Public Lands and Waters

Leveraging the power of the Conservation Voters Movement (CVM), we build local, state, and federal support to defend existing protections and secure new ones.

We advocate for policies that advance public lands protections and hold decision makers accountable. We also work to increase opportunities for all people to experience and enjoy our public lands.

In past years, we have secured national monument protections for landscapes across the country, pushed Congress to provide billions of dollars for national and community parks, and won bans on new oil and gas leasing.

While many people think of our country’s public lands as protected from industrial development, a staggering amount of drilling and mining occurs on them. In fact, nearly one-quarter of all U.S. carbon emissions are generated from energy extracted on public lands and waters. This is because our public lands are managed for multiple uses, including energy development, timber harvesting, livestock grazing, and recreation.

While many of these uses are compatible with conservation, some like drilling, mining, and logging are not. We work to reduce harmful uses of our public lands, and recognize that some places are too valuable to be developed. In places that hold enormous natural, cultural, spiritual, or historical value, we fight to stop development and win national monument protections.

We also believe our public lands can be used as a climate solution. We work to protect forests, wetlands, mangroves, and other areas that store carbon in the ground. And we fight to increase solar, wind, and other clean forms of energy on these landscapes. As the climate crisis intensifies, our public lands can increase resilience to a changing climate and help sustain a livable environment for all.

The United States has a painful legacy of racism and exclusion toward Indigenous peoples and communities of color. Public lands policy is no exception, and patterns of inequity continue to the present day.

Many low-income and communities of color lack access to nature. Many national parks and public lands do not reflect the stories of diverse communities. And many public lands are inaccessible and unwelcoming to disabled people, people of color, people with low income, Indigenous tribes, and LGBTQ+ communities.

LCV seeks to tear down these barriers and expand access to public lands for all people. We pursue policies that protect nature and share its benefits more equitably with all communities. We recognize that our public lands rightfully belong to Indigenous people, and work to foster greater sovereignty and co-management of public lands. And we work to protect places that tell a complete story of the United States.