On Thursday, Aug. 21, outdoor enthusiasts will gather at the Third Street Center for a conversation about United States public lands, changing government policies and citizen conservation responses. From 5:30pm to 7:00pm, Carbondale-based nonprofit Wilderness Workshop will facilitate the free conversation with Tracy Stone-Manning, current president of The Wilderness Society and former director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and Nada Wolff Culver, former deputy director of BLM.

Stone-Manning will share an assessment of the state of conservation work in the U.S. and perspectives on the potential impacts of policies suggested by the federal executive administration and Congress. She will also discuss how The Wilderness Society and other nonprofits and advocacy organizations are acting in defense of many uses of these public spaces, from recreation and resources to wildlife habitat and ecosystem function. 

Wolff Culver will share details about Indigenous-led land management and the ways that public land policy intersects with policy around tribal sovereignty and rights. Governmental policy and stance around environmental conservation and Indigenous rights has shifted significantly over the past few centuries. Each phase of change has had a variety of social and environmental influence, and those phases of history can inform decision-making today. 

This local conversation comes on the heels of significant discussion around the now-defeated provision that Senator Mike Lee of Utah attempted to include in H.R.1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Before and after nationwide constituent pressure struck the provision from the bill, Lee claimed that selling off millions of acres of public lands would help solve a national housing crisis. 

Yet the lands he proposed for incremental sale have been consistently assessed as unsuitable for high-density residential development. People from broad interest groups including hunters, staunch conservationists and even adventure sports enthusiasts banded together in opposition. Data from past public lands sales also did not support Lee’s assertions. A July ProPublica report shows that recent small-acreage sales yielded relatively low profits, and that the language of the failed provision did not establish adequate specifications to ensure sold land would be used for affordable housing development. 

Stone-Manning has lived in Montana for decades; she is familiar with the American West and Rocky Mountains interest groups and ecosystems from her extensive work in legislative, service and advocacy. Prior to being named and approved as the director of BLM in 2021, she spent eight years as the director of the watershed advocacy Clark Fork Coalition, served as a staff director and advisor for former Montana Senator Jon Tester, directed the Montana Department of Environmental, was chief of staff for former Montana governor Steve Bullock and held leadership positions at the National Wildlife Federation. 

Stone-Manning started with The Wilderness Society shortly after finishing her time leading BLM this past January. In an interview with Montana Public Radio in April, she shared her thoughts on the importance of public lands. “It is the majority who owns these lands in common, who can figure out how to cut our peace on these lands and enjoy them for themselves and their grandkids, and that is the ultimate expression of democracy.”

Wolff Culver went from a legal background to nearly 16 years with The Wilderness Society and just under two years as vice president of the National Audubon Society before her service as BLM deputy director. She is based in Colorado and started Nashoba Consulting in February to advise conservation efforts, particularly those connected with tribal advocacy and empowerment.


Wilderness Workshop is a conservation advocacy organization and regularly hosts community events on related topics, including the winter Naturalist Nights series in partnership with the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies.