This week, I Ling Thompson, Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation for America’s Public Lands, testified before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight with a simple, urgent message: America’s public lands and waters are essential to who we are and caring for them requires all of us.
Watch I Ling Thompson’s Testimony:
As our nation approaches its 250th anniversary, this moment invites reflection and resolve. Public lands are where we work, recreate, and come together. They power local economies, sustain clean water and wildlife habitat, support energy and food production, and offer world-class outdoor recreation. They are not just scenic backdrops, they are the hardest-working places in America.
Much of the responsibility of maintaining our public lands and waters falls to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which manages nearly one-tenth of the nation’s land base, 245 million acres, alongside hundreds of millions more acres of subsurface minerals. From rangelands and rivers to trails, monuments, and working landscapes, BLM lands fuel rural economies, support nearly a million jobs, and welcome tens of millions of visitors each year.
Yet despite this outsized impact, BLM lands are less well-known and more under-resourced than other public lands. Visitation is up sharply, demands are growing, and budgets remain tight. That gap is where public-private partnerships matter most.
The Foundation for America’s Public Lands was created by Congress to be the BLM’s official charitable partner, helping the agency do more, faster, without expanding bureaucracy. Our role is to convene partners, raise private support, and unlock solutions that improve access, stewardship, and awareness across BLM-managed lands and waters.
In just over two years, thanks to the support of our leadership and partners, the Foundation has deployed over $11 million in funding toward 50 projects that advance recreation access, improve rangeland health, and encourage shared stewardship and volunteerism across BLM-managed lands and waters.
These investments demonstrate what’s possible when public purpose and private partnership align, especially as we look ahead to stewarding America’s public lands for the next 250 years.
And We’re Just Getting Started
The Foundation has an additional pipeline of 40 shovel-ready projects (and growing) that will strengthen stewardship and expand recreation access across BLM-managed lands and waters.
We are setting a bigger table to bring more partners into this work. Join us. Tell us how you want to support your public lands.
About The Foundation
As the official charitable partner of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Foundation for America’s Public Lands serves as a convener, partner, and fundraising catalyst to help ensure the health and stewardship of America’s public lands and waters today, and for the future. The Foundation has funded 50 projects and deployed more than $11 million in impact since it started grantmaking in 2024.
To learn more about the Foundation for America’s Public Lands, visit americaslands.org.
