Congressional Public Lands Score by More Than Just Parks

Ben Lujan

Democrat · U.S. Senate · New Mexico

95%

Ranked #16 (tied) of 98 scored

Scored 90% or higher. Seat on the 2026 ballot.

Sen. Ben Lujan, a Democrat from New Mexico, earns an A on the Congressional Public Lands Score. Of the 19 scored Senate votes, Lujan cast 18 for public lands and 1 against. The two closest: Nay on One Big Beautiful Bill (H.R.1), 50 to 50, and Nay on Overturning Boundary Waters Mining Ban (H.J.Res.140), 50 to 49. Lujan's seat is on the ballot in November 2026.

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

Pro-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 Nay · August 7, 2026 · Roll call 225, 51 to 47
Pro-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 Nay · May 18, 2026 · Roll call 125, 46 to 43
Pro-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 Nay · April 16, 2026 · Roll call 84, 50 to 49
Pro-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 Nay · December 4, 2025 · Roll call 632, 49 to 45
Pro-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 Nay · November 20, 2025 · Roll call 623, 51 to 43
Pro-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 Nay · October 30, 2025 · Roll call 599, 52 to 45
Pro-lands
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.
Voted Nay · October 9, 2025 · Roll call 560, 50 to 46
Pro-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 Nay · October 8, 2025 · Roll call 549, 52 to 47
Pro-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 Nay · October 8, 2025 · Roll call 556, 50 to 45
Pro-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 Nay · October 7, 2025 · Roll call 547, 51 to 47
Pro-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 Nay · August 1, 2025 · Roll call 470, 54 to 43
Pro-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 Nay · July 1, 2025 · Roll call 372, 50 to 50
Pro-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 Nay · June 10, 2025 · Roll call 301, 51 to 44
Pro-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 Nay · May 14, 2025 · Roll call 250, 54 to 40
Pro-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 Nay · May 8, 2025 · Roll call 239, 50 to 43
Pro-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 Yea · April 5, 2025 · Roll call 181, 48 to 51
Pro-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 Yea · February 20, 2025 · Roll call 68, 48 to 52
Pro-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 Nay · 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 Lujan through the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

Open the full record in the scorecard

Public lands bills Lujan sponsors or cosponsors

In the 119th Congress, Lujan sponsors 3 and cosponsors 13 public lands bills.

S.5282 Chama Basin Watershed Protection Act
Sponsor · Introduced August 6, 2026 · Not yet rated
S.1412 Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act of 2025
Sponsor · Introduced April 10, 2025 · Not yet rated
S.859 Mining Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Prevention Act of 2025
Sponsor · Introduced March 5, 2025 · Not yet rated
S.5630 Ensure sufficient bonding and complete and timely reclamation of land and water disturbed by Federal and Indian oil and gas production, amending the Mineral Leasing Act
Original cosponsor · Signed on September 30, 2026 · Not yet rated
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.4458 Caja del Rio Protection Act
Original cosponsor · Signed on April 30, 2026 · Not yet rated
S.1470 Continental Divide National Scenic Trail Completion Act
Cosponsor · Signed on March 11, 2026 · Not yet rated
S.2042 Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2025
Cosponsor · Signed on October 23, 2025 · Not yet rated
S.1519 Arctic Refuge Protection Act of 2025
Original cosponsor · Signed on April 29, 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
S.1464 Buffalo Tract Protection Act
Original cosponsor · Signed on April 10, 2025 · Not yet rated
S.1476 M.H. Dutch Salmon Greater Gila Wild and Scenic River Act
Original cosponsor · Signed on April 10, 2025 · Not yet rated
S.1497 Cerro de la Olla Wilderness Establishment Act
Original cosponsor · Signed on April 10, 2025 · Not yet rated
S.1319 Pecos Watershed Protection Act
Original cosponsor · Signed on April 8, 2025 · Not yet rated
S.1193 America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act
Cosponsor · Signed on March 31, 2025 · Not yet rated
S.1112 Big Bend National Park Boundary Adjustment Act
Original cosponsor · Signed on March 25, 2025 · Not yet rated

Bills and cosponsors from the congress.gov API, read October 1, 2026. A bill is rated only when a named person approves a rating that quotes its provision; none of these has one yet.

Lujan's committees

Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Conservation, Forestry, Natural Resources, and Biotechnology; Food and Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Organics, and Research (Ranking Member); Rural Development, Energy, and Credit
Senate Committee on Finance
Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure; Health Care; Taxation and IRS Oversight
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Consumer Protection, Technology, and Data Privacy; Surface Transportation, Freight, Pipelines, and Safety; Telecommunications and Media (Ranking Member)
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
Senate Committee on the Budget
United States Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control

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

Public lands in New Mexico

411 federal land units lie in or reach into New Mexico. Parks with a More Than Just Parks guide: White Sands National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

Listed park guides first, then by size; the largest 40 of 411 are named.

White Sands National Park 148,226 acres
Carlsbad Caverns National Park 46,458 acres
Guadalupe Mountains National Park 385 acres
Las Cruces District Office Bureau of Land Management · 5,375,972 acres
Gila National Forest 2,659,003 acres
White Sands Missile Range Defense Department · 2,271,085 acres
Carlsbad Field Office Bureau of Land Management · 2,091,256 acres
Cibola National Forest 1,619,794 acres
Santa Fe National Forest 1,545,109 acres
Socorro Field Office Bureau of Land Management · 1,508,543 acres
Roswell Field Office Bureau of Land Management · 1,501,751 acres
Farmington Field Office Bureau of Land Management · 1,425,067 acres
Carson National Forest 1,390,440 acres
Lincoln National Forest 1,095,645 acres
Rio Puerco Field Office Bureau of Land Management · 992,719 acres
Fort Bliss 991,917 acres
Apache National Forest 610,090 acres
Taos Field Office Bureau of Land Management · 598,331 acres
Organ Mountains - Desert Peaks National Monument 573,631 acres
Gila Wilderness 559,528 acres
Río Grande Del Norte National Monument 310,975 acres
Taos Plateau Area of Critical Environmental Concern Bureau of Land Management · 288,265 acres
El Malpais National Conservation Area 262,954 acres
Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge 227,852 acres
Pecos Wilderness 221,824 acres
Aldo Leopold Wilderness 203,559 acres
Kiowa National Grassland 137,291 acres
Potrillo Mountains Wilderness Area 118,331 acres
Contiguous To Black & Aldo Leopold Wilderness Roadless Area 111,883 acres
El Malpais National Monument 109,249 acres
Carson Other Forest Service · 101,380 acres
Ojo Caliente Area of Critical Environmental Concern Bureau of Land Management · 101,283 acres
El Malpais Proposed or Recommended Wilderness Area 97,769 acres
Devils Creek Roadless Area 89,916 acres
Valles Caldera National Preserve 88,967 acres
Contiguous To Gila Wilderness & Primitive Area Roadless Area 79,049 acres
Continental Divide Wilderness Study Area 74,254 acres
Coronado National Forest 68,124 acres
Apache Kid Contiguous Roadless Area 67,542 acres
Big Hatchet Mountains Wilderness Study Area 67,300 acres

Drilling, mining and logging on record in New Mexico: 4,095 oil and gas leases (3,703,514 acres); 404 hardrock mining claims (9,545 acres); 74 geothermal leases (200,178 acres); 67 sand and gravel sales (5,542 acres); 32 timber sales (13,104 acres); 10 coal leases (25,392 acres).

Threatened public lands in New Mexico

Federal land units from PAD-US, matched to the state's districts in the More Than Just Parks record, refreshed October 25, 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 Lujan on lands issues

PACs and other committees gave Lujan's campaign $1,991,810 in the 2025-26 cycle. Across the 4 cycles on record, oil, gas, mining and timber PACs gave $20,000, and conservation PACs gave $24,799.

Cycle	All PACs and committees	Oil and gas	Mining and coal	Timber	Conservation
2019-20	$1,467,242	$1,000	$1,000	$6,000	$19,249
2021-22	$130,294	none	none	none	none
2023-24	$276,590	$1,000	none	none	none
2025-26	$1,991,810	$9,500	none	$1,500	$5,550

Itemized contributions from committees to the candidate (FEC H8NM03196, FEC S0NM00058), 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 Lujan compares

The median senator scores 5%. Lujan scores 95% and ranks #16 (tied) of 98.

More from New Mexico

Sen. Martin Heinrich C · Rep. Melanie Stansbury A+ · Rep. Gabe Vasquez A · Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez A+

What to ask Lujan

Washington office: 498 Russell Senate Office Building. Phone (202) 224-6621. Write to Lujan · Official site

From Lujan's own record:

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 Ben Lujan vote on One Big Beautiful Bill?

Ben Lujan voted Nay 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 Ben Lujan up for election in 2026?

Yes. Ben Lujan's Senate seat from New Mexico is on the ballot in November 2026. Lujan's grade on the 19 scored Senate votes so far is an A.

What public lands are in New Mexico?

411 federal land units lie in or reach into New Mexico. The largest are Las Cruces District Office (5,375,972 acres), Gila National Forest (2,659,003 acres) and White Sands Missile Range (2,271,085 acres).