“America the Beautiful” was born in Colorado. When Katharine Lee Bates stood atop Pikes Peak in 1893, she gave us words that still define who we are: spacious skies, purple mountain majesties, from sea to shining sea. It is a song about land held in common – awe-inspiring, productive, and worthy of care.
That vision continues to be under threat, and it demands vigilance from those who collectively own these lands – the American people.
This week, the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on a Congressional Review Act resolution targeting protections for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. At the same time, Utah lawmakers are pressing to use the same blunt tool to dismantle national monument management plans, including Grand Staircase – Escalante. And on Feb. 25, the Senate will hold a confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management, former New Mexico Congressman Steve Pearce – a nomination the Herald’s editorial board has opposed (Herald, Dec. 10).
Taken together, these actions reveal a coordinated strategy: weaken protections, sideline science and public input, and reopen public lands and waters to corporate extraction.
Pearce’s record fits squarely within that approach. He has long argued that federal lands should be sold off, transferred to states, or managed primarily for drilling and mining. Confirming him would place another ideologue in charge of an agency charged with sustaining the health, diversity, and productivity of public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. We do not need another official cut from the same cloth as Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who has described public lands as entries on a national “balance sheet,” assets to be “unlocked.”
That framing is dangerous. Public lands are not surplus inventory or underperforming assets waiting to be monetized. They are a trust, held by the federal government on behalf of all Americans.
Utah’s congressional delegation understands this, even as it resents it. Utah does not own Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument. Minnesota does not own the Boundary Waters. Colorado does not own its national forests, monuments, or BLM lands. These places belong to the American people precisely because their value transcends state lines – ecologically, culturally, and economically.
That national interest includes Tribal nations. At Grand Staircase – Escalante, six Tribes – including the Hopi, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute, Zuni, and Paiute Tribes – maintain deep cultural, spiritual, and historical ties to the land. Using the CRA to erase the monument’s management plan – as congressional Republicans are now attempting – would silence Tribal nations and permanently bar future protections.
In September, the Herald opposed Congress’s use of the CRA to overturn BLM resource management plans (Herald, Sept. 7). That opposition remains warranted as Republican lawmakers now seek to extend this unprecedented tactic to national monuments themselves.
The same tactic is now being applied offshore. On Friday, President Trump reopened the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, just 130 miles off Cape Cod, to commercial fishing by presidential proclamation – a legally questionable move. It follows his rollback of protections at the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument, established by President George W. Bush and blocked by a federal court in August 2025. History offers a warning: without strong protections, Georges Bank collapsed after decades of overfishing, devastating New England’s marine ecosystem and fishing economy.
The economic case for rollbacks is equally thin. According to the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office, outdoor recreation contributes $62 billion annually to Colorado’s economy, supports more than 500,000 direct jobs, and accounts for roughly 10% of the state’s GDP. By contrast, oil and gas extraction supports roughly 13,500 to 20,000 jobs statewide and far less economic output.
This should not be partisan. Conservation has long drawn support from leaders of both parties – from Theodore Roosevelt through Eisenhower and Nixon to the Bushes – and Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper should oppose Steve Pearce’s nomination, while Rep. Jeff Hurd should oppose any Congressional Review Act resolution targeting Grand Staircase – Escalante.
“America the Beautiful” is not a hymn to liquidation. It is a promise – to future generations, to Tribal nations, and to a shared national inheritance. Public lands belong to all Americans. We must defend them.
