(November 6, 2024)

Before I heed the resounding online chorus telling me I should drop everything and get outside for a hike in the woods and the early winter sunshine with my dog—thank you Connor Ryan, Mike Fiebig, Pattiegonia, et al.—I wanted to share some preliminary thoughts on what the future is likely to hold, starting as early as January 20 with a new federal administration in Washington DC.

Winter Wildlands Alliance, our national grassroots network, and the wild places and experiences we all work together to protect will no doubt face many of the same challenges we dealt with between 2016 and 2020. However this time, there will be fewer legal and regulatory guardrails, fewer people within the administration who have the courage to push back against harmful and inequitable policies, fewer people with experience and expertise in positions of agency leadership, a United States Senate even less friendly to the interests of the American public, and a more seasoned, more cynical executive branch that is even more beholden to corporate and special interests. We’ll see what happens with the lower chamber but that doesn’t look great either.

Here’s What’s at Stake:

Looking ahead, using Project 2025 and the America First Policy Institute’s agenda as not-too-hazy crystal balls, we expect:

• Significant increases in timber activity on United States Forest Service lands, including rolling back protections for roadless lands and old-growth forests
• Significant increases in mining and fossil fuels permitting and development, including  approval of development projects in the Alaskan arctic.
• Restructuring or abolishment of governmental agencies and departments that work to manage our public lands, wildlife and environmental resources.
• Reversal of recent environmental wins that protected critical landscapes and watersheds across the U.S., including the Ambler, Thompson Divide, and Boundary Waters decisions.
• Elimination of the latest hard-won National Environmental Policy Act Rule.
• Attacks on/efforts to revise other environmental laws, specifically: the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Energy Policy Conservation Act and the Endangered Species Act.
• The vacating of the America the Beautiful (30×30) order and general rollback of efforts to improve climate resilience and protect federal lands and waters.
• Limitations on how Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) resources can be spent to acquire new federal lands. 
• Review and likely downsizing of new national monuments with a particular focus on Camp Hale and Cascade-Siskiyou National Monuments.
• Efforts to repeal the Antiquities Act.
• Delisting of grizzly bears and gray wolves across the lower 48, which could lead to the extinction of keystone species.
• Downsizing the office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (targeting climate scientists).
• Commercialization of weather technologies, affecting climate research and avalanche forecasting.

Given all of this, our mission to protect wild and endangered snowscapes, to improve climate resilience on public lands, to get kids into the outdoors, and to ensure equitable access to quality human-powered winter recreation has never been more vital, nor your support more essential. 

How You Can Help Right Now:

The health and resilience of our ecosystems and the right of every American to access quality outdoor recreation are not—or certainly should not be—partisan issues. For 25 years, through both Democratic and Republican administrations, Winter Wildlands Alliance and our nationwide community of members, ambassadors, SnowSchool sites and grassroots groups have fought to protect the wild places and experiences we all care most about. 

Today, we commit to continuing that work for the next four years—and beyond. The extent to which we are successful will depend in large part on the strength and active engagement of our Alliance. And that starts with you. Please consider committing to this work with us today by:

• Becoming a member of Winter Wildlands Alliance: if we show up with full strength-in-numbers, assaults on public lands and climate resilience will not fly!
• Make a donation to Winter Wildlands Alliance: your support will help ensure that we are able to adapt and respond quickly to policy changes and new efforts to undermine public lands.
• Volunteer at a SnowSchool site – help educate and build appreciation for our wild snowscapes in the next generation.
• Volunteer as a Winter Ambassador –  help collect winter recreation data to inform better management of public snowscapes.