Letter: Project 2025 proponents underestimate our resolve in public lands fight
Fall is here and hunting season is in full swing. Even as many of us turn our thoughts to filling freezers, it’s important not to lose sight of the conservation fights at our doorstep. For those who aren’t familiar with the 920-page manifesto that is Project 2025, it includes something bad for everyone, including hunters, anglers, and anyone who recreates on our great public lands estate.
Like many Colorado elk hunters, I depend on public lands for hunting, hiking, camping, canoeing, and outdoor recreation in general. Wildlife species like deer, ducks, grouse, turkeys, and dozens more need that habitat for their survival. The Department of Interior section of Project 2025 starts on page 517 and includes, for example, the following proposals.
- Restoring mining claims and oil and gas leases in Colorado’s Thompson Divide (page 523)
- Reviewing national monument designations with an eye to reducing their size (page 532)
- Seeking repeal of the Antiquities Act of 1906 (page 532)
It’s no surprise, then, that the public lands-related (and other) Project 2025 proposals are very unpopular. An NBC News poll shows “57 percent of voters view Project 2025 as unfavorable, with only 4 percent seeing it as favorable.”
Unfortunately, Project 2025 proponents are now primed to take control of our federal government. Since the election, there’s been a lot of (rightly so) handwringing and angst amongst those of us who now find ourselves preparing to play defense against a determined but misguided foe. So, take a week or two to shake off the shellshock and self-pity, and then get up and get back to work.
Conservation derives from the Latin conservare, meaning “to keep guard.” Project 2025 proponents think they have a mandate to dismantle democracy, public lands, and everything that’s good and decent about the United States of America. They underestimate our resolve. They will overreach, badly, and we’ll be there, waiting.
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David A. Lien
Colorado Springs
