Hiker in the Monongahela National Forest by Kent Mason.

In the fight to keep public lands in public hands one recurring theme is how important the public comment process is for public lands management.

Public lands are owned by all of us. You have the right to comment on what happens to public lands. Right now, the Forest Service is considering some big changes that would cut the public’s voice out of the conversation around how they manage 193 million acres of public land, like the Monongahela National Forest.

The proposed changes will affect the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a law that gives guidelines to support proper and balanced practices for public land management.The proposed changes would eliminate public participation on a vast majority of Forest Service projects. Read more about NEPA and the proposed rule change here.

The Forest Service is accepting public comments on these changes until August 26. It’s very important that the Forest Service hears from people, like you, who want to preserve the public input process for public lands management. Submit your comments here!

We’ve made it easy to submit comments directly to the Forest Service and would encourage everyone who cares about public lands to comment today!