During his presidency, Donald Trump made several significant changes to federal land management and policy. Here are some key actions:

Reduction of National Monuments

Trump significantly reduced the size of two national monuments in Utah:

• Bears Ears National Monument was reduced by about 85%
• Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was cut by nearly half

These actions were met with legal challenges from conservation groups and Native American tribes.

Increased Oil and Gas Leasing

The Trump administration aggressively pursued oil and gas development on federal lands:

• They approved the sale of 1,400 leases out of 3,000 applications, primarily in New Mexico and Wyoming, in the last few months of the presidency
• This was seen as an effort to get ahead of incoming President Biden’s plans to end new drilling on federal lands

Rollback of Environmental Protections

Trump’s administration made numerous changes to environmental regulations:

• Protections for migratory birds, clean water, and endangered species were cut back
• The Waters of the United States Rule was eliminated and replaced with the Navigable Waters Protection Rule
• The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was modified to streamline the approval process for infrastructure projects

Positive Conservation Measures

Despite the overall trend of reducing protections, there were some conservation-oriented actions:

• Trump signed the Great American Outdoors Act, which provided funding to address the maintenance backlog in national parks and public lands
• The Act also permanently funded the Land and Water Conservation Fund

Changes to Forest Management

The administration took steps to change forest management practices:

• Trump signed an executive order promoting more active forest management to prevent wildfires

Access to Public Lands

Some actions were taken to increase access to federal lands:

• The administration opened and expanded access to over 4 million acres of public lands for hunting and fishing

These changes to federal land policy and management were significant and often controversial, with supporters praising increased access and development opportunities, while critics argued they prioritized exploitation over conservation.

Tallied by Perplexity.ai