6. • National Park Service, “Theodore Roosevelt and Conservation” and “Theodore Roosevelt Quotes.” NPS describes Roosevelt’s conservation record and preserves his Grand Canyon remarks, including “Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it.”
7. • U.S. Congress, National Park Service Organic Act of 1916 ; Wilderness Act of 1964 . These laws established broader principles of protecting public lands for future generations and “the permanent good of the whole people.”
8. • The White House, “Modifying the Bears Ears National Monument,” “Modifying the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument,” and accompanying fact sheet, July 13, 2026. Bears Ears was reduced to approximately 121,096 acres and Grand Staircase-Escalante to approximately 181,541 acres; the proclamations cite mineral resources and provide for excluded lands to return, subject to applicable law and existing protections, to multiple-use management and mineral disposition.
9. • Reuters, “Trump administration moves to rescind rule that protects millions of forest acres,” August 18, 2026. The proposed rescission concerns approximately 59 million acres governed by the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
10. • Bureau of Land Management and Federal Register , 2025–2026 federal mineral-leasing rules. Federal coal lease royalties are temporarily capped at no more than 7 percent from July 4, 2025 through September 30, 2034. For new federal onshore oil and gas leases, the current competitive minimum and noncompetitive rate are 12.5 percent, down from the 16.67 percent minimum established by the Inflation Reduction Act.
11. • The Washington Post , May 9, 2024, reporting on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago dinner with oil and gas executives, his request that the industry raise $1 billion for his campaign, and discussion of drilling, permitting, tax and environmental policy.
12. • U.S. Department of the Interior, Great American Outdoors Act materials. Signed by Trump on August 4, 2020, the law permanently funded the Land and Water Conservation Fund at $900 million annually and established the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund to address deferred maintenance.