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Next Interior Memos weekly digest, 19 June 2025

This week, Next Interior Memos will begin trying out a weekly digest to bring you a high-level view of what happened last week, what’s coming up, and other recaps of interest.

Jacob Malcom

• 3 min read
Forested landscape with a river in the mid-ground, a few mountains, and mostly cloudy skies with the sun shining through.
The Columbia River has been home to nature and peoples since time immemorial. An agreement to help the river--and nature and people--was rescinded by the Trump administration. Photo by Elena Kuchko / Unsplash

(Ed. note: Photo of the Columbia River added later to have some art up front.)

Happy Juneteenth! Not only is today a federal holiday celebrating the end of chattel slavery in the U.S., it’s the first day of the Next Interior Memos pilot of a weekly digest. We’ll start off with a structure of three basic sections: what happened, what is coming, and a parting shot. Without further ado:

What happened?

Here are three things that happened this past week that caught our attention:

  1. Selling off public lands. The biggest news of the past week for Interior is probably that Sen. Lee of Utah included a requirement for the Department and USDA Forest Service to sell off millions of acres of public land as part of the Senate’s markup of the reconciliation bill currently in Congress. This is a red line: Congress cannot be selling off OUR public lands. Read more.
  2. Public lands sales propaganda. On the heels of Sen. Lee’s amendment to the reconciliation bill came an investigative report from Public Domain that shows the State of Utah spent millions of tax dollars on a PR campaign to try to sway public opinion to favor seizing federal lands. We’ll be curious to see what Utahns think of this deception…I’d be hopping mad. Read more.
  3. Going after national monuments. The first Trump administration attempted to cut down our national monuments but lost that gambit repeatedly. Now their Department of Justice has offered a new legal theory to support downsizing or canceling monuments. If you think this is ridiculous, you’re not alone. Read more.

Other things:

  • Trump administration rescinds the Columbia River MOU. LinkedIn, Tribal Business News
  • People deliver good messages to the National Park Service on keeping our history. Read more
  • The effects of the reconciliation bill on energy costs and the economy. Read more
  • Congress shows first signs of resisting Trump’s plans to slash science budgets. Read more
  • At Congress’s direction, Interior and the Forest Service expanded mental health service for wildland firefighters. Read more
  • Yesterday was the 91st anniversary of the Indian Reorganization Act. Read more
  • This week marked the 123rd birthday of the Bureau of Reclamation, part of the Department of the Interior! Read more

What’s coming?

Here are three things that are coming up and may warrant your attention:

  1. Western Governors’ Association (WGA) annual meeting. Next Interior will be headed to Santa Fe starting Friday for the WGA’s annual meeting on 23-24 June. Not only will the governors of Western states and some of their staff be there, but so will some federal leaders (like the Secretary of the Interior), business groups, and nonprofits. We will provide a recap with a Memo next week. Learn more
  2. Congressional action. Tentative: the House Appropriations Committee subcommittee overseeing Interior’s budget will meet for markup on Tuesday, 24 June, and the full committee will meet on Thursday, 26 June. (Those two hearings may have been canceled…) In addition, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology is having a hearing about the Justice40 program. Next Interior will be tuning in when possible and will provide a recap later next week. Learn more
  3. Cuyahoga River fire. 54 years ago on Sunday, 22 June, is the anniversary of the Cuyahoga River bursting into flames. Fortunately, we passed laws to protect our environment and that rarely happens any more! If you hear someone talk about how we don’t have as many environmental problems as we used to, say yes and remind them that we took action to address the problems. Read more

Other things of note:

  • NCAI’s 2025 Leading Tribal Nations Executive Education Program at Harvard Business School. (Deadline was in April, but the program is next week.) Read more
  • Sunrise Orientation at the visitor’s center of Haleakalā National Park, starting about 15 minutes before sunrise. Read more
  • Batty Bats educational program for kids and parents at Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Davis, WV. Read more
  • National Catfish Day, 25 June; remember our Threatened species, the Yaqui catfish (Ictalurus pricei). Learn more

Parting shot

View from a rocky overlook with two rivers, one muddy and one clear, below. There is a small town at the center of the image, a mountain to the left, and clear skies overhead.
Interior provides opportunities for people and nature, like at Harpers Ferry, where American history and recreation overlap with the recovery of iconic species like the Bald Eagle and Peregrine Falcon.

Do you like this digest? Want to see more or something different? Get in touch to let us know: memos@nextinterior.org.