It’s always nice to see someone from Wyoming working at the federal level. It’s less nice when that person is an outspoken opponent of the federal agency they’ve been appointed to work in, but you get what you deserve. Karen Budd-Falen has been described as part of a right-wing fringe movement. She has been called out by centrists for her stance on indigenous lands, legal advocacy for the Bundy family and unflinching corporate loyalty. On the other hand she has been applauded by the right-wing fringe for her stance on indigenous lands, legal advocacy for the Bundy family and unflinching corporate loyalty.
As she starts her second appointment with the second Trump administration, here’s a few articles spanning a few decades we’re calling…
Everybody loves a good Karen story.
By Wyomingite.com staff
March 9, 2025
Trump appoints pro-industry extremist to high post within Interior Department
March 5, 2025: Western Watersheds Project immediately condemned the recent appointment. “Karen Budd-Falen has built her career serving those who exploit public lands for private gain,” said Grace Kuhn of Western Watersheds Project. “She’s not a public servant—she’s an industry shill who will now wield enormous power over public lands with no accountability to the American people. As yet another unelected bureaucrat in this administration, her appointment is a direct threat to the future of our wild landscapes.”
Cheyenne Lawyer, Rancher Karen Budd-Falen Accepts Top Interior Department Post
March 3, 2025: Budd-Falen named to a high-level post in President Trump’s Interior Department. She accepted an offer to be associate deputy secretary for the department.
cowboystatedaily.com
Karen Budd Falen: Will Biden’s 30 X 30 Plan Be A Repeat of History?
May 5, 2021: ….why reminisce about the 55-mph speed limit when talking about Biden’s 30 X 30 Plan? It is because I worry about Biden’s requirement to “voluntarily” reduce agriculture’s carbon footprint by “us[ing] Department of Agriculture programs, funding, and financing capabilities, and other authorities, . . . to encourage voluntary adoption of climate-smart agricultural and forestry practices.”
Karen Budd-Falen is the wrong choice to oversee our public lands
August 6, 2020: Learn about Trump’s rumored nominee to direct the Bureau of Land Management, and why we know she would be a horrible pick.
foe.org
Sagebrush Rebel appointed to Interior Department
October 25, 2018: Property rights lawyer Karen Budd-Falen will give legal counsel on wilderness, wildlife and many of the policies she’s spent her career attacking.
Controversial lawyer named to key fish and wildlife post
October 15, 2018: Interior sources said the agency and the White House decided against nominating Budd-Falen for BLM because she has had numerous legal clashes with the agency over the years and was unlikely to be confirmed.
December 5, 2017: An in-depth profile reveals the thinkings and actions of a Wyoming attorney who has challenged the BLM and may end up leading it.
wyofile.com
Karen Budd-Falen, the Bundy family’s lawyer, may be Trump’s pick to manage federal lands
July 18, 2017:The appointment of Budd-Falen at BLM would demonstrate that the Trump administration is embracing a right-wing fringe movement that is hostile to conservation efforts on federally owned lands and, in many cases, objects to the idea that the federal government has any right to own land at all.
December 24, 2007: She says she’s not sure of her win-loss record. She’s proud of two rulings by the appeals court in Denver: She forced the feds to do more analysis when designating critical habitat for endangered species, meaning commercial activities must be taken into account. But she lost two lawsuits trying to block wolves in the Southwest. For several years, she’s attacked the Grand Canyon Trust’s purchases of ranchers’ grazing permits in Utah ” that group’s campaign to reduce grazing through business deals ” and she’s lost two rounds in that case.
