that partnership. Their travel had been disallowed, and their absence was very notable and certainly demonstrated their true value to this partnership in protecting the public lands we so dearly love.

Back to the Senators’ letter: At the national level, the Senators’ letter stated, “In 2023, an estimated 325 million park visitors spent an estimated $26.4 billion in local gateway regions, supporting an estimated 415,000 jobs and $55.6 billion in total economic output in the national economy.”

Locally, according to a July 2023 study shared by the Bishop Area Chamber of Commerce & Information Center, just in the Owens Valley, which traverses Inyo County from north to south, in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, 465,100 destination visitors spent a total of $115.5 million, generated $4.5 million in local lodging and retail taxes, and their visitor activity and spending supported 919 local jobs.

North of the Owens Valley, Mammoth Lakes Tourism reports that close to 1.7 million visitors visited Mammoth, a world-renowned winter sports destination, between July 2022 and June 2023, and accounted for almost $700 million in direct spending for Mammoth Lakes.

At public lands, including Parks, that do not close entirely, the quality of services provided by limited staff to swelling numbers of visitors is sure to suffer in both efficiency and consistency. Local economies like ours that rely on tourism to National Parks and other nearby public lands could be greatly impacted.

Sierra Forever is not immune to developments impacting federal agencies and could face severe consequences as a nonprofit partner that is tightly connected to the federal land management agencies we support. We are doing everything humanly possible to help mitigate any adverse impact by reduced, erratic or altogether nonexistent services at any or all of our agency partner public lands.

The best way you can support our efforts is twofold:

1) By keeping this important conversation going—with your neighbors, friends, local chambers of commerce, city, county, state and federal elected officials, by writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, and by posting messages of gratitude on social media to park rangers and other federally appointed stewards of public lands, who certainly are needing a morale boost at this time.

2) By giving to nonprofits that support federal public land agencies and stewards. If you choose to give to Sierra Forever, please consider making a recurring automatic donation through our website. Recurring donations are fantastic in helping to sustain Sierra Forever’s activities long-term, as even small amounts given weekly or monthly help us maintain a steady cashflow and add up to substantial support over time. No gift is too small, and we appreciate every donation from fellow lovers of our public lands.

Jeff Gabriel
Executive Director

News Staff