It’s Election Day, and public lands have played a major role in candidates’ campaigns over the last several months.
Last year’s failed attempt by Utah Senator Mike Lee to sell off as many as 3.2 million acres of public land has shaped the platforms of candidates in both parties. In Colorado, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper’s first broadcast ad says he helped defeat the sell-off attempt. In Wyoming, gubernatorial nominee Eric Barlow has promised to “safeguard our public lands.”
In Montana’s First Congressional District, ads for both candidates have focused on protecting public lands. Republican Aaron Flint has pledged to “keep public lands in public hands,” and Democrat Sam Forstag, a former U.S. Forest Service smokejumper, has said Montanans should be able to hunt, hike, and fish on public lands “without worrying that they’re going to be sold out from underneath us.”
This year, the Bureau of Land Management approved the first data center on federal public land—an 88.5-acre project in Nevada that has become a dominant issue in the governor’s race. Both candidates say data centers must follow state rules, including covering their own energy costs and protecting water supplies.
In Arizona, the federal government cut the state’s Colorado River supply by 27 percent. Water then became voters’ top concern for the first time in the Center for the Future of Arizona survey’s five-year history. Governor Katie Hobbs’s ads declare “Arizona’s water is for Arizonans,” and challenger Andy Biggs has said the state must fight for every drop it’s entitled to.
Eighty-five percent of Mountain West voters say issues involving public lands, water, and wildlife are important in deciding whether to support a candidate, according to Colorado College’s 2026 Conservation in the West poll.
Quick hits
Trump’s arch faces new legal challenge from Virginia and D.C.
New York Times | Associated Press
‘We will be digging’: Lawmakers firm up plans to investigate Interior under Burgum
Judge complicates construction timeline on Trump’s memorial arch project with multiple deadlines
Native American remains unearthed during Trump’s border wall construction
Arizona public land use in jeopardy, groups say. Here’s why
Trump administration is buoying nearly half of all U.S. coal plants
What it takes to unfence the West
Ryan GosWING wins BLM’s Bat Beauty Contest for the 4th time
Quote of the day
With overwhelming support, Americans across the country have spent decades protecting our country’s most iconic landscapes like the Arctic, the Boundary Waters and Bears Ears National Monument. This bill puts those places—and millions of acres of other public lands—on a one-way path to industrial development, from oil and gas to data centers.”
—Tracy Stone-Manning, president of The Wilderness Society
Picture This
Sand dunes and fall foliage? Name a better duo.
Golden aspens and towering sand dunes come together at @greatsanddunesnps in Colorado, to create one of the most spectacular autumn landscapes.
Home to the tallest sand dunes in North America, this incredible park is a one of a kind.
Photos by NPS
(Featured image: The Colorado River at Horseshoe Bend, Arizona. Photo by Charles Wang, Wikipedia)