Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument/BLM, Bob Wick

With the departure of the Trump administration, many conservation organizations are asking President-elect Biden to reverse some of his predecessor’s actions affecting public lands and the environment. There are concerns over new Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act regulations and, of course, President Trump’s splintering of the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments in Utah.

The Biden administration will need the help of Congress to undo the full slate of Trump administration policies affecting public lands, including national parks. But there are straightforward and immediate actions the new team can take, such as reversing executive orders prioritizing extraction over conservation and reinstating lands removed from Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, when it takes office on January 20.

Among the first steps will be to name an acting director to steer the National Park Service and rebuild trust with the career staff until the Senate confirms a permanent director, said John Leshy, emeritus professor at UC Hastings Law School, and solicitor at the Interior Department during the Clinton Administration.

Neither the National Park Service nor the Bureau of Land Management had a permanent director under President Trump. Instead, acting directors have been responsible for guiding the agencies.

“This has had a huge impact on employee morale and been detrimental to instructional reforms and planning,” said Brandon Bragato, staff director, House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forest and Public Lands, in an email. He believes it’s important for the incoming Park Service nominee to have agency experience.

Bragato keeps a list of issues on the subcommittee’s radar for the upcoming 117th Congress. At the top is implementation of the Great American Outdoors Act, Public Law 116-152, enacted last summer. The law provides $1.9 billion annually to Interior agencies and the U.S. Forest Service for deferred maintenance projects, such as critical bridge repairs and campground improvements, in fiscal years 2021-2025. The Biden administration will be responsible for prioritizing deferred maintenance projects when it submits its budget request to Congress in February.

“We want to make sure the highest priority projects get funded. It’s really important that the money gets spread around and not just go to the biggest parks with the most visitation,” said Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs, National Parks and Conservation Association. 

The Great American Outdoors Act also provides funding for land acquisition through the Land and Water Conservation Fund.  However, the Trump administration hampered implementation when it issued Secretarial Order 3388 in November establishing criteria, including requiring written support from county and state governments prior to an acquisition.

“This undercuts what a landowner can do with their own private property, and creates unnecessary, additional levels of bureaucracy,” said U.S. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) in a news release.

NPCA has provided the Biden transition team a 40-page document highlighting the organization’s priorities, including repeal of Secretarial Order 3388, as well as Executive Orders 13783 and 13867 promoting energy extraction.

These orders can be revoked with the “stroke of a pen” said Leshy. He co-chaired Obama’s transition team and was the head of the Clinton-Gore transition at the Interior Department.

U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland is Biden's nominee to lead the Interior Department.

It’s also simple to reinstate Obama-era policies, such as National Park Service Director’s Order 100 encouraging the precautionary principle and adaptive management to address climate change impacts at parks, an order supported by environmental organizations. Tribal consultation will likely occur regularly under the leadership of U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM), a citizen of the federally recognized Laguna Pueblo tribe, who Biden has named to lead the Interior Department.

“Taking seriously the obligation to consult with Native American tribes about all matters that affect them is a legal, and sacred, obligation of the entire federal government, and the Department of the Interior should lead by example in implementing it," said Renee Stone, formerly NPS chief of staff and now senior adviser to the president and chief executive officer at Defenders of Wildlife. 

Aside from restoring the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah, cut by Trump by 85 percent and 50 percent, respectively, in 2017, the Biden administration can also reestablish the ban on commercial fishing in Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, home to endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle as well as sperm and fin whales off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts. President Trump removed the ban this past June.

All three areas were established using the authority given to the president in the Antiquities Act -- Grand Staircase by President Clinton, and Bears Ears and Northeast Canyons by President Obama -- and modifications do not require an act of Congress

“Revising some of the anti-environment regulatory changes advanced by the previous administration will require more attention and public process, but are worth the effort, particularly changes made to regulations that implement the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and a host of regulations addressing climate change,” said Stone.

A new rulemaking can take 1-3 years to implement and is required to revoke final regulations. But there are ways to fast track the process, said Leshy. For example, for regulations facing court challenge, such as the final NEPA rule that made it easier to push through major projects with less extensive environmental reviews and public input, the Justice Department could advise the court that the new administration agrees with the plaintiffs, and supports reinstatement of the old regulations. The court could accept the new position.

To improve transparency and ethics, the Ethics and Freedom of Information Act offices should be removed from the solicitor’s bailiwick and returned to Interior’s Office of Policy, Management and Budget where they were located pre-Trump. Trump and Interior have “stiff-armed the press and Congress on releasing documents,” said Leshy, but this is less likely to happen if civil servants – not political appointees – are responsible for following the law.

Other items on the upcoming Congressional agenda include programmatic legislation for national heritage areas as well the reauthorization and update of the Federal Lands Recreational Enhancement Act. The authorization for FLREA has expired, but the Congress has issued multiple extensions in appropriations laws. FLREA allows revenues collected by Interior and the Forest Service from recreation fees to be used for maintenance, operations, and improvements at recreation facilities.

Under Biden, diversity, equity, and inclusion should be an “across the board priority” affecting interpretation at National Park Service sites, human resources, theme studies, and cultural resource management, said Bragato. He’s also interested in U.S. Park Police reform, and supports an increase in the agency’s operations budget.

A Trump effort allowing oil and gas drilling in parts of the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska will require a new law to reverse. The provision authorizing oil and gas leasing in the refuge, home to polar bears, musk oxen, and migratory birds, and the calving grounds for the Porcupine caribou, was tucked into the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 enacted when Republicans controlled the House, Senate, and the White House.

“It’s hard to predict what is possible in a closely divided Congress. We hope the new administration will push to fund federal agencies adequately. Progress might be possible on an infrastructure bill, which could provide needed funds to address restoration on federal lands, climate resilience programs, a conservation job corps, and other needed park and refuge upgrades,” said Stone.

Democrats control the House and the outcome of a special election in Georgia on January 5 will determine whether Republicans remain in the majority in the Senate.

Given the slim margin in both bodies, laws impacting public lands, such as new additions to the National Park System, will likely require bipartisan support.

Haaland, Biden’s nominee for Interior secretary, will give up her seat in Congress and role as chair of the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands. Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee, led by Chair Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), will select the next subcommittee chair by secret ballot.

On the Senate side, John Barrasso (R-WY) is expected to lead the Republicans on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee where public lands issues are considered. Outgoing chair Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is term-limited by Republican caucus rules. Joe Manchin (D-WV) will continue to lead the Democrats on this committee.

Tom Udall (D-NM), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, is retiring. This means there will also be a new ranking member on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee affecting Interior’s budget.

The nominees to head all land management agencies, along with the Secretary of the Interior, will face Senate confirmation.