North Dakota Groups Rally Against Trump Administration Undermining Theodore Roosevelt’s Conservation Legacy

MEDORA, N.D.-Today, the Sierra Club and other members of the North Dakota Public Lands Coalition gathered in Medora to speak out against the Trump administration's attacks on public lands. The protestors were visible upon Donald Trump and Secretary Doug Burgum's arrival for the official dedication of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, a visit purporting to honor the 26th president's conservation legacy.

The ceremony comes as the Trump administration continues pursuing policies to expand drilling, mining, logging, and industrial grazing on public lands, roll back protections for public lands and wildlife, erase history and science from national parks and other public lands, and reduce public participation in federal land management decisions. Roosevelt established roughly 230 million acres of public lands, including multiple national parks, 150 national forests, and the nation's first national monuments and wildlife refuges. The Trump administration has already given away more than a million acres of public lands and waters for industrial projects and moved to develop millions more, including along the beloved Maah Daah Hey Trail in North Dakota.

Photos and media assets from today's events will be available this evening.

In response, Todd Leake, Chair of the Sierra Club North Dakota Chapter, released the following statement:

"Theodore Roosevelt understood that America's public lands belong to the people-not corporations looking to profit from them. Celebrating such an extraordinary conservation legacy deserves more than speeches and ceremonies. It deserves leaders willing to protect the lands, waters, and wildlife he fought so hard to conserve. Yet the Trump administration and Secretary Burgum's actions stand in direct contrast to the conservation principles Roosevelt championed. They're selling out our public lands to drilling, mining, logging, and other industrial development while gutting the very agencies that steward these lands and waters for the American people.

North Dakotans aren't surprised Burgum continues to talk out of both sides of his mouth. As governor, he said family farmers were the backbone of the state, then invited more corporate farming. Now, he's here to honor Theodore Roosevelt, whose legacy he is dismantling. We need leaders who will protect our public lands and choose to carry that legacy forward, not abandon it."

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.