The latest threats, deadlines, and developments across America's public lands
Why we built it, and how to use it
We're Will and Jim Pattiz, brothers, filmmakers, and the founders of More Than Just Parks. The National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Interior Department have hired us to film the lands in their care. Our photographs have run in National Geographic, our films have screened inside the U.S. Capitol, and our work has been featured in The New York Times.
We built this map because these places are under attack on more fronts than any one person can track. Threats get buried in Federal Register notices and appropriations riders, or advanced through agency actions that never make the news. This map puts them all in one place, with sources, timelines, and a phone number for every single one.
A site belongs on this map when it meets four criteria. It must be publicly owned land, whether federal, state, or tribal. There must be a specific, documented, current threat, meaning an identifiable action like a bill, a lease sale, a permit, a court case, or a budget cut. That threat must be traceable to a source: a Federal Register notice, a news report, a court filing, or an official agency action. And there must be something the public can do about it, whether that means calling a representative, submitting a public comment, or supporting an organization working on it.
We don't track general climate impacts without a specific policy driver, historical damage without an active current threat, local zoning disputes on private land, or speculative concerns without documentation. If you believe a site meets these criteria, report it here.
Classifications are based on Federal Register notices, news reporting, agency actions, court filings, and input from conservation organizations. Every threat links to its source.
"We're done playing defense. For too long, the people dismantling public lands protections have counted on nobody keeping track. This map exists so that every backroom deal, every midnight rider, every quiet lease sale gets dragged into the light. And every single one links to a phone number. We built this to go on offense."
Will Pattiz, co-founder
"This is a war room for people who give a damn. When someone copies a call script and phones their senator, when a local group in Oregon uses this to rally against a timber sale, when a reporter finds a sourced lead they didn't know existed, that's the whole point. These are your lands. This is how you fight for them."
Jim Pattiz, co-founder
The Threatened Public Lands Map is a continuously updated tracker monitoring active threats to America's national parks, monuments, forests, and wilderness areas across 35 states. It's curated by our editors and informed by reader tips, and we don't know of another tool that does all this in one place.
About More Than Just Parks: Will and Jim Pattiz are brothers, filmmakers, and the founders of More Than Just Parks. The National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Interior Department have hired them to film the lands in their care. Their photographs have run in National Geographic, their films have screened inside the U.S. Capitol, and their work has been featured in The New York Times. Their newsletter reaches more than 27,000 readers and has become one of the leading independent voices for public lands. Every tool they build, including this map, is entirely self-funded, with no grants, corporate sponsors, or advertising.
This project is entirely self-funded. If it was useful to you, a subscription keeps it running.
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