Last fall was my nineteenth season of public lands elk hunting in southwest Colorado’s San Juan Mountains. During eight days I hunted for a total of 63.5 hours (or 7.93 hours a day on average) and covered 41.5 miles (5.18 miles per day). One thing I’ve learned from all these hours and miles of hunting and hiking multiplied over 19 years is that fewer roads equal more elk.
However, the Trump administration is in the process of rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule, that has prohibited road construction and timbering on 58.5 million acres of our national forest lands nationwide. As hunters know from boots on the ground experience, the Roadless Rule protects the best elk habitat in Colorado and the country.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, one of 14 billionaires in Trump’s Cabinet, described public lands as part of America’s balance sheet during his January 2025 confirmation hearing. “That’s the balance sheet of America,” he said, “and, if we were a company, they would look at us and say, ‘Wow, you are really restricting your balance sheet.’”
But we’re not a company and public lands are owned by everyone. What Secretary Burgum is referring to is logging and mining while conveniently overlooking far more lucrative assets that benefit all of us. As explained in a Nov. 14 Outdoor Life story, “Federal public-land recreation generates $350M daily, creates more jobs than logging and mining combined.”
In addition, Interior Secretary Burgum’s balance sheet doesn’t acknowledge that a disproportionately high percentage of our nation’s surface water originates in roadless and wilderness areas. While less than 3% of land in the lower 48 states is within federally designated wilderness areas, 25% of all streamflows come from the snow and rain that fall on them.
How much is clean water worth? An underground mine on public land in the San Juan Mountains called the Gold King Mine, for example, spilled millions of gallons of toxic acid mine drainage into the Animas River and other downstream watersheds in 2015, turning the river orange, and that area is still recovering 10 years later.
The first two years I hunted elk (2007-2008) were in Game Management Unit 74 north of Durango guided by T. Mike Murphy of T Bar M Outfitters. Mike is a Backcountry Hunters & Anglers member and a friend of David “Elkheart” Petersen, who founded the first BHA state chapter here in Colorado.
Mike’s response to those who oppose preserving roadless and wilderness areas and say public land should be open to everyone driving, riding, logging or mining anything: Look at the satellite images of this corner of Colorado. “You take a look at that map and look at all the roads in southwest Colorado and northwest New Mexico, and you won’t want to see another road for a long time,” he said.
Starting with President Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day assembly of billionaires, we knew this was going to be an administration of, by, and for billionaire buzzards. Interior Secretary Burgum may understand the basics of selling off public assets to fatten the balance sheets of corporate billionaires, but he gets a failing grade in financial analysis for the greater good.
Despite all the hours and miles of hunting and hiking in the San Juan Mountains last fall, like most hunters, I didn’t punch my tag. Hence, you better be in it for more than just the kill, as good as that feels and tastes. For me elk hunting is not really about meat in the freezer or antlers on the wall. It’s about a timeless and priceless love of the wild.
Hunters (and many others) understand that public lands are not a left or right issue; they’re an American issue. This is our national heritage; and once it’s gone, it is gone forever. Trump’s billionaire buzzards want to privatize public lands and rule the rest of us. Don’t let ’em!
David A. Lien of Colorado Springs is a former Air Force missile launch officer and author. He was recognized by Field & Stream in 2014 as a “Hero of Conservation” and urges action at https://www.backcountryhunters.org/get-involved/take-action. These views are his own.
