This last year saw campaign after campaign to save our public-lands heritage!
In 2017 we waged a pitched battle to protect America's public lands from what probably is the most anti-environmental government in U.S. history!
Donald Trump filled up his cabinet with fossil fuel executives and climate change denialists who have spent their careers working to dismantle environmental safeguards for our air and water quality, strip protections from endangered species, and hand over our public lands to ranching interests and logging, mining, and oil and gas drilling corporations!
It was now more important than ever that we step forward to defend our national forests, parks and wilderness areas! California alone is home to more than 9 million acres of national forests, as well as some of the country's most beloved national parks, such as Yosemite and Sequoia.
Forest ecosystems provide many services that are both vital and free of charge— they give us habitat for wildlife, cleanse the air and water, and protect soils. The outdoor recreation industry alone employs 6.1 million Americans, and contributes $650 billion to the economy annually— all without incurring environmental damage!
In these trying times, it is our duty to step up as strong defenders of our nation's ecological treasures. It is up to us to keep a vigilant guard against greed-driven, anti-environmental policies and to speak up for our forests, watersheds and wildlife.
The conservation community has withstood an onslaught of bills and executive orders in the last year that would degrade or sell off our public lands. We must maintain the fight to keep public lands in public hands because once they are gone, they are gone for good!
