Concern for Public Lands No Longer Stops at the Shoreline
In 2026, we will see a recognition that land and water are one, connected public trust worthy of federal investment. Watersheds, estuaries, nearshore and offshore habitat, and the fish that move through them are connected. When headwaters burn or dry up, it shows up downstream in coastal water quality, forage availability, and fishery productivity. When coastal flooding or warming hits, the ripple effects land all the way back on the jobs, businesses, and tourism economies built around these places.
From this, I expect a shift in how people think and talk about the big picture and the realization that the health of each habitat, inland and offshore, depends on the health of another. Public-lands groups, outdoor brands, tribal governments, coastal fishing communities: folks who once operated separately will start to realize they’re defending the same resource base.
We often talk about coastal waters like they exist independently from our public lands and waterways. That’s reflected in the agencies that protect them: The Department of the Interior focuses on the land, where the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) leads efforts in the ocean. Cooperation between them is vital because of a simple truth: Our lands and waters sit at the heart of our public-trust responsibility, and both are tied together in ways that matter for the communities and businesses that depend on them.
The economic numbers supported by industries that rely on public lands and waters are staggering. Outdoor recreation contributed $639.5 billion to GDP in 2023, while US marine fisheries generated a combined (recreational and commercial) $138 billion. These numbers don’t even capture intangibles like the value of a clear stream that both hikers and elk can drink from, or family fishing boats that anchor coastal communities.
In 2026, those who care about our connected public lands and waters will need to defend against proposed catastrophic federal budget cuts: $5.4 billion from the Forest Service and Interior agencies, and a 40-percent slash to NOAA Fisheries’ budget. These cuts are an assault on a connected system Americans depend on and do not reflect their importance to our economy, culture, and way of life. We need to reframe the debate around the public trust as one integrated system where each agency’s distinct mission supports the whole. The outdoor and fishing economies are too large to ignore, and 2026 may be the year we recognize that protecting this economic engine requires funding each agency to fulfill its unique stewardship role within the connected watershed-to-ocean continuum. Once the public starts demanding that level of stewardship and investment, policymakers will have to respond.
