r/PublicLands

🚨 Save Astoria Park Trees & Public Green Space from Privatization of Public Parkland🚨

Astoria Park is one of Queens’ most important public green spaces — and it’s under threat.

A new proposal would install two large seasonal tennis bubbles and a clubhouse, raising serious concerns about:

🌳 Removal of mature trees
🌿 Loss of public green space
🏢 Increased privatization of public parkland
💰 Commercial/private use of public land
👀 Major visual impact on the park landscape
🦅 Potential impact on resident hawks nesting above the tennis courts

Astoria Park should remain open, green, and fully public — not turned into a semi-private commercial facility.

There are already nearby indoor tennis options on Roosevelt Island and Randall’s Island. We don’t need to sacrifice public parkland, wildlife habitat, and open green space for more privatized development.

We need your support, it takes 2 min. 

👉 Sign the petition here:
https://www.change.org/astoriatennis

More detailed information:
https://astoriatennis.com/

Protect Astoria Park for everyone — not private interests.

Thank you for reading,

Yoshi, admin of Astoria local Facebook group of 1400 members

https://preview.redd.it/imdz4dvy1s1h1.jpg?width=2090&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f499bbff203e891075385872213fc63ef00a12c

“Congress passed the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to protect spectacular wilderness rivers just like this very stretch of the Rio Grande. The administration’s decision to waive the act and dozens of other environmental laws lays the groundwork for the destruction of one of the wildest places in America,” said Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity.

Today’s waiver authorizes construction of new fencing, barriers, roads and sensors across a remote segment of the border extending east of the Black Gap Wildlife Management Area deep into the Lower Canyons toward Amistad Reservoir. This is roadless canyon country only accessible by floating for multiple days on the river.

On Feb. 17 the Department of Homeland Security waived 28 environmental and cultural resource protection laws to fast-track construction in the Big Bend region — including through Big Bend Ranch State Park — and it has since awarded construction contracts for much of the work. According to local media reports, contractors have been surveying inside Big Bend National Park.

In April, the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Ruidosa Church and a Big Bend-area river guide and landowner filed a federal lawsuit, represented by the Texas Civil Rights Project, saying the Department of Homeland Security is exercising powers Congress never authorized. The suit contends the waivers violate the major questions doctrine, which requires explicit congressional approval for actions with vast economic and political consequences.

TODAY IS THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT COMMENTS ON THE DEWEY BURDOCK URANIUM MINE!

DON'T DELAY!

Here is a direct link to submit your comment on the BLM page:

https://eplanning.blm.gov/Participate-Now/?id=7f4eccd0-4137-f111-88b4-001dd8084607&ppid=9ac93c06-6f07-f111-8407-001dd803d7d3

Find your US members of Congress: https://www.270towin.com/elected-officials/

Note: If you are in the reddit app and the copy feature isn't working, you can copy the letter from the comments section.

Dear Senator/Representative {Last Name},

I am writing to urge you to oppose the Trump administration's recent directive ordering national park, refuge, and wilderness area managers to scale back longstanding hunting restrictions on federally managed lands.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum's January order instructs managers across 55 national park sites to remove what he calls "unnecessary regulatory or administrative barriers" to hunting — and to justify any restrictions they wish to keep. This reverses carefully considered, stakeholder-supported rules that park managers developed over many years to protect both visitors and wildlife.

These rollbacks pose serious risks:

Visitor Safety: Lifting bans on hunting along trails, extending hunting seasons into spring and summer at places like Cape Cod National Seashore, and allowing vehicles to retrieve kills inside park boundaries puts millions of hikers, families, and recreationists in direct danger. These are shared public spaces, not hunting grounds.

Wildlife Disruption: Expanded hunting pressure during breeding and nesting seasons can devastate animal populations and disrupt critical migration patterns. Allowing tree stands that damage trees and unleashing hunting dogs in protected areas further degrades habitat that took decades to restore.

Ecosystem Imbalance: National parks serve as ecological refuges. Removing apex predators or disrupting keystone species — even locally — can trigger cascading effects across entire ecosystems, harming biodiversity for generations.

As former Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk stated: "This was never a big issue. I'd love to know the problem we're trying to solve." These restrictions existed for good reason and were broadly accepted by all stakeholders.

Please act to preserve these vital protections.

Sincerely,

{Your Name}