Trump Officials, Billionaires And The Quiet Reshaping Of America's Public Lands

"A controversial land swap orchestrated by the megarich could be “a harbinger of what’s to come” for public lands under Trump."

"At the end of a dirt road along the northeastern edge of Montana’s Crazy Mountains, a simple sign warns visitors they are now entering private property. 

For fifth-generation Montanan Brad Wilson, the notice marks a defeat with implications far beyond the Crazies.

“The fate of our public lands and our rights are in jeopardy right now,” Wilson told Floodlight.

Wilson is a former sheriff’s deputy and lifelong hunter. For most of his life, he has lived in the jagged shadows of the Crazy Mountains — their snow-capped peaks and twisting valleys watched him grow from a boy herding sheep on his grandfather’s ranch to a grey-haired hunter tracking elk herds across their remote slopes."

Evan Simon and Ames Alexander report for Floodlight May 13, 2026, in partnership with High Country News.

Source: Floodlight, 05/21/2026