Photo by Eliza Earle.
For many in the conservation world, 2025 was deja vu all over again. Donald Trump in the White House, attacks on our public lands, and corporate polluters boosting profits at the expense of our clean air and water. It was a year of harmful rollbacks, stalled progress, and threats to the very existence of our shared natural inheritance. But it was also a year with flashes of hope that showed us what we can do when we come together over our true common grounds. Let’s take a look back on what we fought, how we won, and where we go from here.
Donald Trump’s attacks on our public lands and waters began on Day One of his new administration. Within hours of his swearing-in, Trump issued a flurry of executive orders advancing his pro-polluter agenda: undoing protections for fragile landscapes, prioritizing oil and gas development on public lands, fast-tracking logging projects, even renaming sacred Indigenous sites like Denali, Alaska’ majestic mountain. And with right-wing billionaire Elon Musk, the Trump administration orchestrated the chaotic firing of thousands of federal workers and slashed budgets to the bone. It set the stage for the coming months.
After the chaos of the administration’s early months, Trump and company returned to their real goals – privatizing public goods as quickly – and as profitably – as possible. They used dodgy interpretations of federal laws to strip protections for public lands in the west. They rolled back oil and gas regulations to levels straight from the 1920s, making it easier for corporate polluters to line their pockets and leave Americans holding the bag. They scheduled more oil and gas lease sales in Alaska, seeking to make America’s Arctic the world’s largest gas station. They moved against public opinion to try to repeal the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which protects our national forests from industrial development, and tried to force through a pro-logging bill under the guise of wildfire protection. They even attacked the Endangered Species Act, a bedrock environmental law that has protected 99 percent of species listed from extinction.
With the scale and the speed of these attacks on our public lands and waters, it was easy to lose hope, but we also saw one of our greatest victories in recent memory – all because regular people came together and told Donald Trump “no.” Over the summer, Trump and allies in Congress, like Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) tried to sell millions of acres of public lands to private developers. The response from the public was swift and uniform – they would not stand to see these treasured places where we hike, fish, camp, hunt, and explore sold off for pennies on the dollar. Americans regardless of political ideology, geography, or age came together – “not one acre” became a rallying cry. And when all was said and done, Mike Lee and Donald Trump lost – the people won.
This level of public engagement continued through the administration’s push to undo the Roadless Rule – which protects over 56 million acres of forests across the country. These forests provide clean water to millions of Americans, scrub pollution from the air, and are home to thousands of fish and wildlife species. The Trump team is looking to roll back the Rule and open these lands up to development and enrich their billionaire friends. Once again, people-powered conservation rose to the challenge with hundreds of thousands of calls, letters to the editor, and actions. We hear that this outpouring of pressure is bending the will of the administration, and they are having to consider less destructive futures for our forests.
Our “people powered” fights against the public lands sell off and for the Roadless Rule shows us what we need to do to win in this second Trump administration. We must come together to demonstrate the power of people to protect what we love. We may not agree on everything, but millions of us are united by one thing – our love of public lands and waters. They bring us together as our true common ground. We are more powerful together, and when we do, not even Donald Trump can stop us. That’s the energy we’re bringing into 2026, and we need you to join us.