BLM nominee Steve Pearce’s record shows hardline anti-public lands positions
Department of the Interior headquarters in Washington, DC
Matthew G. Bisanz via Wikimedia Commons
Fmr New Mexico House member championed sale of public lands, opposed monument protection
WASHINGTON D.C. (Nov. 6, 2025) — The Trump administration announced the nomination of former New Mexico Rep. Steve Pearce to lead the Bureau of Land Management yesterday, tapping an anti-public lands hardliner to lead the nation’s largest land management agency, which oversees some 245 million acres of public lands.
Pearce has championed the sale of public lands, opposed the protection of national monuments (including in his home state), worked to protect oil and gas companies from paying higher royalties to taxpayers and suggested that he wants to reverse the “trend” of public land ownership.
Lydia Weiss, senior director of government relations at The Wilderness Society, made the following statement about the news:
“Just a few months ago, a bipartisan outcry confirmed once again that Americans love public lands and deeply value the freedom they provide to hunt, fish and recreate, forcing the Senate to abandon an effort to sell off our public lands. And yet, the Trump administration now wants the Senate to vote for someone to lead the nation’s largest public land agency who supports selling off our public lands. The public deserves better. Future generations deserve better. The Senate needs to stand with the overwhelming majority of Americans who value public lands and reject Steve Pearce’s nomination.”
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The Department of the Interior is nearing the end of a public comment period on its proposed rescission of the BLM Public Lands Rule, which provides guidance for the BLM to manage lands for multiple uses as mandated by Congress in 1976. Similarly, Pearce’s nomination to lead the agency suggests a deep commitment to revert to BLM’s old emphasis on extractive uses like drilling and mining. The nomination also appears to fit into a larger campaign by the administration to undercut agencies’ land management capacity and principles, perhaps to make the case for privatization of public lands.
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