Public lands are for everyone, regardless of party. Photo: Patagonia
“This is just the beginning of what may become the most ruinous four years in U.S. climate action and conservation history,” Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert wrote in an op-ed in TIME published February 25.
Gellert, who has been Patagonia’s CEO since 2020, penned a scathing review of what the Trump Administration has in store for public lands in the U.S. He called Trump’s actions a “mistake” and a “con” without precedent.
Highlighting that public lands are the right of every citizen and their collective responsibility to protect, Gellert pushed back on the assertion that cutting public lands and their employees is about waste or an energy crisis, as Trump claims. He says, if anything, public lands were already underfunded in the first place.
Gellert drew a parallel to Trump’s first term when he attempted to unilaterally reduce Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument by 85 percent and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by 50 percent. It later became apparent that the motivation behind re-classifying these lands was to mine for uranium.
Patagonia and other environmental and indigenous groups challenged Trump’s move with a lawsuit and, eventually, the monuments were restored in 2021 by the Biden Administration.
But Gellert says the threat our public lands face now is far more grave.
“Today, however, the threats are even more dire, and the consequences more devastating,” wrote Gellert. “This Congress and the Trump administration are trying to make it easier to lease or sell 640 million acres of public lands, including America’s most iconic landscapes, and turn our back on the Indigenous and local groups that championed their protection.”
“The government’s plans could revoke our access to hike, climb, camp, fish and hunt in the places we treasure,” added Gellert. “Small-business owners who rely on tourists would suffer from the drop in visitation. The entire surrounding communities would be affected by the economic shift and the pollution that would come when the drilling or mining starts.”
Gellert promised that Patagonia will stand up to the protection of public lands and the environment. He underlined that polls show protecting nature is favored among a majority of citizens across party lines, and that it’s in everyone’s best interests – even those who claim to be pro-business – to prioritize the planet.
“In the long run, all businesses stand to lose more than they gain from these policies due to their reckless disregard for planetary health,” said Gellert. “Consider this an open invitation to any business leader and citizen to take a stand with us. We saw in 2017 how powerful a coalition of passionate people and businesses could be. Together, as citizens, recreationists, conservationists, scientists, conservatives, liberals, businesses and activists, we can remind Congress that our public lands aren’t for sale.”
