Our Public Lands

Adam Bronstein
  • 4.8 (50)
  • Society & Culture

A podcast about our beloved and treasured public lands where I interview subject matter experts and activists from across the country who are working to protect and advocate for our public lands and their wildlife, wilderness, and cultural values. ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com

  1. 2h ago

    #88 - “Vote No on Colorado Prop 137” & the Greenwashed Push for Expanding Public Lands Logging w/ Josh Schlossberg

    In this episode, I interview Josh Schlossberg, representing Protect Colorado’s Land, Communities and Tax Dollars in opposition to Colorado Prop 137. Josh argues Colorado has become a proving ground for “wildfire pretense logging,” enabled by fear-based messaging, supportive media coverage, and corporate-aligned NGOs. He says fuel-reduction projects in Colorado commonly involve industrial logging, clearcutting, and large-tree removal, which he claims can worsen fire risk while harming ecosystems, wildlife habitat, and recreation. Our discussion centers on Proposition 137, which he says would divert $175 million annually from the general fund or TABOR surplus refunds, with about $83 million effectively incentivizing up to 25,000 acres of public lands logging per year, while excluding proven home-hardening approaches. He highlights groups like The Nature Conservancy and Western Resource Advocates who are major funders, and that media and state processes have quelled opposition. https://noprop137.com  coloradogreenvoice.substack.com 00:57 Episode Focus Prop 137 02:12 Meet Josh Schlossberg 03:11 Colorado as Logging Proving Ground 08:29 Propaganda and Media Failure 13:20 Why Forest Thinning Doesn't Work 15:50 Prop 137 Money and Acreage 20:11 Home Hardening vs Logging 23:26 Where the Funds Flow 27:36 Green Groups as Cover 35:13 Building a Stronger Movement 39:18 Culture War Over Logging 40:55 Truth Versus Managed Nature 43:46 Prop 137 Money Trail 47:30 Tax Shift And Precedent 51:18 Early Warnings And Roadless Logging 55:16 Media Blackout 58:51 Late Campaign Ramp Up 01:02:41 Media Bias And Democracy Crisis Get full access to Our Public Lands Podcast at ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

  2. Sep 22

    #87 - On Hunting & Conservation w/ Ryan “Cal” Callaghan

    In this episode, I interview Ryan Callaghan, former hunting and fly-fishing guide who worked in PR & media at First Lite, led conservation efforts across MeatEater brands, and is now six months in as president and CEO of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers (BHA), a 501(c)(3) advocating for public lands, waters, and wildlife. We discuss current threats including monument reductions, wilderness and WSA reviews, mineral-withdrawal rescissions, roadless rule rollback, land sells offs, unfair land exchanges, and Alaska issues. We debate roadless management, wilderness protections, declining public favorability toward hunting, beaver trapping restrictions, and public-lands livestock grazing, including permit buyouts and disagreement over whether grazing can be responsibly managed. 03:48 Montana Check In 05:04 Cal’s Background 06:24 From Guiding to Media 09:18 Leading BHA Today 11:40 Mission of BHA 12:29 Fighting Land Sell Offs 16:29 Alaska Dalton Corridor 19:02 Crazy Mountains Land Swap 20:53 Roadless Rule Debate 29:51 Wilderness Reviews and WSAs 32:41 Gallatin Range 37:44 Hunting Favorability Decline 38:52 Disconnected From Food 40:15 Defending Hunting 42:17 Beaver Trapping Debate 51:36 Ungulate Habitat Threats 53:06 Grazing Impacts 55:47 Permit Buyouts And Policy 58:10 Cows To Condos 01:03:00 Wild Horses And Wrap Up Get full access to Our Public Lands Podcast at ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

  3. Sep 14

    My Trip to a Roadless Forest

    Roadless Areas contain some of my favorite places on our National Forest lands. Some of your favorites spots are probably in Roadless Areas as well. Unlike wilderness areas, there are no wooden signs you pass or lines crossed on the map. These invisible boundaries are often traversed without us knowing. Please read on for some useful links and information. And how you can submit your comments to USDA on the Roadless Rule rescission. Despite the rhetoric that you hear from national and state big green NGOs, Roadless Areas should not be considered as “protected lands.” Extraction like logging and livestock grazing are occurring in Roadless Areas right now. The information below was discussed in the video for your reference: Early government surveys found that ponderosa forests were 17x denser than claimed. And mixed conifer forests are 4x denser. Baker et al. 2023 A comprehensive analysis of 1,500 wildfires in the west found they burned slower and less intensely in protected areas. Bradley et al. 2016 34% of “fuels reduction logging” occurs in Inventoried Roadless Areas according to Healey 2020. This tradeoff (better firefighting, more human-caused fires) partially explains why the presence of roads is relatively neutral with respect to the long term occurrence of fire in national forests. Management records also indicated that a lack of roads did not prevent fuel reduction efforts in IRAs between 2001 and 2019. IRAs contain approximately 21% of the total tree cover across NFS (Homer et al 2015); those areas accounted for 34% of the total fuel treatment activities and 8% of the total area treated (USDA 2019a). A lack of roads in IRAs has not implied passive fire risk management. The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act would designate 23 million acres of Inventoried Roadless Areas as new wilderness in OR, WA, ID, MT, and WY. Submit your comment here for the Roadless Rule rescission here → http://www.Roadless.org Some talking points to consider: * I oppose the Forest Service’s proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. * The Forest Service should strengthen the Roadless Rule, not eliminate it. The current rule provides essential protections but still permits damaging activities in Inventoried Roadless Areas. * Rescission would remove national protections from approximately 45 million acres of National Forest lands, exposing intact wildlife habitat and watersheds to additional logging, grazing-related roads, mining, and fragmentation. * Research examining 1,500 fires shows that protected (unroaded) forests burn at lower intensity and have lower rates of fire spread when controlled for weather conditions. Roads can increase human-caused fire ignitions and spread invasive plants. * The Forest Service should close loopholes that permit logging and the construction of so-called “temporary roads” in roadless areas. Temporary roads can cause lasting harm to wildlife habitat, soils, and watersheds. * The 2001 Roadless Rule does not address livestock-grazing impacts, and grazing has continued uninterrupted in Inventoried Roadless Areas. A mapping analysis estimates that between 10 million and 15 million acres of these lands are actively grazed by domestic livestock each year. Livestock can damage streams and springs, remove riparian vegetation, compact soils, spread invasive plants, and displace native wildlife. New road construction would enable harmful livestock grazing to expand. * The Forest Service should prioritize voluntary grazing-permit retirement within roadless areas and close vacant allotments and allotments where grazing conflicts with roadless-area values. * The existing rule does not prohibit hardrock mining claims under the General Mining Law of 1872, and mineral leasing can continue. USDA should ask the Secretary of the Interior to withdraw Inventoried Roadless Areas from mineral entry under section 204 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, subject to valid existing rights. The Forest Service should also prohibit new mineral leasing within these lands.More than 9,000 miles of mapped motorized trails cross roadless areas.. Motorized use can compact soils, spread invasive species, disturb wildlife, fragment secure habitat, and increase human-caused wildfire risk. Inventoried Roadless Areas should be nonmotorized by default, with narrow exceptions for valid existing rights, necessary administrative access, and emergencies. * The Forest Service should withdraw the proposed rescission and adopt a stronger national rule that protects roadless lands from commercial logging, unnecessary roads, damaging grazing, new mineral development, and harmful motorized use. Get full access to Our Public Lands Podcast at ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

  4. Aug 27

    #86 - The Livestock-Cheatgrass Nexus w/ Erik Molvar

    In this episode, I interview Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project to talk about cheatgrass, an annual invasive grass taking over large areas of the America West. Cheatgrass is an invasive Eurasian annual that arrived in contaminated crop seed and spread through the West via rail corridors and especially through cattle and sheep, whose fur carries its spiny seeds. Erik argues cheatgrass establishes where perennial bunchgrasses have been knocked back by disturbance—particularly chronic livestock grazing—rejecting claims that it is primarily a fire-driven phenomenon, citing fires in ungrazed areas that recovered with native bunchgrasses rather than cheatgrass. Erik describes how cheatgrass grows briefly in spring, then dies into highly flammable fine fuel that enables large rangeland fires, kills sagebrush, and can lock landscapes into cheatgrass monocultures with fire-return intervals now around 30–40 years in invaded areas. He outlines identification tips, notes other invasive annual grasses, disputes blaming wild horses as the main vector, critiques herbicide-and-reseed approaches, and emphasizes long-term rest from grazing to allow native seed banks and bunchgrasses to recover and resist reinvasion. Cheatgrass Monograph www.westernwatersheds.org 04:40 About Western Watersheds Project 07:40 Overgrazing Impacts 11:22 Grazing Economics Reality 18:50 Pivot to Cheatgrass 19:13 Cheatgrass Origins Spread 21:47 Grazing Link Denial 28:23 Fire Fuel Feedback 30:01 Identify Cheatgrass 31:50 Other Invasive Grasses 35:23 Invasives Ecology Ethics 43:14 New Fire Intervals 48:25 Recovery Without Cows 54:56 Cheatgrass and Ranching 58:12 Wild Horses Scapegoat 01:00:54 Herbicides Reseeding Limits 01:04:40 Manager Playbook 01:10:44 Buyouts and Restoration Get full access to Our Public Lands Podcast at ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

  5. Aug 9

    #85 - Reflecting on Thirty Years Defending Wilderness w/ George Nickas

    In this episode, I interview George Nickas, the outgoing executive director of Wilderness Watch. George discusses ending his 30-year tenure at Wilderness Watch as the group transitions to new executive leadership under Dana Johnson. George recounts Wilderness Watch’s origins in 1989 in response to illegal outfitter caches and proposed lodges in the River of No Return country, then describes early battles against helicopter landing zones and monitoring flights in Tongass wilderness and winning the Cumberland Island case (Wilderness Watch v. Mainella) banning motorized van tours. He highlights key litigation on wild rivers, Boundary Waters motor use, rebuilding structures, and the Buffalo Creek case opposing fish-poisoning/restocking as unlawful “trammeling,” now on appeal. George warns of agency budget cuts, policy rollbacks, recreation commercialization, chainsaw proposals, grazing impacts, and the decline of “big green” advocacy, arguing wilderness needs vigilant enforcement and champions, and a new dedicated wilderness agency overseeing these federal public lands. www.wildernesswatch.org 01:17 Why Fight Wilderness Fires 02:26 Thirty Years In 03:25 How It Began 07:00 Early Battles 10:06 Cumberland Island Case 13:04 Courts And The Act 15:18 Key Legal Wins 17:21 Buffalo Creek Untrammeled 22:10 Why Watchdogs Matter 25:24 Programs Gutted 27:13 Need A Wilderness Agency 30:05 Logging Loopholes 36:41 Fire Hysteria Pushback 38:28 Recreation Impacts 39:49 Wildlife Displacement Costs 41:00 Recreation Industry Pressure 43:07 Exceptions Eroding Wilderness 45:14 Trails Chainsaws Enforcement 49:45 Policy Attacks Funding Loopholes 57:14 Big Greens Movement Critique 01:05:15 Career Reflections Future Fight 01:10:35 Public Lands Birthright 01:12:34 Retirement Staying Involved Get full access to Our Public Lands Podcast at ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

  6. Jul 22

    #84 - Reimagining Wildland Firefighing w/ Tim Ingalsbee

    In this episode, I interview Tim Ingalsbee, co-founder and executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE). Tim and I discuss his critiques of the new U.S. Wildland Fire Service, arguing consolidation is framed as efficiency but functions as defunding, job shedding, and a suppression-first “Fire Force” detached from land stewardship, able to override local land managers. Tim says federal fire management is failing due to an obsolete full-suppression paradigm, reinforced by “attack all fires” directives, which wastes resources, increases hazards, and can worsen ecological damage. He advocates strategic suppression and an Alaska-style triage model, prioritizing protection of lives, communities, and infrastructure while living with fire for ecological benefit. Our conversation covers problems with thinning for timber, home ignitability and community-wide mitigation, workforce programs like the Oregon Conservation Corps, Indigenous fire stewardship, cultural change away from militarized firefighting, and FUSEE’s work promoting proactive fire management and policy reform. Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE) Oregon Conservation Corps S. 3609 (The Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act) H.R. 948 (The SAFE HOME Act) 03:26 New Wildland Fire Service 05:50 Consolidation Risks And Missions 10:18 Attack All Fires Directive 14:29 Strategic Suppression Triage 18:33 Smokey Bear Myths 22:35 Thinning/Prescribed Fire Debate 28:05 Home Ignition Zone Focus 32:47 Community Workforce Programs 35:46 Preparing Communities For Fire 38:03 Fireproofing Homes First 39:28 Oregon Conservation Corps Model 40:28 Indigenous Fire Stewardship 44:53 Living in the Pyrocene 47:04 Militarized Firefighting Culture 49:31 Toxic Tools and Home Hazmat 52:31 Firefighters as Stewards 55:23 Epiphanies on the Fireline 59:51 FUSEE Mission and Advocacy 01:01:08 Prescribed Burn Smoke Concerns Get full access to Our Public Lands Podcast at ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

  7. Jul 8

    #83 - Introducing the Wildlife Corridors Act w/ Christian Hunt & Kelly Cox

    In this episode, I speak with Defenders of Wildlife’s Kelly Cox and Christian Hunt about the Wildlife Corridors Act and why it’s needed to counter habitat fragmentation and improve wildlife movement across landscapes that don’t match jurisdictional boundaries. They explain the bill’s goal of creating a national wildlife corridors system focused primarily on federal lands, requiring agencies to coordinate through a corridor committee, use mapping and science to prioritize corridors, and adopt implementing regulations within a couple years of enactment. The act defines connectivity around movements that support genetic exchange, range shifting/expansion, seasonal movement, and recolonization after disturbances, with urgency heightened by climate-driven range shifts. Beyer, Buchanan, Lofgren, and Fitzpatrick Introduce Bipartisan Legislation To Support Wildlife Migration and Protect Biodiversity www.defenders.org 02:59 Meet Kelly and Christian 03:39 Defenders Parks Program 06:45 Refuges Rulemaking and Predators 10:38 Why Corridors Matter 14:48 Defining Connectivity and Roads 17:53 Climate and Private Lands 21:14 State Models and Crossings Funding 28:04 Science and Political Hurdles 31:16 Mapping Agencies and Sideboards 36:36 Economics ESA and Future Vision 43:49 Public Lands Reflections Get full access to Our Public Lands Podcast at ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

  8. Jun 30

    #82 - What Grizzlies & Wilderness Can Teach Us w/ Dave Stalling

    I this episode, I interview Dave Stalling, writer and wildlife advocate based in Missoula, Montana. Dave recounts his time serving in Marine Corps Force Recon, struggling for years with self-acceptance, and finding his footing by spending long periods alone in remote Montana wildlands, influenced by Doug Peacock’s Grizzly Years and writers like Edward Abbey and Jack Turner. Dave explains his deep connection to grizzlies as teachers of humility, and critiques how modern hunting culture, commercialization, and hunter-dominated agencies use “science” to justify politically driven predator killing and maximizing harvest of game animals. Dave argues wildlife management should include all citizens, discusses ballot initiatives, and shares how hiking with his son Cory, who has a muscular disease, taught him to slow down, notice small details, and practice “forest bathing.” https://substack.com/@davidstalling Doug Peacock’s Grizzly Years Jack Turner’s The Abstract Wild 01:47 Meet David Stalling 03:27 Gray Hair Hypocrisy 05:21 Force Recon Self Acceptance 08:32 Father Roots in Wild 12:53 Grizzlies Teach Humility 16:43 Hunting Culture Critique 17:32 Anti Hunter Who Hunts 25:20 Science Versus Politics 27:03 Elk Bears Misused Science 34:59 Commercialized Hunting Takeover 37:51 Conservation Groups Letdown 38:51 Reforming Wildlife Management 40:33 Ballot Initiatives vs Science 45:31 Calling Out Hunter Culture 47:54 How Dave Learned to Write 53:05 Lessons From Cory 58:18 Rethinking Wild Places 01:03:56 Forest Bathing and Healing 01:07:17 Public Lands Are Everything Get full access to Our Public Lands Podcast at ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

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4.8
out of 5
50 Ratings

About

A podcast about our beloved and treasured public lands where I interview subject matter experts and activists from across the country who are working to protect and advocate for our public lands and their wildlife, wilderness, and cultural values. ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Adam Bronstein
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    89
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Our Public Lands Podcast
  • Show Website
    Our Public Lands

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