We’ve been playing defense. It’s time to go on offense.

This week I’m joined by Fitz Cahall — host of the Dirtbag Diaries podcast and one of the organizers behind Save Public Lands, a coalition-backed initiative launching today to gather one million signatures before National Public Lands Day on September 26th. Those signatures will be delivered directly to Congress and state houses — a physical, undeniable representation of how many Americans are watching what happens to their public lands.

Three demands. No sell-offs. No backroom deals. No giveaways to foreign mining companies. First name, last name, zip code, email. Done.

This is the easiest thing you can do today.

A note from Missy: I signed it. It took less than 30 seconds. We’ve had some incredible advocacy conversations on this podcast — and every single person who does this work on the Hill says the same thing: it matters. The squeaky wheel concept is real. One million voices delivered in person on National Public Lands Day? That’s not yelling into a void. That’s making noise that can’t be ignored.

Sign the letter
image of Boundary Waters with "Save Public Lands" written over in white.

Episode Guest

Fitz Cahall — Host, Dirtbag Diaries Podcast
Co-organizer, Save Public Lands initiative
Find Dirtbag Diaries wherever you listen to podcasts.

Sign the Petition – Take Action Now

→ savepubliclands.us

It’s four fields: first name, last name, zip code, email. Submit.

Three demands:

 

  • No sell-offs of America’s public lands
  • No backroom deals that cut everyday people out of the process
  • No giveaways to foreign mining companies

 

Then: Tell five friends. Share this episode. Post the link. The initiative runs five weeks — through National Public Lands Day, September 26th, 2026.

About Save Public Lands

  • Save Public Lands is a broad coalition of conservation groups, recreation organizations, hunters and anglers, climbers, and outdoor enthusiasts — united around three demands for America’s public lands. Signatures gathered through the initiative will be delivered to Congress and state houses on National Public Lands Day, September 26th, 2026.Visit savepubliclands.us to sign, share, and stay updated on volunteer opportunities and delivery events.

Show Notes & Links

Transcript

Save Public Lands — One Million Signatures for National Public Lands Day
The Parks Podcast, Episode 81 | Fitz Cahall, Host, Dirtbag Diaries & Co-Organizer, Save Public Lands
Launching Save Public Lands

Missy Rentz: I’m excited to welcome Fitz Cahall, who is the host of Dirtbag Diaries, to this episode of The Parks Podcast. Fitz, welcome.

Fitz Cahall: Thanks for having me. I appreciate it, Missy.

Missy: So you are here to launch a huge initiative to save our public lands, and it’s called Save Public Lands. Tell me a little bit about it.

Fitz: Yeah, I know — when you frame it like that, it’s a lot. Every year there’s National Public Lands Day — it’s on September 26th. This year it’s harder to celebrate, right? It has been a really challenging year. If you love national parks, if you love our forests, our deserts, these landscapes that just define us as Americans — it’s been difficult to watch because they’ve been under near constant attack. There’s been rollbacks on places like Bears Ears National Monument. Last week there’s an attempt to rescind the Roadless Rule. It’s just one thing after another. And there got to be this point where I think a lot of us in the community just felt like we have played a lot of defense, and it is time to go on the offense. It is time to let our elected officials know that we won’t tolerate this kind of corruption and being cut out of the process.

Fitz: I don’t think any American really elected this Congress or this President to torch all of our public lands. That wasn’t part of the campaign. That wasn’t something Americans wanted. And I think that right now it’s time to speak up — in a way that lets our elected officials know that we are paying attention to this beyond an issue-by-issue basis, or a landscape-by-landscape basis. So essentially, what we’ve done is we’ve created this broad coalition between old school conservation groups, everyday people like me, recreation groups, hunters and anglers, and we are setting out to generate a million letters that we are going to deliver to state houses and to Congress in DC right around Public Lands Day, September 26th. Will that change everything? No. We need to keep participating. This won’t save public lands once and for all. But there is a moment right now where we can say: we will remember what happens this November. We will remember how you’ve treated our landscapes and these places that mean so much to us — that help us enjoy ourselves, that help us heal, that are this incredible shared resource that not many countries in this world have the way we do.

Fitz: And so that’s what we’re up to — taking it back to the politicians. We’re gathering around three demands: no more public land sell-offs. No more giveaways to foreign mining companies like they did in the Boundary Waters. No more backroom deals that cut everyday people like you and me out of this process. We have been voicing our disapproval, and they aren’t listening. Now it’s time to remind them that we are not happy. And we will be there in November.

Do Signatures Really Matter?

Missy: When you’re looking for a million signatures — to me, I feel like that’s so possible when you look at what we’ve been doing. But some people will ask: do signatures really matter? Every time I do advocacy episodes, the people who are on the Hill doing the actual face-to-face work say yes, it matters. The pressure to our representatives, hearing the voices, the squeaky wheel concept — that makes a big difference. So this is a huge initiative to say: we’re watching you. Elections are coming and we’re watching you.

Fitz: Yeah, for sure. And part of it is that sometimes it feels like we are just yelling into a void. And the truth is we’re not. If you follow what’s happened in public lands — one of the big things for me is the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota. That is the most visited wilderness in America. So many people grew up going canoeing there if you’re from the Midwest. This is a place that was a deep introduction to wild spaces for people. And there’s been an ongoing controversy about whether to put a very polluting mine right on the edge of it — right on the edges of two of the biggest watersheds in North America. Copper sulfide mining is a very toxic kind of mining, and it just doesn’t make sense. There have been protections in place. They’ve been removed. But it was a hard fight and that campaign stopped it multiple times. And that’s not a done deal — there have already been awesome turnarounds on that because people show up and they do it. But that said, it’s designed to make it feel like we’re shouting into the void. The truth of it is the power rests inside of all of us. If we care about these places — Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Shenandoah, the Everglades — they’re gonna listen eventually if we make noise. Traditionally, this wasn’t a Democrat or a Republican thing. It’s only really been in the last 15 years that public lands became this weird political football. The polling shows that’s not how Americans feel.

Why Now — and What Happens to the Signatures

Missy: So why now?

Fitz: Part of it is that it’s been a tough two years, and it is really clear we have an election coming up. There have been champions on both sides of the aisle — Republicans who go to bat for public lands, Democrats who go to bat for public lands. Some of those people will be there in January, some of them won’t. Many people are retiring. But right now is a moment where we get to say: this matters to us. This is a voting issue. Once you are elected, you will hear from us. This Congress is going to have more new faces than any Congress besides the first one. So no matter who wins, there’s going to be a totally new set of people there, and they need to hear right out of the gate that we will not tolerate selling off our public lands, we will not tolerate acts where you take something that belongs to many of us and give that away to a foreign mining company. And we’re not going to tolerate the backroom deals. So this is the moment to do that — it has been an onslaught in a really bad direction for two years, and it is time to shift this narrative and change it.

Missy: So this launches today, August 25th, 2026. What do you want people to do?

Fitz: First off, there’s a link in the bio. We’ll put it there. The letter is super simple. We’ve got three demands — no sell-offs, no backroom deals, no giveaways. Save it. Share it. Tell five friends. Put it on your social media feed. If you have been through the tunnel into Yosemite and seen El Cap appear in front of you and been moved by it, or if you have witnessed the wildlife in Yellowstone, or you’ve been lucky enough to go to Denali National Park — this is the moment to say this matters to me. And even if you haven’t, even if this is something you hope to do one day, this is the moment that matters. You don’t have to go learn a lot. You don’t have to go do anything. It’s just — I think we all know how we feel about these places. If you show up, you sign the thing, you share it — that’s incredible.

Missy: And I think so often people think of some of the amazing parks you’ve mentioned, but public lands is also your local forest. It’s Organ Pipe Cactus and Francis Perkins and all of these much smaller public lands places that are in your backyard that we maybe don’t think about as public lands because we just see them all the time. And no matter if you’re on the East Coast, West Coast, north, south — all of these are at risk right now. And I checked out the form — it’s your first name, your last name, your zip code, your email address, submit. It is the easiest letter I have signed. We’ll put the link in the show notes and all of our social posts. How are the signatures going to make a difference? What happens after?

Fitz: A lot of this came out of work that has been happening behind the scenes between different groups of Americans — people who don’t always vote the same, who come from different parts of the country, rural, urban, all these things. What we have found is that when we show up together in DC, when we show up together in state houses — we are a mix of voters, a mix of people that care about different things. Some people love hunting, some people just like watching birds in the woods, some people are national park visitors. When we all show up together, it becomes extremely hard for them to ignore us. They pay attention when that happens. So what happens to these signatures is we’re taking them to DC. I want to make the biggest box possible — something we have to bring in on a dolly. I want to bring that to DC, and I want to bring it to the state houses. And on top of that, our wonderful nonprofits that represent these landscapes and do the work in DC for us — they need energy, they need fodder to make those arguments. We’re not trying to fundraise, we’re not trying to spam. What we’re trying to do is give them the resources to go make the case to elected officials: hey, this matters. These people are in your zip code. They care about it. These signatures are different than a simple phone call to a senator. Phone calls are great — they’re important — but those come and go issue by issue. This is a collection saying: no. This isn’t issue by issue. The last two years is not okay. These signatures are a representation of the cumulative frustration of tens of millions of people who love public lands.

What Public Lands Mean to Fitz

Missy: So Fitz, you’re donating so much of your time and passion to organize all of this. What do the public lands mean to you personally?

Fitz: For me it’s like I don’t think I can really separate public lands out of my life. I was a climbing guide when I was younger — a passionate climber who spent tons of time in Yosemite. These are my lifelong friends, and it’s all been based and rooted in my time on public lands. And as a kid, that wasn’t really part of my life. I liked being outside, but I was in Florida — it was the beach. When public lands became a part of my life, when these spaces, these parks showed up through climbing and through a passion for being outside, something lit up inside of me. It changed my creativity. It changed my outlook. It gave me this ability to be curious. I’ve spent all this time going to different communities and learning about different things because of this passion. So for me, they’re just truly part of who I am. And for me not to stand up for that right now — I just wouldn’t be true to myself.

Speed Round

Earliest public land memory?
One of the most impactful was driving through the tunnel to Yosemite and just seeing El Cap come through. Your eyes are in the dark, you’re squinting, and then all of a sudden there’s this giant blast of light — and El Cap comes into focus. As a young climber, you see that and it is simultaneously the most terrifying and inspiring thing you have ever witnessed. It awakens something so deep inside of me, so human inside of me — curiosity that wants to explore, that wants to say, “I want to be up there. I want to see what that’s like.” That’s probably one of my earliest and most powerful memories.

What made you love the parks and public lands?
You spend so many nights out there, so many sunrises — all the feelings become a part of who you are. Those cold mornings, those starry nights, the wind you wish would stop. It all feels so big. I think sometimes the modern world has taken that away from us. A lot of us exist in climate-controlled spaces, behind desks. And to have the ability to step out into that very human world — we try to separate nature and humanity all the time, and the truth is humans are part of nature. This is where we belong. The parks are just the absolute representation of that reality.

Park or public land on your bucket list?
I’d really love to do the 99-mile waterway canoe path through the Everglades — something I always wanted to do as a kid. My family wasn’t outdoorsy. It’s one of those things I really hope I get to do one day.

Three must-haves for a park visit?
A good pair of shoes. Your phone so you can take photos. And I run a little cold, so I always bring an extra layer. You don’t need a whole lot.

Favorite campfire activity?
Just talking. I love stories. The whole idea of Dirtbag Diaries is that it’s a digital campfire — those campfire stories I grew up with around fires in Yosemite and in the desert climbing areas. Everyone is very present, not checked out. There’s space for people to share. That’s my favorite thing — just talking around a campfire.

Tent, camper, or cabin?
What about just a sleeping bag? Sleeping out. All of them are good, though.

Hiking with or without trekking poles?
It depends on how much weight I’m carrying. I’d much rather prefer without, but my knees are getting old. If I’m backpacking and going up big hills, I break out the trekking poles. But in general, I leave them at home if I’m just walking with no weight on my back.

Favorite trail snack?
Sour Patch Kids. I never had a sweet tooth, but I always get excited when the Sour Patch Kids get broken out. Not something I’m proud to admit, but that’s the truth.

Best animal sighting?
I was down in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest — it’s where the idea of Sasquatch came out of, very old forests. I came around a corner moving quickly and thought, “Oh, there’s a big dog running away from me.” And then — “God, the muscles on that dog are really… that’s a fit dog.” And then: “That’s not a dog. That’s a cougar, and I’m running down a trail behind it right now.” Fortunately it just stopped and ran into the woods on the other side. That got my attention for sure.

Favorite sound in our public lands?
It’s not quiet — does that make sense? It’s easy to say silence, but if you listen, it’s not silent. It’s subtle. Hearing water ever so slightly echoing off a canyon wall deep in Desolation Canyon out of Canyonlands. A quiet breeze going through pines on a summer night. Those little acoustics. It’s not silence, but it is quiet.

Greatest gift that our public lands give to us?
The fact that we have access to all of this — it’s not behind any wall. This is part of what we have as Americans, and that’s not always the case in a lot of other parts of the world. We have all this incredible access to places that we can explore, that can restore us, where we can create memories. Time in nature — it actually makes us more human.

Missy: Check out Fitz and Dirtbag Diaries. But more importantly, visit savepubliclands.us, sign the petition, forward it to your friends and family, and let’s get to a million plus in no time. Fitz, thanks so much for being part of this podcast today.

Fitz: Thanks for having me, Missy. I really appreciate it.

Missy: That’s it for today’s episode. Until next time — we’ll see you in the parks.

Music for The Parks Podcast is performed and produced by Porter Hardy. Follow us @TheParksPodcast or visit TheParksPodcast.com.