Salutations outdoorists,
Remember last year, when we teamed up with Public Land Solutions to help stop oil and gas leasing near Moab, UT (and gathered over 36,000 signatures––and the lease sale got cancelled)? While that campaign was a victorious success, it wasn’t enough.
It’s time for oil and gas leasing reform on our public lands.
President Biden recently put a pause on all new oil and gas leasing on federal public lands, but that is a temporary halt giving the administration an opportunity to make major changes to the role fossil fuel exploration and extraction plays on our public lands.
Need scientific evidence on why we need oil and gas reform on public lands? This report recently released by Public Land Solutions details the ways inactive oil and gas wells are negatively impacting wildlife, recreation and rural communities. Here’s additional reading from Center for American Progress on why oil and gas + public lands = no bueno.
Outdoor Alliance has a letter-writing tool you can use to directly submit a comment to Interior’s comment portal––deadline is TOMORROW!
Note: Be sure personalize your message for the greatest impact––during Interior’s forum last month they specifically requested “quality over quantity” for these comments. Set a timer for 5 minutes and get personal with your comment!
The comment period ends 4/15, but our work getting educated and activated on oil and gas reform is just getting started. More to come soon!
Other outdoorsy news you oughta know right now:
- Secretary Haaland visited Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments last week, meeting with key Tribal, community and lawmaker stakeholders to discuss solutions to the designations of these high contested places.
- The upcoming wildfire season is already looking grim and California scientists just made an alarming discovery. Stay tuned for wildfire resources dropping soon from Recreate Responsibly.
- We are stoked about Outdoor F.U.T.U.R.E.: “Standing on stolen land and recreating on broken treaties, the Outdoor F.U.T.U.R.E. initiative seeks to build momentum for the creation of a national equity fund that will ensure long-term investments in programs to serve all youth with opportunities to explore the great outdoors.” Want to learn more? Register here for their webinar on 4/20.
- When we say “Moab,” if you think “backcountry skiing,” then this survey about the economic impact of backcountry skiing in the Manti-La Sal National Forest is for you!
- For the first time in years, National Park visitation dropped in 2020–by 28%. (via Backpacker)
Got the beta on an outdoor advocacy issue, event, or rad content we ought to know about? Give us the scoop: team@outdooradvocacy.com – we want to hear from you and amplify your nooks of advocacy + the outdoors!
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