A once-in-a-generation chance to reimagine public lands protection from the ground up

The federal lands fight has shifted since Tracy Stone-Manning last sat down with Bill and Anders in June 2025. The workforce cuts she warned about have arrived; the Roadless Rule is days from final rescission; and on the day this episode was recorded, the BLM Public Lands Rule was formally rescinded. Stone-Manning, who led the Bureau of Land Management under President Biden, returns as the show’s first repeat guest to assess the damage, name what’s still worth fighting for, and make the case that the crisis contains an opportunity.

The conversation covers the full landscape of the current moment. Stone-Manning walks through the hollowing-out of federal land management agencies, including the deferred resignation programs, proposed 30% budget cuts for FY27, and Forest Service reorganization, all of which she frames as an effort to set agencies up to fail and use that failure to justify divestiture. She sounds a direct alarm on wildfire: with historic low snowpack, a reorganizing Forest Service, and reduced staffing, she calls the coming season a recipe for the government to fail its people. She also addresses the Congressional Review Act’s unprecedented use against Grand Staircase-Escalante’s citizen-built management plan, and names what a future Congress would need to do to fix it.

The episode’s most striking thread is Stone-Manning’s argument that the destruction itself has opened a door. Ground Shift, a cross-partisan ideas hub seeded by the Wilderness Society but operating independently, is betting that public anger, the obvious inadequacy of laws written for the Dust Bowl and to settle the West, and the scale of what will need to be rebuilt represent a once-in-a-generation chance to reimagine public lands protection from the ground up. Her message to listeners losing hope: don’t mourn, organize, and be ready with the answers when the moment comes.

In this episode:

• The hollowing-out playbook in practice  How the Valentine’s Day workforce cuts, deferred resignation programs, proposed 30% budget reductions, and Forest Service reorganization fit together as a deliberate strategy; why Stone-Manning says ground-level collaboratives are holding anyway and what that means for the future.
• Wildfire season alarm  With historic low snowpack, a reorganizing Forest Service, and BLM staffing reductions that could reach 25% of the workforce, Stone-Manning calls the coming fire season a recipe for the government to fail its people, and asks whether visible failures might shift the political calculus.
• The Roadless Rule: what to expect and how to respond  Stone-Manning’s read on what the administration is likely to announce; why she says the public should respond “no change to the roadless rule” regardless of how many alternatives are offered; and what’s actually at stake on 44 million acres.
• The BLM Public Lands Rule is rescinded  The rule was formally rescinded on the day this episode was recorded. What it was designed to do, why the administrative and legal record still exists, and what Stone-Manning expects advocates will lean on going forward.
• Congressional Review Act and Grand Staircase-Escalante  Why using the CRA to overturn a citizen-built land management plan is unprecedented; what Stone-Manning says Congress communicated to communities that spent years building those plans; and what a future Congress would need to do to fix it.
• Ground Shift: why now, and what it’s for  Why the Wilderness Society launched an initiative that will debate ideas TWS itself may not agree with; the case for reimagining public lands law while the current system is being dismantled; how a bipartisan advisory council, including both Biden and George W. Bush era officials, is approaching the “how.”
• What Congress can do and what voting your values means  Stone-Manning’s framework for the near term: public comment periods, pressure on elected officials, and specific legislative actions a bipartisan Congress could take, including enshrining the Roadless Rule in law and protecting the Arctic.

Links & Resources

Organizations & Initiatives:

• The Wilderness Society  National conservation organization focused on protecting America’s public lands and waters; Stone-Manning currently serves as its President and CEO.
• Ground Shift  A cross-partisan ideas hub, seeded by the Wilderness Society but operating independently, focused on reimagining the legal and policy frameworks for public lands management and protection.

Places & Landscapes:

• Arctic National Wildlife Refuge  Mentioned as a place where a future bipartisan Congress could act to provide permanent legislative protection.

• Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument — A monument in southern Utah that was also reduced and restored; currently subject to Congressional Review Act proceedings in the current Congress. (For more context on Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, listen to our recent conversation with Autumn Gillard & Steve Bloch)

Government & Policy:

• Roadless Area Conservation Rule (2001)  The rule protecting approximately 44 million acres of National Forest System land from road-building and development; Stone-Manning expects imminent formal rescission and calls it the largest environmental rollback in the country’s history.
• BLM Public Lands Rule  A rule designed to ensure consistent Bureau of Land Management stewardship for the health of public lands across generations; formally rescinded on the day this episode was recorded.
• Congressional Review Act (CRA, 1996)  A law originally intended to allow Congress to overturn federal regulations; currently being used to rescind citizen-built land management plans, including the plan for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
• Taylor Grazing Act  A federal law governing grazing on public lands, written in response to the Dust Bowl; cited by Stone-Manning as an example of foundational public lands law that no longer reflects the century we are walking into.
• General Mining Act (1872)  A federal law governing hardrock mining on public lands, written to help settle the West; cited alongside the Taylor Grazing Act as an example of law in need of reimagining.

People Mentioned:

• Steve Bloch  Attorney with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance; guest on EP59 alongside Autumn Gillard, discussing the fight to protect Grand Staircase-Escalante. 
• Autumn Gillard  Coordinator of the Grand Staircase Intertribal Coalition; guest on EP59 alongside Steve Bloch.
• John Podesta  Mentioned as a member of the Ground Shift advisory council alongside Bush-era officials; former senior advisor in the Biden administration.

Tracy Stone-Manning is a longtime conservationist and public lands advocate who has played a significant role in shaping U.S. land management policies.  As President of The Wilderness Society, she leads efforts to unite people to protect America’s wild places.  She also serves as President of The Wilderness Society Action Fund, driving grassroots advocacy and civic engagement to safeguard our nation’s public lands and waters.

Prior to joining The Wilderness Society, Tracy served as Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the nation’s largest land management agency, where she was responsible for the stewardship of 245 million acres of public lands. As BLM Director, she prioritized work that restored public lands and waterways, reformed oil and gas leasing policies, partnered with tribes, and addressed increasing recreation. She has also held leadership roles at the National Wildlife Federation, for Montana Governor Steve Bullock and Senator Jon Tester. Early in her career, she led a small conservation group that galvanized a community around removing a dam at the confluence of the Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers.

Throughout her career, Tracy has focused on bringing people together to solve hard problems. She believes public lands and Wilderness are among America’s best ideas – and among our biggest gifts to the future. With a deep passion for public lands and a commitment to community-based solutions, she is building on The Wilderness Society’s 90-year legacy of safeguarding wild public lands across the United States. 

Tracy is an avid hiker, backpacker and hunter, and is married to the writer Richard Manning. They venture into wild places every year.

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