03/12/2026
SPEAK UP – ON THE FUTURE OF BLM - BY MARCH 23
While we are bombarded with Trump’s latest hijinks, there is a powder keg about to be torched at the Bureau of Land Management. You should care – a lot. Over 50 percent of Jackson County and 16 million acres in the state of Oregon are public lands, most of it managed by the BLM.
Environmentalists and the people who live here have fought hard to protect Oregon’s forests, wildlife, water and ecosystems.. But that is now in jeopardy under Trump’s BLM. A new proposal plans to:
-- Reduce protections for nearly 2 million acres of public lands, quadrupling the harvest of previously protected old growth forests and other protected lands to 1 billion board feet a year,
-- Shrink logging buffers around rivers and streams to 25-100 feet, scientifically insufficient to protect endangered fish like coho salmon and steelhead.
-- Place logging above all other public lands uses, like recreation, wildlife habitat, and drinking water, in violation of the O&C Lands Act of 1937 and subsequent environmental laws and court rulings.
We are asking you to take two actions to help stop this. First, the BLM is asking for public comment through March 23. You can file your objections through the Federal Register, BLM’s NEPA Register, or the Oregon Wild website. You can also email direct to [email protected] or mail a letter or postcard to: Attention BLM OR930, 1220 SW 3rd Ave, Portland, OR 97204. Don’t hesitate to file objections using ALL of those methods, or hold a party with friends to do all those things together.
Second, Trump has nominated a terrible person to head the BLM. Steve Pearce is an extremist who has questioned the scientific evidence for climate change, made millions off of oil and gas projects, and has explicitly denounced Theodore Roosevelt for creating national parks and forests. His first confirmation hearing was last week, in front of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He will go before the whole Senate later this month.
Contact your senators to tell them we do not want an extremist like Steve Pearce mismanaging our public lands. Write letters to the editor to any and every publication in Oregon. Share this threat to our future with everyone you know. And, when it comes time for Pearce’s full confirmation hearing, let’s organize protests on every street corner across our state. Today is a good day to speak up.