Ed. note: Thanks for your patience with this delayed digest...it's the season of kids getting sick and yellow jackets getting in their last stings of the year (everyone's OK).

A month ago, I wrote in the weekly digest, “I’m going to be surprised if there’s not a government shutdown in a few weeks.” Like you and most everyone who has paid even the smallest bit of attention, we are not surprised…it’s the big news of the week.

To recap, government operations are currently shut down because of a lapse in federal funding. That lapse happened because Republicans, who hold the narrowest of majorities in the House and Senate, refused to compromise with Democrats to find an acceptable solution for funding the government, either short- or long-term. Compromise is what adults do, and it’s necessary for any group with a diversity of needs. Republicans chose not to compromise because…well, because their boss won’t let them.

The key barrier is that the Trump administration has run roughshod over the Constitution and federal law. Yes, impacts to healthcare are there, but it seems every day they are taking actions that are reserved for Congress in Article I or ignoring duly passed laws. For reasons passing understanding, congressional Republicans have stood idly by while this happens despite the fact that Congress passes laws and makes appropriations while the president “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed…”.

Of course, Russ Vought, the OMB Director, and Donald Trump don’t want to follow the Constitution; they want to do whatever they want. 

Among the things they want to do is to use the federal government to harm those they disagree with. Shutdowns are one way to do that in this administration’s case. For example, there are structural reasons that, as Adam Bonica has discussed, agencies perceived as “liberal” are affected much more dramatically than “conservative” agencies…check out where Interior ("DOI") is on this chart:

If you weren’t sure of that before, the actions to rescind at least $26 billion (yes, that’s a “b”) in funds for states that did not vote for Trump in 2024 should make it abundantly clear. (I see this morning that NOTUS is reporting that similar projects in red states got to keep their funding…corruption to the core.) And I just went to look for an article I saw mentioned earlier today and see the President of the United States is bragging further about his failure to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed”:

This partisan and corrupted approach is reinforced at Interior (though we should all be thankful they didn’t follow the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s egregious lead). They’re picking and choosing what to close for partisan benefit. For example, they know that people love our national parks so they’re doing everything they can to force parks to stay open; otherwise, it would be a significant public affairs problem. (Plus if they can use states or businesses to keep them open, as outlined in the shutdown guidance [page 5], it will further their interest in getting rid of parks and public lands.) 

Support for fossil fuel programs? Well, there’s an (absurd) “energy emergency”, so those programs are excepted or exempt from the shutdown to varying extents. And yet despite the (did I mention absurd?) “energy emergency,” the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s renewables work is suspended (see page 4 here). Makes one wonder if they might have an agenda other than just supplying energy… 

And while over 50% of Interior’s staff are furloughed, there is even more of a challenge with the threat of widespread (illegal) terminations during the shutdown. Of course, the administration is happy to continue adding uncertainty and anxiety on all fronts since it helps overwhelm people, which helps with authoritarian creep.

I get that this news is a bit overwhelming; I don’t want to add pressure when that’s the point of what they’re doing. But at the same time, I hope it provides reason to act…and we can and should take action whenever and however we can. Consider three examples: 

1. Lend a hand to help our civil servants—friends, neighbors, acquaintances, maybe people you don’t know. The best opportunities will probably be local in nature, so keep eyes and ears open. Help directly, speak up for the civil service. Make a call!
   1. If you’re a furloughed employee—or just ended the Deferred Resignation Program—there are lots of sources of support out there. We covered a bunch on LinkedIn the past ten days or so, rolled up here. As noted above, there are local options too; for example, I see WTOP, a DC-area station, has some tips here.
2. Take action to tell Congress to exercise its authority to end the shutdown. I’m not sure what all the options are, but I saw this action item from Indivisible that gets at the core issue of ending the rising authoritarianism from the Trump administration (and yeah, they throw in healthcare too). If there are other actions you know of, please feel free to share!
3. Speak up for and insist on honesty and integrity. OK, this one isn’t shutdown-specific, but it is one of the most important things we can keep doing every day in our public and private lives. While we can’t just win people over with facts, we have to have the social fabric in which lies and deception are not acceptable if we are to make it. And that’s not someone else’s job—we all have to do our part. 

Other news

Resources

• 32 Chunk is the champ!
• The Bureau of Land Management is blocking the public from Oregon timber auctions.
• The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will not accept public comment on the Cook Inlet oil lease sale in Alaska.
• The administration’s war on wind continues.
• Not Interior-specific, but Jane Goodall’s passing this week was a reminder of how important she was in inspiring so many people to care about conservation and wildlife.
• I was happy to see that Grant County, New Mexico, Commissioners voted to express disapproval of selling off federal lands. 

Science

• The administration really hates science, and after they killed the funding for USGS Climate Adaptation Science Centers, a lot of people and institutions will be harmed.
• I haven’t dived in yet, but the Drawdown Explorer looks like a helpful tool for understanding what works and what doesn’t work for addressing climate change.
• The Department of Energy told staff to not use words like “climate change”. Then they backtracked.
• Evidence of what works for conservation is important but sometimes lacking.
• A segue item, combining data and Tribal lands: lost agricultural revenue on ceded Native lands.

Tribals matters

• Some of the shutdown impacts to Indian Country.
  • Note that the Bureau of Indian Education is forward-funded and won’t have furloughs.
• The Defense Department indefensibly defends war crimes perpetrated against Native Americans at Wounded Knee.
• Cool example of NDN Collective’s land-back work in Alaska.
  • You can contribute to NDN’s For The People campaign here.

Speaking of support, I mentioned last week how most people don’t pay for news and recommended support for a few outlets that depend on donations. Here are a few more that I depend on regularly and support, which you should check out:

• ProPublica
• National Parks Traveler
• States Newsroom

(No, I have no arrangements with any of these organizations, just think we all need to help each other out.)

Upcoming events

• Join us on Tuesday, 07 October at 12pm Eastern for a webinar led by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) on Environmental Protection, Public Service, and the Rise of Authoritarianism. I’ll be speaking about the big picture of what’s happening at Interior, with a few select examples of the damage being done and what folks can do: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/5517574376689/WN_YH3ujGqoSUiCC9XlHUuArw#/registration
• The Native American Fish and Wildlife Society is hosting a Q&A session on 06 October at 1pm Eastern with former federal staffers to help answer shutdown-related questions. If you’re from a Tribal wildlife organization or know someone who is, please share the registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/w-NKOhvvSnqJVbwezxcSrA?mc_cid=842e310daa#/registration 
• The America the Beautiful for All Coalition and the Center for American Progress will be hosting Ocean Progress Symposium 2025: Advancing Conservation Close to Shore, on 15 October starting at 3:30pm Eastern. Join in if you can! https://www.americanprogress.org/events/ocean-progress-symposium-2025-advancing-conservation-close-to-shore/ 
• Things are currently in a state of suspended animation on Capitol Hill. They’re animated but I don’t think they know what is happening, much less us.

Coming soon 

We’re going to soon share a beta version of a small web app that makes it easy to see where Interior serves the country, providing data and summary stats on lands managed, key offices, and parks economic contributions at the levels of the nation, states, and congressional districts. This will be a beta version—some rough edges and incomplete data—but it will (a) be a start to a big data and evidence gap; and (b) open the door for us to recruit volunteers who can help fill in the gaps. Stay tuned.