I’ve been doing research lately, to prepare for a town hall where we invited our Congressman (Hurd) and of course he did not show up. Many others did, including a republican state Senator (Cleave Simpson), who supported a state resolution last week supporting public lands in federal stewardship. The venue was packed (standing room only and people outside-150 people in Alamosa is ALOT for a Saturday afternoon).

We had six presenters organized by the Indivisible group.

My focus was public lands, but I was curious how much the federal work force has decreased, since I noticed it locally; how much the public lands workforce had decreased since 2000.

I was completely blown way. Did you know that 80% of the federal work force doesn’t even live in Washington DC? (12% if you separate the military industrial complex in Maryland and Virginia.)

In Colorado alone, there are 57,000 federal employees.

This was the kicker though.

Did you know that less than 1% of the overall population even works for the federal government, as a federal employee? There are more than 320 million people in this country, and less than 3 million are even directly employed by the federal government. We have the same level of government oversight that we had in the 1980’s even though the population has increased by 100 million people. That information needs to get out there!!!! Our public lands workforce, in the San Luis Valley, under US Fish and Wildlife Service, for example, has decreased by 30% over the last 15 years. That’s almost a third!

This whole concoction of government overreach and “wasteful, bloated government” is a completely corrupting false narrative that has been a constant drum beat for almost 50 years. It needs to STOP, we need more people working for the federal government, not less. I’d rather be represented by the 1% of the federal government workforce than the 1% of the super-wealthy that is running our country into the ground right now. I think CLF needs to do analysis of the public lands workforce, BLM specifically, and show the undermining of our public lands workforce. Thank you.

What can we do as individuals to stop this insanity?

Have we done enough to emphasize the economic value of nature researched since the 1900s, such as Costanza’s ecological economics, value of real estate near greenbelts, $21 trillion net benefit of Clean Air Act 1970-90, etc.? Does that mean anything to the Republican business world? Why are ESGs attacked so strongly? Blackrock was ready to address them until Republicans turned on them.

What are some values that are shared across the political spectrum that can guide us towards common ground when it comes to protecting public lands?

If unable to attend, will there be recording I can access? Thank you!

What can we do to protect our public lands from mining, harvesting, and drilling?

Who in state government is best to contact concerning keeping public lands in public hands. It seems the feds and their appointees are raiding both the treasury and public lands.

How to address DEI challenges in securing federal funding

How can individual Americans help protect our public lands, National Parks, Monuments? I call my Senators and Representative all the time, but I don’t feel like they are listening as there are so many competing priorities.

How can we keep the current administration from releasing public lands to be be destroyed and impact the environment?

How do we conserve our Public Lands from our own U.S. Government Plans to allow drilling for oil, fracking for gas, digging for coal, and building huge Export Hubs? U.S. current White House Admin. approves, “Drill Baby Drill!” Our Public Lands and Native Tribes do not want their lands drilled for oil, or fracked for gas or mined with 200-year-old outdated Mining Laws that allows them to pollute our Clean Air and Clean Water Standards Acts Laws that are under attack by these industries and Congress?

Is there any plan to replicate this survey in other regions?

No question at this time.

What strategies are being considered to absolutely stop Trump from drilling and mining public lands?

What every day actions can people take, that will have the biggest impact to support our lands?

Save the trees frim overcutting or populate the earth with marijuana and poppy plants.plant way more fruit trees!!!

For Lori- What new polls, research or data is currently being collected to better understand the current sentiment of American voters on public lands issues?

hOW CAN WE HELP IMPEACH tRUMP?

What three actions will make the most difference to save public lands (from the Trump Admin attacks) that the Friends Groups can encourage the public to do?

Yes, how can the public prevent the Trump Administration from selling off public lands?

My reps are on our sided, but it feels like they aren’t doing enough and aren’t fighting enough, phone calls and meetings aren’t met with enough action from reps. How do we get our representatives to be out there doing more, publicly being loud and making a fuss?