Your public lands need your voice!
Never before has it been more important to advocate for public lands. Never before has your
voice for YOUR public lands been needed like it is now. Never before has the threat and recent
action to dismantle the United States Forest Service (USFS) been so real. Reach out to your
Representatives, call your Senators, let them know you support and value the USFS and its
mission.
The USFS is responsible for the stewardship of 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands
across America; an area of 193 million acres that represents only 8.5% of total US lands. For
over 121 years, the USFS has been the overseer, the champion and great protector, the data-
driven expertise and institutional knowledge that safeguards these public lands. Your lands!
This institution that led the world as the first and the largest forestry research organization, is
being picked apart in order to further weaken it. The 2026 USFS restructuring and relocation,
announced on March 31 st , shifts headquarters to Salt Lake City, UT. It shifts from a regional
structure to 15 state-based offices that will accelerate development projects to increase timber,
grazing, and mining output. The USFS reorganization plan cuts 57 research stations, and the
directors of these 15 state-based offices will be ‘political appointments’, not career or data-
driven professionals. There has never been a more obvious and in your face denigration of this
iconic, distinguished, and uniquely American institution.
The dismantling of the USFS will open the door for true ‘land grabs’ by interests that have a
historical record of extraction over conservation. It will limit your ability to enjoy the forests,
meadows, peaks, and streams, impacting water, recreation, conservation, open space, grazing,
hunting, clean air, fishing, lifestyles, and livelihoods. Other threats are running in parallel,
including Utah’s attempt to wrest control of 18.5 million acres of public lands away from the
BLM that is supported by 12 other states – YOUR public lands.
Our local Gunnison Ranger District has already been dealt major budget cuts. Here in the
Gunnison Valley, we are so lucky to have in place several organizations that support our
District. We are so fortunate to have a community that treasures our public lands, supports our
federal agencies, and will do what it takes to safeguard and protect our livelihoods and our
beloved natural resources. Many parts of the country do not have those support groups, those
partners, those communities, that have the ability to step up and support local districts and
field offices. Even with those support groups, the ‘restructuring’ will further remove policies
and protocols established to ensure the integrity of our public lands and their health and
preservation for future generations.
Here in the Gunnison Valley, we are even more fortunate to have the Gunnison Outdoor
Resources Protection (GORP) Act introduced in Congress. Over a decade of community
collaboration went into the GORP Act. Proposed by Senator Michael Bennet’s office and
supported by Gunnison County Commissioners, 10 representatives spanning the interests of
summer and winter recreation, water, hunting/angling, grazing, and conservation convened as
the ‘working group’ and found common ground around the community’s vision for public lands
in and around Gunnison County. What made the working group so special was the reaching
across the aisle that is so rare these days. All representatives truly found common ground
around the best interest of the resource itself, in each of the prescribed areas, for their
individual and unique characteristics.
After the ‘working group’ proposal, County Commissioners and Senator Bennet’s office spent
years doing extensive outreach and engaged with an even broader community, including
neighboring counties, land owners, native tribes, and many other stakeholders. In May of 2025,
the GORP Act was reintroduced as a Bill in both chambers of Congress by Senators Bennet and
Hickenlooper and Representative Hurd.
Being a part of the working group that proposed the GORP Act was an honor. Special interests
were put aside to seek a greater collaborative vision that looks to progressive and modern
means of land management prescriptions for the best interest of the resource. Better than one
use or interest, the GORP Act was created for the greater good of all. Nothing is lost, nothing
goes away. What’s proposed is a modern approach to resource protection where uses are
allowed that preserve the integrity and unique character of each area. Tools are provided and
local stakeholders have a hand in helping support agencies and land managers protect our
greatest of public resources. GORP is a modern day, patriotic and progressive Act that shows
support not just for our public lands, but for the agencies that manage them.
Never has it been more important to say something, do something. Call your Senators, reach
out to your Representatives. Simply go to their websites and contact them. Let them know
OUR public lands are NOT FOR SALE! Let them know you support measures like the GORP Act
to help steward our lands and most precious natural resources, forever. Let those
Congressmen and Congresswomen know that you don’t support the dismantling of the USFS,
an iconic American institution that has helped shape and protect our most precious and unique
public lands.
CBMBA Staff and Board of Directors