MAINE MONITOR • June 13, 2025
Maine is about as far as you can get from the bulk of America’s federal public lands, the vast majority of which are west of the Mississippi River. But public lands, waters and wildlife are part of our birthright as American citizens, a public domain that we all collectively own. The Trump administration has worked to slash funding for federal land management agencies and conservation programs; open up more public lands to fossil fuel drilling, mining and other extractive development; and lay off or force out thousands of park rangers and other civil servants. The administration prioritizes dismantling environmental safeguards. Meanwhile, Congress is considering federal land sales to help offset Trump’s tax and spending cuts. Since he took office, NPS has lost 13 percent of its workforce and the administration is calls for slashing one-third of its entire operating budget. Sen. Angus King said, “it’s hard to understand how gutting ‘America’s best idea’ isn’t America’s worst idea.”