To be clear, I’m not interested in the entire western United States being a single-use national park. When I advocate for mineral material extraction leases on public lands administered by the federal government in the public trust I’m not at all considering “but what about the environment” as a reason to remove public access to our public lands.

Preserve the best examples of unique national heritage within the National Park Service and return to the common sense of this Bureau of Land Management directive:

Public Lands For Multiple Use.

When I first arrived in New Mexico, Chaco Culture National Historic Park was Chaco Canyon National Park. And until recently, White Sands National Park was White Sands National Monument. A smattering of parametaquasi-unofficial national monuments outside of the National Park Service have been hoisted upon New Mexico.

I’ve got a lot of ideas of what I want to see when it comes to our national park units, much of which requires codification by Congress. I’m having an ongoing dialogue with a congressman from California, so maybe these ideas have an opportunity to reach Elon’s DOGE and perhaps receive discussion in the House.