The Sierra Club is reporting that it is marking National Public Lands Day by calling on supporters to help defend 640 million acres of national parks, monuments, wild forests and wetlands that it said are shared by all Americans.
It said the group is fighting on several fronts to protect those landscapes. The Sierra Club said it filed suit in federal court alongside partners challenging a decision to reduce Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by more than 90 percent, a move it said threatens 3 million acres of sacred Tribal landscapes and fossil beds from mining and drilling.
The organization said it also is taking direct action at Yosemite National Park, where volunteers rallied across three park entrances over two weekends and more than 150 members of Congress united against the Department of the Interior. It said the effort aims to block what it called a behind-closed-doors scheme to hand off a piece of the park to a private equity real estate developer.
In the nation's wild forests, the Sierra Club said the official public comment period is ending soon on a proposal to roll back the Roadless Rule. It said it and its partners are submitting 1 million comments to keep 58.5 million acres of national forest safe from logging.
The Sierra Club said it was founded in 1892 to protect wild spaces from private greed and that it is suing and organizing to keep public lands public. It asked supporters to donate to fuel its legal battles and grassroots organizers, offering a multi-tool as a gift for contributions.