Rediscovering Forgotten Lands with Josh Jackson
Josh Jackson is the founder of the Forgotten Lands Project, and the author of "The Enduring Wild: A Journey into California’s Public Lands".
Illustration by Kate Chesterton.
Josh didn’t know anything about the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) until he was looking for an escape during the pandemic. After visiting a few BLM managed areas in California, he decided to make it his mission to visit every area managed by this federal agency in the state. This marked the start of The Forgotten Lands Project, Josh’s effort to raise awareness about these largely unknown patches of public land.
I was drawn to Josh’s work because of my connection to a BLM managed protected area near my home in Boise, Idaho - the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area. This National Conservation Area is a part of BLM’s National Conservation Lands system, and it is a truly special place. In less than an hour’s drive, I can be siting along the rim of a dramatic canyon with prairie falcons whizzing by and golden eagles circling overhead. This Conservation Area is home to one of the highest density nesting areas for birds of prey in the world. Because of its proximity to this unique area for raptors, Boise has become known as a global hub for raptor research. In the 1980s the Peregrine Fund established the World Center for Birds of Prey here, and Boise State University launched the Raptor Research Center, home to the only graduate degree program in Raptor Biology in the US. There’s also a famous raptor migration survey effort run by the Intermountain Bird Observatory just outside of town, and our minor league baseball team is called the Hawks!
Despite all of this, the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, which was designed to protect raptor populations, is woefully underfunded and understaffed. In my role as a board member of the Birds of Prey NCA Partnership, a “friends” group associated with this National Conservation Area, I’m trying to elevate the profile of these BLM managed public lands. Josh Jackson shares this mission, and the two of us had an engaged conversation about the role of public land in our society and the challenges facing the Bureau of Land Management.
A version of this interview was originally published as an episode of the Dedication Point podcast - a series focused on issues relevant to the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area. Check out our latest season of Dedication Point for more discussions about the BLM’s current funding and staffing crisis.
-Matt Podolsky