“All the people that are trying to stop activity on federal lands, you don’t understand the financial impact of it. All of you are financially literate.
I learned that Doug Burgum, the billionaire software executive who is now the U.S. Interior Secretary, said exactly that in a recent piece from More Than Just Parks—and it reveals a deeper issue: we’re still treating living ecosystems like short-term assets.
As they are now, forests help support a recreation economy that generated $1.3 trillion in economic output in 2024 and supported 5.2 million American jobs. But public lands aren’t just for scenery, recreation, hunting, and fishing. They are living systems that have many other important benefits:
- Healthy forests are naturally more fire-resistant: Diverse forests stay cooler and wetter, making it harder for fires to start and spread.
- More life = more water in the system: Plants, soils, and microorganisms help move and store water, keeping forests hydrated even in dry conditions.
- Not all “fuel” is bad: Leaves, dead wood, and understory plants support living systems that hold moisture and stabilize the ecosystem.
- Disrupting forests can increase fire risk: Heavy logging or thinning can dry out forests and create conditions where fires spread faster.
- Forests help create their own rain and climate: Through transpiration and biological processes, living ecosystems influence cloud formation, cooling, and rainfall.
When we reduce them to dollars and extraction, we miss their most important role: they make life possible.
This article cuts through the noise and shows what’s really at stake.