Congressional Public Lands Score by More Than Just Parks

Tom Cotton

Republican · U.S. Senate · Arkansas

Ranked #54 (tied) of 98 scored

Scored under 60%. Seat on the 2026 ballot.

Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, earns an F on the Congressional Public Lands Score. Of the 19 scored Senate votes, Cotton cast 0 for public lands and 18 against, and missed 1. The two closest: Yea on One Big Beautiful Bill (H.R.1), 50 to 50, and Yea on Overturning Boundary Waters Mining Ban (H.J.Res.140), 50 to 49. Cotton's seat is on the ballot in November 2026.

Every scored vote: 19 of 19 U.S. Senate votes counted

Anti-lands
Lilly Fish and Wildlife and Parks (En Bloc) S.Res.817
En bloc confirmation of 74 nominees under S.Res.817, including Kevin Lilly as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, the official overseeing the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Lilly, a Texas wealth manager, drew formal opposition from the National Parks Conservation Association, and senators from both parties questioned his lack of land management experience. Confirmed 51-47. Senators who voted Yea confirmed every nominee in the package.
Voted Yea · August 7, 2026 · Roll call 225, 51 to 47
Anti-lands
Pearce BLM Director (En Bloc) S.Res.690
En bloc confirmation of 49 nominees under S.Res.690, including Stevan Pearce as Director of the Bureau of Land Management, the agency managing 245 million acres of public land. As a congressman, Pearce repeatedly backed transferring or selling federal public land. Confirmed 46-43. Senators who voted Yea confirmed every nominee in the package.
Voted Yea · May 18, 2026 · Roll call 125, 46 to 43
Anti-lands
Overturning Boundary Waters Mining Ban H.J.Res.140
CRA resolution overturning the 20-year mining ban on 225,000 acres of the Superior National Forest upstream of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the most visited wilderness in America. Became Public Law 119-85.
Voted Yea · April 16, 2026 · Roll call 84, 50 to 49
Anti-lands
Opening Arctic Refuge to Drilling H.J.Res.131
CRA resolution overturning the 2024 environmental protections for oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain, stripping safeguards from the 1.56-million-acre coastal plain calving grounds of the Porcupine caribou herd
Voted Yea · December 4, 2025 · Roll call 632, 49 to 45
Anti-lands
Overturning Powder River Basin Coal Protections (WY) H.J.Res.130
CRA resolution nullifying the Bureau of Land Management's 2024 Buffalo Field Office resource management plan amendment in Wyoming, which made approximately 413,000 acres of federal coal unavailable for future leasing in the Powder River Basin.
Voted Yea · November 20, 2025 · Roll call 623, 51 to 43
Anti-lands
Opening Western Arctic to Drilling S.J.Res.80
CRA resolution nullifying the 2022 management plan for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, which had closed about half of the 23-million-acre Western Arctic reserve to new oil and gas leasing
Voted Yea · October 30, 2025 · Roll call 599, 52 to 45
Missed
Overturning Central Yukon Protections (AK) H.J.Res.106
CRA resolution nullifying the Bureau of Land Management's Central Yukon resource management plan in Alaska, which designated 21 areas of critical environmental concern covering approximately 3.6 million acres. The resolution removed a land-plan barrier to the Ambler Road, which would cross Gates of the Arctic National Preserve; the administration had restored the road's federal permits three days earlier. Became Public Law 119-50.
Did not vote · October 9, 2025 · Roll call 560, 50 to 46
Anti-lands
Overturning Miles City BLM Protections (MT) H.J.Res.104
CRA resolution rolling back Bureau of Land Management resource management plans for the Miles City Field Office in Montana, opening public lands to expanded industrial use
Voted Yea · October 8, 2025 · Roll call 549, 52 to 47
Anti-lands
Overturning North Dakota BLM Protections H.J.Res.105
CRA resolution rolling back Bureau of Land Management resource management plans for the North Dakota Field Office, removing protections from public lands across the state
Voted Yea · October 8, 2025 · Roll call 556, 50 to 45
Anti-lands
Boren USDA Under Secretary (En Bloc) S.Res.412
En bloc confirmation of 108 nominees under S.Res.412, including Michael Boren as USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, the official directly overseeing the U.S. Forest Service. Confirmed 51-47. Senators who voted Yea confirmed every nominee in the package.
Voted Yea · October 7, 2025 · Roll call 547, 51 to 47
Anti-lands
Nesvik USFWS Director PN25-35
Confirmed Brian Nesvik as Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency responsible for endangered species protections and the National Wildlife Refuge System
Voted Yea · August 1, 2025 · Roll call 470, 54 to 43
Anti-lands
One Big Beautiful Bill H.R.1
Reconciliation bill mandating four Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain lease sales, five National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska lease sales, a four-million-acre coal leasing mandate, coal royalty rate cuts from 12.5% to 7%, a 250-million-board-foot yearly increase in national forest timber sales through 2034, and rescinding Inflation Reduction Act conservation funding
Voted Yea · July 1, 2025 · Roll call 372, 50 to 50
Anti-lands
Vaden Deputy Agriculture PN12-43
Confirmed Stephen Vaden as Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, second in command of the department that houses the U.S. Forest Service
Voted Yea · June 10, 2025 · Roll call 301, 51 to 44
Anti-lands
MacGregor Deputy Interior PN13-10
Confirmed Katharine MacGregor as Deputy Secretary of the Interior, the department's chief operating officer, who led first-term efforts to shrink national monuments and expand drilling on public lands
Voted Yea · May 14, 2025 · Roll call 250, 54 to 40
Anti-lands
Overturning Glen Canyon Safeguards H.J.Res.60
CRA resolution overturning the National Park Service rule limiting off-road vehicle use in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, reopening those routes to motorized use
Voted Yea · May 8, 2025 · Roll call 239, 50 to 43
Anti-lands
Preventing Public Lands Sell-Off S.Amdt.2107
Budget resolution amendment (H.Con.Res.14) to bar the use of proceeds from selling federal public land for deficit reduction, the Senate's recorded vote on public land sales ahead of the reconciliation bill
Voted Nay · April 5, 2025 · Roll call 181, 48 to 51
Anti-lands
Reinstating Fired Land Managers S.Amdt.540
Budget resolution amendment (S.Con.Res.7) creating a reserve fund to reinstate the federal employees fired from the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service
Voted Nay · February 20, 2025 · Roll call 68, 48 to 52
Anti-lands
Rollins Agriculture Confirmation PN11-12
Confirmed Brooke Rollins as Secretary of Agriculture, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service and 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands
Voted Yea · February 13, 2025 · Roll call 53, 72 to 28
Anti-lands
Burgum Confirmation PN11-3
Confirmed Doug Burgum as Secretary of the Interior, who oversees the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, despite his stated agenda to expand oil and gas extraction on public land
Voted Yea · January 30, 2025 · Roll call 26, 80 to 17

Roll calls and tallies from senate.gov, read October 26, 2026. Which side counts as pro-lands is the scorecard's call on each vote (methodology). Provision ratings: none of these bills has an approved rating yet, so none is named here.

Call Senator Cotton through the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

Open the full record in the scorecard

Public lands bills Cotton sponsors or cosponsors

In the 119th Congress, Cotton sponsors 0 and cosponsors 4 public lands bills.

S.Res.837 Designating the week of August 22 through August 30, 2026, as "National Park Week"
Original cosponsor · Signed on August 6, 2026 · Not yet rated
S.2967 Border Lands Conservation Act
Cosponsor · Signed on October 9, 2025 · Not yet rated
S.2860 Revitalizing America’s Offshore Critical Minerals Dominance Act
Original cosponsor · Signed on September 18, 2025 · Not yet rated
S.Res.180 Designating the week of April 19 through April 27, 2025, as "National Park Week"
Original cosponsor · Signed on April 10, 2025 · Not yet rated

Bills and cosponsors from the congress.gov API, read September 7, 2026. A bill is rated only when a named person approves a rating that quotes its provision; none of these has one yet.

Cotton's committees

Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Energy; Public Lands, Forests, and Mining
Joint Economic Committee
Senate Committee on Armed Services
Airland; Cybersecurity; Emerging Threats and Capabilities; Strategic Forces
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (Chairman)

Committee seats from unitedstates/congress-legislators, read July 3, 2026.

Public lands in Arkansas

130 federal land units lie in or reach into Arkansas. The park with a More Than Just Parks guide: Hot Springs National Park.

Listed park guides first, then by size; the largest 40 of 130 are named.

Hot Springs National Park 4,919 acres
Ouachita National Forest 1,430,700 acres
Ozark National Forest 1,132,958 acres
Dale Bumpers White River National Wildlife Refuge 156,927 acres
Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge 144,822 acres
Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge 144,431 acres
Buffalo National River 89,040 acres
Cache River National Wildlife Refuge 74,523 acres
Bull Shoals Recreation Area 67,252 acres
National Guard Fort Chaffee Materials Testing Center 65,121 acres
Dardanelle Recreation Area 57,103 acres
Norfork Recreation Area 49,604 acres
Greers Ferry Recreation Area 41,234 acres
Lake Ouachita Army Corps of Engineers · 38,297 acres
Beaver Recreation Area 38,135 acres
Millwood Recreation Area 37,670 acres
Bull Shoals Lake Army Corps of Engineers · 35,712 acres
Buffalo National River Wilderness Area 34,564 acres
National Guard Camp Joseph T Robinson Defense Department · 33,124 acres
Greers Ferry Lake Army Corps of Engineers · 31,067 acres
Beaver Lake Army Corps of Engineers · 28,875 acres
Pond Creek National Wildlife Refuge 27,745 acres
Dardanelle Lake Army Corps of Engineers · 26,048 acres
Nimrod Recreation Area 25,542 acres
Millwood Lake Army Corps of Engineers · 23,923 acres
Pedestal Rocks Roadless Area 21,957 acres
St. Francis National Forest 21,307 acres
Norfork Lake Army Corps of Engineers · 19,883 acres
Black Mountain National Game Refuge 18,929 acres
Ozark Recreation Area 17,698 acres
Blue Mountain Recreation Area 17,282 acres
Leatherwood Wilderness 16,791 acres
Bald Knob National Wildlife Refuge 15,436 acres
Hurricane Creek Wilderness 15,333 acres
Caney Creek Wilderness 14,262 acres
Overflow National Wildlife Refuge 13,556 acres
East Fork Roadless Area 13,037 acres
Pine Bluff Arsenal 12,927 acres
DeGray Lake Army Corps of Engineers · 12,070 acres
Upper Buffalo Wilderness 12,057 acres

Drilling, mining and logging on record in Arkansas: 2,371 timber sales (80,490 acres); 335 oil and gas leases (260,919 acres).

None of the places on the threatened public lands map is in Arkansas.

Federal land units from PAD-US, matched to the state's districts in the More Than Just Parks record, refreshed October 21, 2026; acres are each unit's full size, and units overlap, so they are not added up. Easements on private land are left out. Fires from NIFC; mining claims, leases and timber sales from BLM and Forest Service records; read October 26, 2026.

Who funds Cotton on lands issues

PACs and other committees gave Cotton's campaign $1,351,700 in the 2025-26 cycle. Across the 4 cycles on record, oil, gas, mining and timber PACs gave $190,000, and conservation PACs gave nothing.

Cycle	All PACs and committees	Oil and gas	Mining and coal	Timber	Conservation
2019-20	$1,200,597	$51,000	$17,000	$11,000	none
2021-22	$126,500	$7,500	none	$1,000	none
2023-24	$249,981	$7,500	none	$1,000	none
2025-26	$1,351,700	$80,000	none	$14,000	none

Itemized contributions from committees to the candidate (FEC H2AR04083, FEC S4AR00103), net of refunds, read October 26, 2026. Industry is the giving PAC's industry in the More Than Just Parks record. A contribution says who gave, not why anyone voted as they did.

How Cotton compares

The median senator scores 5%. Cotton scores 0% and ranks #54 (tied) of 98.

More from Arkansas

Sen. John Boozman F · Rep. Eric Crawford F · Rep. J. Hill F · Rep. Steve Womack F · Rep. Bruce Westerman F

What to ask Cotton

Washington office: 326 Russell Senate Office Building. Phone (202) 224-2353. Write to Cotton · Official site

From Cotton's own record:

Why did you vote Yea on Lilly Fish and Wildlife and Parks (En Bloc) (S.Res.817)?
Why did you vote Yea on Pearce BLM Director (En Bloc) (S.Res.690)?
Why did you vote Yea on Overturning Boundary Waters Mining Ban (H.J.Res.140)?
Why did you vote Yea on Opening Arctic Refuge to Drilling (H.J.Res.131)?
Why did you vote Yea on Overturning Powder River Basin Coal Protections (WY) (H.J.Res.130)?
Why did you vote Yea on Opening Western Arctic to Drilling (S.J.Res.80)?
Why did you miss the vote on Overturning Central Yukon Protections (AK) (H.J.Res.106)?
Why did you vote Yea on Overturning Miles City BLM Protections (MT) (H.J.Res.104)?
Why did you vote Yea on Overturning North Dakota BLM Protections (H.J.Res.105)?
Why did you vote Yea on Boren USDA Under Secretary (En Bloc) (S.Res.412)?
Why did you vote Yea on Nesvik USFWS Director (PN25-35)?
Why did you vote Yea on One Big Beautiful Bill (H.R.1)?
Why did you vote Yea on Vaden Deputy Agriculture (PN12-43)?
Why did you vote Yea on MacGregor Deputy Interior (PN13-10)?
Why did you vote Yea on Overturning Glen Canyon Safeguards (H.J.Res.60)?
Why did you vote Nay on Preventing Public Lands Sell-Off (S.Amdt.2107)?
Why did you vote Nay on Reinstating Fired Land Managers (S.Amdt.540)?
Why did you vote Yea on Rollins Agriculture Confirmation (PN11-12)?
Why did you vote Yea on Burgum Confirmation (PN11-3)?

Offices and phones from the Senate and House member feeds and unitedstates/congress-legislators, checked October 22, 2026.

Questions people ask

How did Tom Cotton vote on One Big Beautiful Bill?

Tom Cotton voted Yea on One Big Beautiful Bill (H.R.1) on July 1, 2025. The Senate vote was 50 to 50, and the scorecard counts Nay as the vote for public lands.

Is Tom Cotton up for election in 2026?

Yes. Tom Cotton's Senate seat from Arkansas is on the ballot in November 2026. Cotton's grade on the 19 scored Senate votes so far is an F.

What public lands are in Arkansas?

130 federal land units lie in or reach into Arkansas. The largest are Ouachita National Forest (1,430,700 acres), Ozark National Forest (1,132,958 acres) and Dale Bumpers White River National Wildlife Refuge (156,927 acres).