For decades, public-land management in the Western U.S. has been dictated by the multiple-use framework, a well-intentioned but ultimately unsuccessful model that has left our wild ecosystems industrialized and biodiversity in steep decline. Proponents of the recently launched “Ground Shift” initiative and its cadre of “new” thinkers suggest that these systems are merely “showing their age” and are worth amending. But the on-the-ground reality is much worse than they acknowledge.
We must either reimagine this approach entirely or abandon it altogether. Multiple use is becoming multiple abuse, focusing solely on profit-driven extraction while neglecting conservation and the public interest. If the shoe doesn’t fit, forcing it onto your foot will only prolong the pain. Yet today’s pervasive neoliberal logic insists that we ignore reality and push forward with business as usual. In consequence, public lands are being degraded by cattle grazing, “forest health” projects and all the other extractive activities that are destroying habitat and driving fish and wildlife into steep decline.
