The proposed national monument to be called Avi Kwa Ame is getting a big boost today as the top leaders of the Bureau of Land Management hold a public meeting in Laughlin.

Tracy Stone-Manning, director of the BLM, will hear from a range of stakeholders on the 450,000-acre proposed monument near Searchlight.

Taylor Patterson, executive director of the Native Voters Alliance of Nevada and a member of the Bishop Paiute tribe, said the area is the center of the creation story for many Yuman-speaking tribes.

"It's the place where all of their traditional stories and knowledge comes from," Patterson explained. "For our Southern Paiute tribes in the area, it's also a part of the Salt Song trail. And so that tells, really, the life cycle of Paiute people and how they moved through the land and all the important places, plants and animals in the area."

Avi Kwa Ame is the Mojave name for Spirit Mountain, The area is also important habitat for mule deer and bighorn sheep. There has been no organized opposition to the project.

Grace Palermo, Southern Nevada director for Friends of Nevada Wilderness, said past proposals to build a wind farm in the area galvanized efforts to protect the land.

"The idea that huge wind turbines could go up in this area could really damage habitat for wildlife and the view shed, and possibly create access issues for folks who are out on these lands," Palermo asserted.

Louis Bubala, director and treasurer of the Nevada Outdoor Business Coalition, said a monument designation would get more people excited about visiting the area, adding to the state's $4 billion outdoor economy.

"If we get a new national monument, you're going to have people exploring the land and visiting Searchlight, Laughlin, Boulder City," Bubala outlined. "Henderson is a launching spot to get out there."

Craig Bakerjian, campaign manager for the Avi Kwa Ame Coalition, a program of the Nevada Conservation League, said the monument will further state and federal goals to preserve 30% of the land by 2030, and reduce carbon pollution to boot.

"Climate change is a very real threat," Bakerjian contended. "And part of the way that we can mitigate that is with undisturbed natural resources which act as carbon sinks."

Congresswoman Dina Titus filed a bill in February to create the new national monument. President Joe Biden has the power under the Antiquities Act to make the designation on his own.

Correction: An earlier version of this story attributed a quote to Rep. Zinke which was made by Alex Blackmer. (5:05 p.m MST., May 12, 2025)

Montana lawmakers this session voted down a bill supporting the transfer of federal public lands to states but a similar conversation is growing on the national stage.

Last year, Utah sued the United States, claiming the state is deprived of "sovereign powers" because the federal government owns public lands there. Rep. Tom Millett, R-Marion, brought a resolution to fellow lawmakers in support of Utah. It failed 66-34 and received no public comments in support.

Alex Blackmer, senior communications manager for the advocacy group Wild Montana, said such efforts point to a larger trend.

"All of this really goes hand-in-hand with what we're seeing at the federal level," Blackmer observed. "Which is this attempt to dismantle regulations, to dismantle the agencies, dismantle all of these things that have been the foundation of our way of life."

In Congress, the House Committee on Natural Resources has passed a Republican budget package including an amendment to authorize the sale of thousands of acres of public land in Nevada and Utah. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., chair of the committee, said the package would "save billions and deliver American energy dominance." Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., called it "breathtakingly reckless."

Also last week, Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., and more than a dozen other lawmakers launched the bipartisan Congressional Public Lands Caucus to help conserve and maintain access to public lands.

Blackmer noted Zinke has been "pretty outspoken" in support of public lands.

"We certainly appreciate any efforts of elected officials to take a stand to keep public lands in public hands," Blackmer acknowledged. "But I think time will tell how that actually shakes out."

Zinke served as U.S. Interior Secretary during the first Trump administration before stepping down amid allegations of misconduct. At a news conference launching the caucus, Zinke said land sales should not be in the federal reconciliation bill.


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The Mississippi River is the drinking water source for 20 million people and its starting point in northern Minnesota has new protections following completion of a deal to preserve several thousand acres of forested land.

The Conservation Fund and Northern Waters Land Trust said the deal, years in the making, covers more 8,200 acres across nine counties between Walker and Duluth.

Emilee Nelson, associate Minnesota state director for The Conservation Fund, said her group purchased a larger chunk of land in 2020 and since then, the Land Trust worked to secure state funding for the acreage in the deal. She pointed out downstream, the river has seen surrounding land converted to other uses, which takes away key buffers.

"The importance of leaving forests on the landscape really helps to soak up water that hits the landscape like a sponge," Nelson explained. "It helps to filter any sort of debris before it hits the Mississippi River."

Separate plans are being finalized with county governments to ensure permanent management and public access to the lands. Nelson emphasized it should benefit hunters and anglers, while protecting wildlife habitat. She added the timing is important with political pressure on the landscapes for possible industrial uses. Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn., is part of the push, citing the need for jobs.

Nelson pointed out with such a deal, local timber companies can still benefit from effective forest management, including the need to clear out dying trees.

"When we own it, we would contract with local loggers to help do prescribed thinnings, and to then deliver lumber to local mills, like in Bemidji," Nelson noted.

Organizations involved in the deal said it will protect jobs in the outdoor recreation and tourism sector.

Access to the beloved Pacific Crest Trail may soon be limited - due to a drop in federal grants and big layoffs proposed for federal public lands agencies.

In the next two weeks, the Trump administration is expected to release the reduction-in-force targets for the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

Megan Wargo, chief executive officer of the Pacific Crest Trail Association, said federal grant money dried up last October, so they've had to cancel 56 weeks of crew maintenance work on the trails.

"If large sections of the trails are forced to be closed because of this lack of maintenance and care, that's devastating that folks won't be able to access their public lands because of these cuts," she explained.

Volunteers help keep the trails clear of debris and repair erosion from storm damage. The Pacific Crest Trail runs more than 2,600 hundred miles from Mexico to Canada and includes landscapes from Anza Borrego in the South, to Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Lake Tahoe in the Sierras, and points north.

Wargo said the National Trails System Act calls for a public-private partnership to manage the national scenic trails. The Pacific Crest Trail Association normally gets between $667 million per year in federal funding - about a quarter of what it needs to help maintain the PCT.

"Typically, that breakdown is about 25% value that's coming from the federal government, while the other 75% is coming through private donations and that volunteer service hour value," she continued.

Wargo added that cuts to the federal workforce hobble agencies' abilities to make grants and approve volunteer projects. And that means less brush gets cleared, raising the risk of wildfires in California.