America’s Public Lands Managed by Split Personality in 2000s

The Wilderness Society today assessed the past 10 years of public lands management, saying it had a Jekyll-and-Hyde flavor. “This has been a Jekyll-and-Hyde decade for the lands belonging to all Americans,” said Dave Alberswerth, a senior policy advisor for The Wilderness Society. “The decade was bookended by administrations committed to sound stewardship of our natural treasures. But for most of the decade, we had an administration that emphasized the commercial exploitation of our public lands, such as more oil and gas drilling, and tried to undermine the protection of our roadless national forests. Fortunately, a broad coalition of Americans combined to thwart much of what that administration attempted.” Alberswerth added that with the arrival of the Obama administration, many misguided policies have been reversed, and there is renewed commitment to genuine stewardship...read more