Big Bend Bulldozers Paused, Mining Claims in Grand Staircaise and Bears Ears, and a Win for the Boundary Waters - Public Lands News (August 17 - 24)

In this week's public lands news briefing, we are covering three main stories:

1. Minnesota's Governor Tim Walz signed an executive order using the power he has to help protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, but the fight is not over yet. This action is somewhat complicated and has caused some confusion, so I break down what it really means and what we need to do next.

2. Mining claims have been staked in Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments in Utah following Trump's reduction in monument size ft. Autumn Gillard, a Southern Paiute and coordinator of the Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition.

Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition: https://grandstaircasecoalition.org/

3. Bulldozers have been at work in Big Bend National Park, but further destruction was recently paused. The fight is far from over to protect the Big Bend region as a whole from this border wall construction ft. Christina Hernandez, director of the People of La Junta for Preservation and executive director of the Big Bend Conservation Alliance.

People of La Junta: https://www.peopleoflajunta.org/

Big Bend Conservation Alliance: https://www.bigbendconservationalliance.org/

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Episode Sources

https://mn.gov/governor/newsroom/executive-orders/

https://www.savetheboundarywaters.org/what-governor-walzs-executive-order-means-future-boundary-waters

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-administration-pauses-border-construction-project-in-big-bend-national-park

https://www.texastribune.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Big-Bend-lawsuit-People-of-La-Junta.pdf

https://biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/pdfs/034-Pls-Emergency-Mot.-for-TRO-or-PI.pdf

https://westernpriorities.org/2026/08/mining-claims-filed-on-land-removed-from-utah-monuments/

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