If you haven’t passed through the American heartland in a minute, if you haven’t paid a visit to the high dry side of the hundredth meridian, then maybe you’ve missed the vicious little heist that a bunch of billionaires and associated toadies are hoping to pull off out here. Perhaps you’re in the dark about their dirty conspiracy to steal away with our country’s most iconic, most essential, social-democratic institution.

The heist is happening now, it’s happening fast, and its sole objective is to deregulate, defund, and ultimately dissolve hundreds of millions of acres of public land.

The public lands — first thing to know, they’re a treasure. They’re the national forests, the national parks, the wildlife refuges, wilderness areas, and more. They’re the mountains and grasslands, the deserts and tundra and swamps that together represent one of the greatest accumulations of collective wealth in the world. They’re rich in precious minerals, replete with wildlife and stunning to behold. They provide clean water, fresh air, jobs, food, healthy fun, and spiritual fulfillment to millions. You can camp, hunt, hike, fish, raft, swim, walk, wander, stargaze, make love, get lost, find privacy, and seek solace in them, free for the most part from crowds, fees, or surveillance cameras. They’re ours, they’re everyone’s. At least for now.