# Lynn Scarlett & Matt Lee-Ashley: Can We Rewrite the Rules of Public Lands Policy?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-wild-idea-7248762/lynn-scarlett-matt-lee-ashley-can-we-rewrite-the-rules-of-public-lands-policy
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-wild-idea-7248762/lynn-scarlett-matt-lee-ashley-can-we-rewrite-the-rules-of-public-lands-policy.md
Podcast: [The Wild Idea](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-wild-idea-7248762)
Published: 2026-07-28T10:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://thewildidea.com/episode-71
Audio file: https://media.transistor.fm/ccfcb1f2/83c9caf1.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-wild-idea-7248762/episodes/lynn-scarlett-matt-lee-ashley-can-we-rewrite-the-rules-of-public-lands-policy
Duration seconds: 3107

## Resource

What would it take to rewrite the rules of American conservation? Lynn Scarlett, former Deputy Secretary of the Interior, and Matt Lee-Ashley, Executive Director of Ground Shift, join Bill and Anders to talk about a new initiative asking that exact question, crowdsourcing ideas for what public lands and waters should look like in ten, twenty, and fifty years. The conversation covers essays on the Ground Shift platform that challenge conservation orthodoxy, from private land tools to a class and sovereignty critique of the movement itself, along with the case for and against a modern Public Land Law Review Commission. Scarlett and Lee-Ashley also dig into what makes place-based collaboration succeed or fail, why implementation, not just the law itself, often determines whether the Endangered Species Act and NEPA actually work, and how public pressure, not just a good white paper, is what moves policy. Full show notes and links at our website, thewildidea.com .

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