WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate Western Caucus Chair Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) published an op-ed calling for the return of common-sense, multiple-use land management practices in western communities.
Read the full op-ed here and below.
Washington Examiner – “It’s time to restore local control to Western land”
March 7, 2025
No one knows the land like those who live on it. Western communities have managed public lands with unmatched expertise for generations, balancing multiple interests from ranching and energy development to recreation and conservation. We’ve achieved this despite hostile federal policies that distort this balance and threaten our way of life.
As leaders representing Western states with significant federal land ownership, we are committed to restoring common-sense management practices that benefit our local communities and the nation. This starts with reinvigorating the fundamental law of multiple-use that has historically guided public land management.
The Biden administration’s approach has undermined multiple-use and severely restricted energy development on public lands. This has made America more dependent on foreign energy and deprived Western communities of vital revenue streams that fund essential services such as schools and emergency response. The growing disconnect between federal bureaucrats in Washington and the local communities most affected by former President Joe Biden’s public lands policies only amplifies the challenge.
The people who live and work on these lands — ranchers, energy workers, outdoor enthusiasts, loggers, and recreationists — must have a meaningful voice in our federal land management. One of the best ways to ensure local input is through resource management plans. These guide the usage of millions of acres across the West and are vital to ensuring productive and sustainable use of our federal lands. Sadly, these plans are increasingly divorced from local input and expertise. With President Donald Trump finally back in the White House, we look forward to ensuring that local input remains at the forefront of land management in the future.
This means reversing the previous administration’s attempts to unilaterally block access to federal lands through abuses of the Antiquities Act. While we all agree that preserving our country’s greatest landscapes is important, the act’s original intent was never to lock up millions of acres with the stroke of a presidential pen.
The Endangered Species Act has similarly evolved into a blunt instrument that often restricts productive land use without achieving meaningful species recovery. After 50 years, it’s time to modernize this law to better serve wildlife and Western communities. We need an approach that incentivizes species recovery through conservation while respecting property rights and enabling responsible development.
Trump has already taken strides to reverse the previous administration’s disastrous policies. He is modernizing both the Antiquities Act and the Endangered Species Act to ensure that people in Utah, Wyoming, and the West have a voice in the land they call home. Trump is unleashing energy production and prioritizing the law of multiple-use by lifting the liquified natural gas export ban, ramping up oil and gas production, halting Green New Deal spending, and streamlining permitting processes to ensure timely energy development.
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The West has always been defined by pragmatic problem-solving and cooperation among diverse interests. It’s time to bring these values back to public lands management. Our communities, economic well-being, resource sustainability, and national security depend on it.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) is the chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) is the chairwoman of the Senate Western Caucus.
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