1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

I am writing to make clear that my concern about the destruction of public lands does not stop at the borders of Texas. I have written repeatedly about the threats facing Texas lands, but I want you to understand that I am deeply alarmed by what is happening across our nation’s public lands, national parks, wilderness areas, and national monuments. The attacks on places like Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante are not isolated decisions. They represent a broader disregard for lands that belong to all Americans. These places contain irreplaceable landscapes, wildlife habitat, cultural resources, archaeological sites, and history that cannot be restored once they are damaged or destroyed. I have personally been in the Grand Staircase-Escalante region while volunteering at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. I have seen the beauty, scale, and wildness of that landscape. It is exactly the kind of place that deserves protection, just as places like Big Bend and other treasured Texas lands deserve protection. These are not empty spaces waiting to be exploited. They are part of our national heritage. The claim that reducing protections will somehow increase public access is deeply misleading. Opening protected lands to mining and other extractive industries does not create meaningful access for the public. It creates access for companies seeking private profit. The American people do not need more industrialized landscapes; we need leaders who recognize the value of preserving what cannot be replaced. Our national lands are held in trust for current and future generations. They belong to all of us — not just corporations, not just developers, and not just those who seek to profit from them. I urge you to defend our national parks, wilderness areas, monuments, wildlife, and cultural sites. Please stop policies that sacrifice America’s natural and historic treasures for short-term gain. These lands are our inheritance, and we have a responsibility to protect them.