DENVER—The Center for Western Priorities released the Project 2025 public lands progress report, which reveals that despite President Donald Trump’s frequent campaign trail disavowals of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policy blueprint, his administration has already implemented over half of its unpopular recommendations related to public lands. Our analysis shows that during his first year back in office, President Trump has fully or partially implemented over 80 percent of the actions related to public lands outlined in the Project 2025 “Mandate for Leadership.”
This report details how the administration’s “Energy Dominance” agenda has mirrored the Project 2025 blueprint. To date, the administration has implemented 70 percent of recommended actions regarding fossil fuels, including the rescission of Biden-era climate priorities and the reinstatement of federal coal leasing. This was largely facilitated by Executive Order 14154, “Unleashing American Energy,” and the passage of Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which mandated rolling lease sales and reduced royalty rates for oil and gas companies.
The Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Communications Manager Kate Groetzinger, a lead contributor to the report:
“The speed with which President Trump has embraced a plan he once claimed to know nothing about is staggering. By gutting federal agencies, fast-tracking logging, and locking in long-term drilling leases, the Trump administration is effectively turning our national public lands into sacrifice zones for private profit. Trump and his cronies at the Interior and Agriculture departments are following the plan laid out in Project 2025—a shortsighted and destructive vision for public lands that the majority of voters of all parties oppose.”
“Let this report be a warning to those who care about public lands: opposing the sale of public lands is not enough—if the Trump administration and Heritage Foundation have their way, our public lands will be effectively privatized by the end of Trump’s presidency in 2028. This will be achieved through the gutting of federal agencies, the issuance of long-term logging and drilling leases, and the permanent destruction of habitat by the proliferation of clear cuts, well pads, and mines.”
Methodology:
For each of the 70 discrete actions in Project 2025 that were identified as related to public lands, the CWP team assessed whether the administration has fully implemented the recommendation, begun to implement it, or has not yet implemented it. Each action was assigned one point, regardless of its relative impact. This report only included directives that directly impact public lands, meaning it does not include actions related to Tribal lands, water, or climate unless they have a direct impact on public lands issues. Access the full dataset and methodology here.
Beyond energy, the report highlights several key areas where Project 2025 goals are being realized by President Trump:
- Environmental Reviews: The administration has completed or attempted 100 percent of the actions recommended to limit environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
- Agency Staffing: Through the reinstatement of Schedule F, which reclassifies career civil servants as at-will employees, the administration has overseen a mass exodus of expertise. An estimated 15,500 employees have left the Forest Service and the Interior Department combined.
- Alaska Wilderness: Nearly every part of the Project 2025 plan for Alaska has been initiated, including reopening millions of acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling.
- Forest Management: New executive orders have mandated a 25 percent increase in federal logging quotas while bypassing standard environmental review processes and public comment periods.
Learn more:
- Project 2025 would devastate America’s public lands – Westwise
- A Historically Bad Year for Public Lands Under President Trump – Center for American Progress
- Westerners Who Prefer Public Land Conservation Over Energy Development Reaches All Time High – Colorado College State of the Rockies Project 2025 Conservation the West Poll
- The Trump Administration Is Recklessly Axing Funding and Staff for America’s National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands – Center for American Progress