Americans are unified around our public lands, and the majority want more and better-funded public lands — not less, according to a new polling report from the Trust for Public Land. Published Wednesday, the report surveyed more than 4,000 U.S. residents from different backgrounds and political persuasions. It shows broad, bipartisan opposition to recent moves by the Trump Administration to expedite the sale of federal lands and to reduce funding and layoff staff at the federal agencies that manage those lands.
As TPL points out in its report, the broad support for public-land protections in the U.S. is only growing as the demand for accessible public lands and outdoor recreation increases. Along with record-breaking visitation numbers at America’s National Parks in 2024, the number of visitors on BLM and Forest Service lands has shot up in recent years. Participation in outdoor recreation is also steadily climbing, according to the latest figures from the Outdoor Industry Association.
“We are living in a golden age of outdoor recreation,” TPL’s CEO Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser says in the report. “People want greater protection of existing lands, and they are eager for more opportunities to explore and connect to new landscapes.”
Around 71 percent of the survey’s respondents said they oppose the sale of existing public lands “to the highest bidder,” and 74 percent said they oppose the closure of any public lands, including facilities like campgrounds and visitor centers. Roughly 62 and 63 percent of respondents said they oppose reductions in funding and layoffs at public-land management agencies, respectively.
Those numbers align pretty well with a previous survey, released in January and conducted by Colorado College, which found that 65 percent of Westerners oppose the transfer of federal lands to states, and 89 percent of them want to keep National Monument designations in place. This polling data was timely, as it followed a series of layoffs at federal agencies like the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service, and continued attempts by legislators to divest of federal public lands and transfer their ownership to the states.
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Since the survey by Colorado College only focused on eight Western states, TPL says the more recent national polling report helps widen that lens. Working with the data analytics firm YouGov, TPL’s web-based poll reached 4,501 people from across the U.S. The sample of respondents was weighted to be representative of U.S. Census data. It was then divided into subgroups based on the respondents’ presidential votes. This allowed TPL to show the breakdown in responses from Trump voters and Harris voters, along with a breakdown by all U.S. residents regardless of their voting record.
As one example, respondents were asked whether they support or oppose the closure of national public lands — including visitor centers, campsites, trails, and recreation areas — in an effort to reduce federal spending. Seventy-four percent of all U.S. residents said they opposed these closures. This included 64 percent of Trump voters and 89 percent of Harris voters. During a time of intense partisanship, those numbers speak volumes about the importance of public lands to everyday Americans.
“Few, if any, issues draw such support and agreement across generations, political parties, geographies, and demographics,” TPL points out in its report. “Selling or transferring public lands contradicts hard data and public opinion.”
That’s because America’s public lands provide abundant hunting, fishing, and recreation opportunities, and they are are one of our greatest economic engines, especially in rural areas. These shared landscapes are the backbone of a $1.2 trillion outdoor recreation industry, according to TPL’s research. The group points out that in Colorado alone, the outdoor recreation economy brought in roughly $17.2 billion in 2023 and supported around 132,000 jobs, accounting for 4.3 percent of all statewide employees.
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“What’s often overlooked is that public lands aren’t just places we protect — they’re engines we can activate” TPL’s National Board of Directors chair Lucas St. Clair says in the report. “They support our physical and mental health. They power local economies through outdoor recreation. And they remind us that shared spaces can still unite a divided nation. In a time when public lands are increasingly under threat, we need to protect and expand them, not shrink them.”
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