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Sammi🦋 Profile picture
@StoriesBySammi
Jun 16 • 8 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
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Fifty years of rules keeping off-road vehicles on designated trails — GONE.

Lifted trucks, ATVs, dirt bikes, snowmobiles.

Anywhere they want. On your public lands.

Nixon protected it. Carter protected it. Trump just erased both quietly on a Friday afternoon.

A grizzly bear will abandon its habitat when there's just one mile of road per square mile. One mile. Now there's no limit on where these vehicles can go.

In the Mojave, desert tortoises have already lost 96% of their population in some monitored areas - partly because off-road vehicles crush their burrows. A federal judge just ordered 2,200 miles of trails closed to protect what's left.

Then Trump signed this.

No designated trails. No boundaries. No framework at all. When vehicles go off trail they shatter habitat into pieces too small for wildlife to survive in. They destroy stream banks. They push predators toward humans. And when that happens, the animals always lose.

There was no vote. No public comment. Just a signature.

Now the agencies tasked with writing replacement rules are the BLM, the Forest Service, and the National Park Service - all under an administration that has spent months dismantling every protection they had.

The Interior Department, led by Doug Burgum, is in charge of most of it. The same Doug Burgum who has opened public lands to drilling, mining, and grazing at every turn.

Don't hold your breath.

When the last quiet place is gone, what do we tell the children who never got to hear it?

#DemsUnitedMountain landscape with forested ridges and valleys under a cloudy sky. Overlaid text reads: Public Lands News. Trump signs executive order opening protected public lands to unrestricted motorized vehicle use. Smaller text states that for over 50 years, federal agencies have been required to consider impacts to wildlife habitat, sensitive plant species, and user experience, but that is changing.
→ Backcountry hunters and anglers are sounding the alarm too - and when the hunting community and environmentalists are saying the same thing, you know something has gone very wrong. Outdoor Life breaks down exactly what was just erased and why it matters to everyone who loves wild places.
outdoorlife.com/conservation/o…A fly fisherman stands in shallow water on a mountain lake, casting a line beneath rugged peaks reflected in the lake’s surface.
→ Just weeks before Trump signed this order, a federal judge shut down 2,200 miles of off-road trails in the Mojave to save what's left of the desert tortoise. The Spokesman-Review took you into that desert. What they found will stay with you.
spokesman.com/stories/2026/f…Desert tortoise walking across rocky ground beside tall green desert plants.
Close-up of a desert tortoise crossing sandy terrain with large saguaro cacti in the background.
Desert tortoise feeding on a bright pink prickly pear cactus flower in a desert landscape.
Desert tortoise eating low vegetation while walking across arid desert terrain.
→ "Reckless and nonsensical." That's what wildlife defenders are calling this. The Guardian has the full picture of what's at stake - every species, every ecosystem, every acre. And the quote at the end from the Forest Service will make your blood boil.
theguardian.com/us-news/2026/j…A fast-flowing river winds through a rugged mountain valley lined with steep, pale-colored rocky slopes and dense evergreen trees. In the foreground, a person stands on large riverside rocks, fishing near the water’s edge. Forested mountains rise in the background beneath a cloudy sky.
→ For every vehicle now allowed anywhere on your public lands, see the infographic👇 An infographic with a tan and dark brown color scheme claims that a “Trump Executive Order — May 29, 2026” changed public-land rules. The headline reads, “YOUR PUBLIC LANDS. YOUR PLAYGROUND?” Below, it lists vehicles allegedly allowed anywhere on public lands, including lifted pickup trucks, side-by-sides, snowmobiles, SUVs, ATVs, dirt bikes, dune buggies, and e-bikes. Several statistics are presented in large type: “50 YRS” alongside a claim that 50 years of wildlife protections were erased with one signature; “1 MILE” with a statement about grizzly bears abandoning habitat when road densi...
The fight 💪 isn't over. Environmental groups are watching the rule-making process closely and will mobilize when public comment opens. Until then here are organizations on the ground protecting what's left:

Defenders of Wildlife - defenders.org
Center for Biological Diversity - biologicaldiversity.org
Backcountry Hunters and Anglers - backcountryhunters.org
Desert Tortoise Council - deserttortoise.org

The land is still there. The animals are still there. And so are the people fighting for them.Several hikers walk along a narrow mountain trail on a sunlit hillside overlooking a vivid turquoise lake. Dense evergreen forests cover the slopes below, while blue, snow-capped mountains rise in the distance beneath a clear sky.
A few thoughts before I end this 🧵

These lands were here before us.

The tortoise, the grizzly, the sage and the stream - they don’t know who signed what or when. They only know whether they’re safe or they’re not.

That has always been on us. A lone hiker with a backpack crosses a grassy meadow beside a small stream, with autumn-colored trees and rugged mountain peaks in the background under a cloudy sky.
🧵 If you found this story useful, let me know by replying to the top post.

And if you think more people should see it, please consider sharing or following.

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More from @StoriesBySammi

Sammi🦋 Profile picture
Jun 15
The U.S. government just made a land deal with the world's first trillionaire. Not a sale. A trade.

Because apparently that's how we do things now.

715 acres of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge - built by Congress in 1979 to protect one of the most biodiverse wildlife corridors left in North America - handed to SpaceX.

Endangered ocelots. Aplomado falcons. Piping plovers. Land the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas has called sacred since long before there was a United States.

SpaceX built a rocket launch site next door. Then came the explosions. Concrete and metal hurled six miles across refuge land. A 2024 study found that after one launch, every single monitored shorebird nest near the site suffered egg damage or loss. The Fish and Wildlife Service's response was not enforcement. It was a land swap.

FOIA documents show internal planning for this transfer started as early as April 2025 - while Musk was running DOGE and threatening to fire federal workers who didn't justify their jobs to him. The agency developed what they called "the most expedited schedule possible" to get it done.

Part of what's being handed over includes the Palmito Ranch Battlefield - the site of the last battle of the Civil War. A National Historic Landmark. Once transferred, SpaceX can restrict public access whenever they want.

25,000+ people submitted public comments. Most opposed the deal. The government moved forward anyway.

A coalition of tribal and conservation groups filed a federal lawsuit this week to stop it. Because someone has to.

Why are we cutting real estate deals with a trillionaire when we could have just made him pay for it?

#DemsUnitedInformational graphic about wildlife habitat in the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. An ocelot stands on a rocky ledge at the top of the image, and a piping plover with a chick rests on a sandy beach at the bottom. Text states that the refuge provides crucial habitat for endangered ocelots and rare birds, including piping plovers and aplomado falcons.
→ The full breakdown of what's in this land swap - the acreage, the wildlife, the 25,000 public comments that got ignored, and who's suing to stop it. Outdoor Life did the math and it doesn't add up:
outdoorlife.com/conservation/e…Ocelot perched on a tree branch in a wooded habitat. The spotted wild cat faces the camera with an alert expression, surrounded by green foliage and tree trunks in the background.
→ Texas Public Radio was on the ground for this one. Scorched bird eggs in empty nests. Indigenous voices. The people who've been fighting this since before most of us heard about it:
tpr.org/environment/20…Aplomado falcon in flight with wings extended. The bird has a dark head, rust-colored chest, and barred black-and-white markings on its wings and tail. Its yellow feet are visible beneath it as it flies against a blurred natural background.
Read 7 tweets
Sammi🦋 Profile picture
Jun 12
I told you they were coming for the Roadless Rule.

Yesterday, Republicans made their move — and they hid it inside a wildfire bill.

Here's what makes this so enraging:

59 million acres of America's wildest national forests are now on the table.

The 2001 Roadless Rule has protected nearly 60 million acres across 39 states for 25 years. No logging. No road construction. No drilling. No mining.

Built after 1.6 million Americans showed up — at 430 public hearings nationwide — to demand it.

What lives here: bald eagles, elk, black bears, Cerulean warblers, marbled murrelets. Species that need large, intact, unfragmented habitat to survive. For many of them, roadless forests aren't just home — they're the last places left.

What the amendment does: guts the rule. Opens the backcountry to logging and road construction under the cover of "fire prevention."

The administration is pursuing repeal through the executive branch at the same time. And unlike the original rule — they aren't holding a single public hearing.

1.6 million people showed up to protect these forests.
The administration isn't asking anyone this time.

What do you call a wildfire bill that opens forests instead of protecting them?

#DemsUnitedSunlight streams through a towering old-growth forest, illuminating a massive tree trunk surrounded by ferns and dense woodland. Tall trees stretch into the background as bright rays of light filter through the canopy, highlighting the scale and beauty of the forest.
→ Audubon lays out exactly why roadless forests aren't just scenery — they're climate refuges for hundreds of bird species on the edge of extinction, and why even limited road construction could be the thing that tips them over.
audubon.org/news/protectin…A colorful alpine meadow filled with wildflowers stretches across the foreground, with clusters of blue, yellow, white, and orange blooms scattered among grasses and rocky soil. Dark evergreen trees line the middle ground, and a sunlit mountain peak rises in the distance. The sky glows in soft shades of pink and purple, suggesting sunrise or sunset in a high-elevation wilderness landscape.
→ Defenders of Wildlife documented the USDA's formal repeal announcement — what it means for endangered wildlife, what it means for the watersheds millions of Americans drink from, and what's actually at stake in 45 million acres of backcountry.
defenders.org/newsroom/usda-…A calm mountain lake with pale blue-green water reflects the bright summer sky. A large fallen tree trunk stretches across the foreground near the shoreline, its bare branches extending over the water. Dense evergreen trees line the opposite shore, with low forested hills visible in the distance beneath a clear blue sky with a few small clouds.
Read 9 tweets
Sammi🦋 Profile picture
Jun 11
Six weeks ago I told you they were coming for Big Bend. Yesterday a court cleared the way for border wall construction in the Big Bend National Park region.

Here's what makes this so enraging:

Big Bend National Park is one of the quietest stretches of the entire southern border. In FY2025, the Big Bend sector recorded just 3,096 apprehensions — 1.3% of all crossings nationwide. Border encounters there have dropped 74% since 2023. The land is remote, rugged, and brutal. It has always been its own deterrent.

And yet — a 30-foot steel wall is coming anyway.

What that wall will actually do: fragment critical habitat for black bears, mountain lions, and the endangered black-capped vireo. Sever one of the last wildlife corridors connecting the U.S. and Mexican Chihuahuan Desert — an ecosystem that doesn't recognize borders.

Block the natural movement of over 450 bird species that pass through Big Bend. Flood one of the darkest night skies in North America with construction lights. Slice through 100+ miles of the Wild and Scenic Rio Grande.

To stop 1.3% of border crossings. On land that was already stopping them on its own.

The administration has now waived the Endangered Species Act, the National Park Service Organic Act, and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act — all at once — to make this happen. The first time in U.S. history any of that has been done inside a national park.

They awarded $4.3 billion in contracts. Steel bollards are already on the ground near Van Horn. Construction starts this summer.

Who do YOU think this wall is actually for?

#DemsUnitedSunlit canyon walls rise steeply above a calm river in Big Bend. Golden morning light illuminates the rock face on the left while the river winds through the narrow canyon beneath a clear blue sky.
→ The vote that just killed Big Bend's last legislative shield — and what it means for the park, the river, and everyone who fought to protect them. The Texas Tribune has the full breakdown of how each rep voted and what comes next:
texastribune.org/2026/06/10/tex…Image
→ Steel bollards are already arriving. Workers' housing camps are going up. Construction is weeks away — not years. Marfa Public Radio was on the ground to document it, and what they found will stop you cold:
marfapublicradio.org/news/2026-06-0…Image
Read 8 tweets
Sammi🦋 Profile picture
Jun 9
Imagine an underwater Grand Canyon where corals have been growing since before the United States was founded. 🐠

Plunged in total darkness. Untouched. Protected.

Until one signature changed everything.

On February 6, 2026, that's exactly what happened.

The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is bigger than Yellowstone.

Its submarine canyons drop into depths we're still mapping. There are sea creatures here science hasn't even named yet.

It’s underwater mountains — millions of years old, rise from the ocean floor, drawing sperm whales and endangered right whales from miles away.

The cold-water corals living here? Some have been growing for over a thousand years. A trawl net destroys them in seconds. They don't grow back in our lifetimes.

The monument was created in 2016 for one reason — to keep this ecosystem off limits from exactly this kind of destruction.

It worked. Until February.

One person. One signature. Zero public input. No congressional vote. No comment period. Just a proclamation — and a thousand-year-old ecosystem lost its protection overnight.

Proclamation 11009 — "Unleashing American Commercial Fishing in the Atlantic"— erased the ban overnight. Trawl gear, dredges, otter nets. Now permitted inside monument boundaries.

And here's the part that should make you angry — this administration tried this exact move in 2020. Conservation groups sued. They won. Biden restored protections.

Now we're back here.

How many more monuments have to lose their protections before Congress does something? 🐠

#DemsUnitedColorful underwater scene in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument showing layered coral formations and sponges on a rocky reef. Two large silver fish swim through the blue water above the corals, highlighting the rich marine life found in the protected habitat.
→ NOAA published the official bulletin confirming exactly what gear is now permitted and where inside the monument - and the details are more alarming than the headline.
fisheries.noaa.gov/bulletin/comme…A round, dome-shaped sea anemone rests on a sandy seafloor scattered with small pebbles. Its surface is densely covered with short, pointed tentacles in shades of brown and mauve, arranged in a flower-like pattern that radiates from the center. The anemone resembles a soft, spiky cushion against the pale sand.
→ The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's own monument page reads like a love letter to everything now at risk - written by the government agency still technically charged with protecting it.
fws.gov/national-monum…Close-up underwater view of a sea urchin nestled among soft corals. The urchin’s round body is covered in long, sharp brown spines, surrounded by delicate white branching coral and clusters of yellow flower-like coral polyps. The scene highlights the rich textures and colors of a coral reef habitat.
Read 7 tweets
Sammi🦋 Profile picture
Jun 5
I'm a grizzly.

They just decided one acre is all I need.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service just redefined "secure habitat" for grizzly bears in Montana.

The science said 2,500 acres minimum.

They changed it to one.

No public input. No new science. Just a rewrite.

And it wasn't random. The change conveniently cleared the way for a 17,700-acre logging project cutting straight through the corridor grizzlies use to travel between two of their last strongholds in North America.

A former Forest Service wildlife biologist said it plainly: "A one-acre island of forest surrounded by roads isn't secure habitat. It's a death trap."

Courts already rejected this same playbook when agencies tried 10-acre patches near Yellowstone. They lost. Then they came back with one acre.

Who's going to tell the grizzly it only gets one acre?

#DemsUnitedA grizzly bear and two cubs rest along a riverbank in Yellowstone National Park while bison graze in the distance beneath mountain peaks and a steaming geyser.
→ The lawsuit: Courthouse News breaks down exactly how federal agencies rewrote grizzly habitat standards behind closed doors — and why conservationists say it's a legal shell game designed to greenlight logging. This one's worth your time.

courthousenews.com/environmentali…A grizzly bear stands on a rocky hillside overlooking a vast mountain valley filled with evergreen forest and patches of golden autumn foliage. Jagged peaks rise in the distance beneath a partly cloudy sky, creating a dramatic wilderness landscape. The bear faces slightly to the side, appearing calm and alert in its natural habitat.
→ The science and the pattern: Missoula Current goes deeper — the biology of why 2,500 acres matters, how this is happening across multiple Montana forests, and what a federal judge literally asked out loud in court last month.

missoulacurrent.com/grizzly-habita…A grizzly bear stands at the edge of a calm pond, its reflection visible in the still water below. The bear is shown in profile against a soft green forest backdrop, with tall grasses lining the shoreline. The peaceful scene highlights the animal’s size and shaggy brown coat in a natural wilderness setting.
Read 8 tweets
Sammi🦋 Profile picture
Jun 3
The federal government just banned bison from public land in Montana.

Not cattle.

Bison.

Interior Secretary Burgum revoked grazing permits for 950 bison
on 63,000 acres of federal land in northeastern Montana.

The reason?

Bison raised for conservation don't count as livestock
under a 1934 law.

Bison raised for meat and milk? Fine.

Bison raised to restore a native species to its native land? Get out.

Meanwhile, cattle ranchers across the West keep grazing on your land.

For $1.69 a month.

One cow. One calf. Thirty days. $1.69.

On land that belongs to every American.

The Cheyenne River Sioux. The Coalition of Large Tribes —
50+ Native nations. Defenders of Wildlife.

They all filed formal protests.

They called it exactly what it is.

"DEI for cows."

The bison have until September 30 to be gone.

Who decided cattle belong on public land more than bison do?

#DemsUnitedAn elk crosses a winding gravel road through open Montana grasslands at dusk, with several bison grazing in the distance. Rolling hills lead to rugged blue-gray mountains beneath a cloudy evening sky, creating a peaceful scene of wildlife moving across a vast prairie landscape.
→ Inside Climate News broke down exactly how Burgum rewrote a
90-year-old law to make it happen — and what it could mean
for tribal herds next:

insideclimatenews.org/news/15052026/…Several American bison graze across a wide Montana grassland beneath towering snow-capped mountains. Golden prairie hills stretch across the foreground and middle distance, while the rugged mountain range rises dramatically against a clear blue sky, highlighting the vast open landscape of the American West.
→ Native News Online has the tribal response — and the warning
from 50+ nations about what comes next if this stands:

nativenewsonline.net/sovereignty/am…A herd of American bison grazes in a golden grassland beneath rolling hills and distant blue mountains. Dark evergreen trees line the middle of the landscape, while the bison spread across the open prairie, creating a scene of wildlife thriving in Montana’s broad, natural grasslands.
Read 7 tweets

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