It was developed by Conor Fennessy, a staff member in #ElonMusk’s #DOGE, acc/to 2 people w/direct knowledge of the plan. Similar lists of grant eliminations are being developed in other parts of the Dept of the #Interior….

At the #NPS, the DOGE plan proposes eliminating #ScientistsInParks, a popular program that places #students & early-career #scientists at natural & historic landmarks to help protect #ecosystems.

The #Interior Dept, which manages millions of acres of #PublicLands & #water, is slated for a 30.5% overall cut, acc/to the #Trump #budget. The Bureau of #Land Management #conservation programs are slated to lose $198 million in cuts, while the proposal suggests nearly $1 billion in cuts to various #tribal & Bureau of Indian Affairs programs & grants.

The draft strategic plan spells out the #Trump admin’s #Interior Dept’s priorities through 2030, which include increasing production of #FossilFuels, opening #lands in #Alaska & elsewhere to #minerals extraction, reducing grazing costs & trying to “release” federal holdings for housing #development.

While #Interior ofcls declined to comment about any potential monument review, the approach was outlined in a “strategic plan draft framework” shared w/ WaPo. One of the dept’s “potential performance measures” going forward, acc/to the document, will be making sure #NationalMonuments are “assessed & *correctly* sized.”

“They opened up Grand Staircase under the previous [#Trump] administration & the #coal market did not rush in, the #oil & #gas market did not rush in, nobody rushed in,” said Tracy Stone-Manning, who led #Interior’s Bureau of #Land Management under #Biden. “There are plenty of #minerals elsewhere. This is about an #ideological battle.”

#Interior ofcls are poring over geological maps to analyze the monuments’ potential for #mining & #oil production & assess whether to *revise* their boundaries…

…#Trump’s policies…aim to boost American #energy & critical #minerals production, which he says is vital to economic growth & powering #AI. Trump declared a “national energy emergency” [there isn’t one], established an energy council to fast-track resource development projects & sought to dismantle dozens of #environmental #protections.

#Interior aides are looking at whether to scale back at least 6 #NationalMonuments, said these individuals…. The list, they added, includes Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the #GrandCanyon, Ironwood Forest, Chuckwalla, Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks, Bears Ears & Grand Staircase-Escalante—national monuments spread across #Arizona, #California, #NewMexico & #Utah.

#Trump officials are analyzing whether to remove federal #protections for #NationalMonuments spanning millions of acres in the West, according to two people familiar with the matter and an internal #Interior Department document, in order to spur #energy development on #PublicLands.

#land #conservation #habitats #ecosystems #wildlife #FossilFuels #ClimateChange #EnvironmentalLaw #law