Washington, DC – Conservation Lands Foundation, the nation’s only organization representing a nonpartisan network of community advocates solely focused on the public lands and waters overseen by the Bureau of Land Management, says the midterm election results that created Democratic majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives should be seen as an indicator of the power of bipartisan public support for keeping public lands in public hands. Statement from David Feinman, Vice President of Government Affairs for the Conservation Lands Foundation: “Americans, regardless of political party, love their public lands and waters, and the results of the midterm elections are another demonstration that bipartisan majorities want to keep public lands in public hands and they expect the next Congress will do so. “We will remind the 120th Congress when it is sworn in in January of the broad-based support that exists across the country for public lands protections. Our agenda for the new Congress will include the following priorities: We will work with House and Senate conservation champions to pass legislation protecting critical public lands and waters and strengthen conservation policy and bedrock conservation laws; We will work with them to perform stringent oversight of the Department of the Interior’s and Bureau of Land Management’s actions to undermine public land management over the past two years, and call upon them to hold the administration accountable for its attacks on public lands, as well as protect landscapes already designated for conservation; We will work with them to ensure the integrity of the Bureau of Land Management is maintained, and increase funding for the agency to ensure it is properly funded and staffed to achieve its mission; and We will continue our legal challenges against drilling in the Western Arctic and the illegal reductions of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, and will continue fighting bad administrative actions through public comment and legal defense. “Earlier this fall, we launched the Public Lands Attack Tracker to provide a ready reference for understanding and speaking out against legislative and regulatory actions designed to diminish public lands protections. We’ll continue to update this resource and will share it with our network of community champions, with media and with elected representatives across the country with a single message: we’re watching, we’re paying attention and we will speak out against efforts to degrade or destroy America’s public lands. “As the national network of community advocates who live near, care for and fight to protect large landscapes throughout the west, we will continue to advocate on behalf of the majority of Americans who want to protect natural resources, Indigenous culture, and the jobs and local economies that depend on restoring and experiencing America’s great outdoors. Public lands are for everyone and everyone should benefit from their continued protection.” ####