Center for Western Priorities

To make change, sometimes you have to find the middle ground in order to take the high ground. That’s what we did with CWP by framing the debate around public land use as a conservation, recreation, and Western values issue bringing together both environmental activists and outdoor enthusiasts in order to build a movement around preserving America’s open spaces. CWP quickly became (and still is) an information and action hub known for its ability to drive earned media and policy narratives around the responsible use of public lands. Its presence helped balance what had been a dominant pro-energy storyline making real change possible. In addition to providing support for organizational strategy, RALLY has created several advertising campaigns aimed at mobilizing a mix of outdoor voters and moving decision makers to get on board. Our Winning the West campaign demonstrated that conservation and outdoor issues are good politics — and a third rail for those who betray our public lands. The U-Turn Utah advertising campaign undermined support for a public lands takeover and served as a warning against similar efforts being considered in the state. Our We Vote Here ad (part of Winning the West) was recognized by the Pollie and Reed Awards as the Issue Ad of the Year for 2020. But most importantly, CWP is now backed by an engaged community who remain active in wanting to protect our precious public lands, and elected officials have begun to view and speak about public lands in a more balanced and conservation oriented manner.