In the waning days of the George W. Bush administration, Tim DeChristopher, an economics student from the University of Utah, showed up at a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) auction to protest the sale of 166 oil and gas leases across spectacular public lands near two national parks, Arches Park and Canyonlands Park. Pushed through without the environmental review required by law, the BLM was offering several leases that day for a thief’s price of $2.25 per acre. When the process commenced, DeChristopher formed the idea to pose as an authentic bidder to drive up the prices. He raised a bidding paddle.

DeChristopher made significant headway – bidding $1.7 million on 22,000 acres – before being discovered. The auction ended in confusion, and federal officials promptly arrested him for disrupting a federal auction. He was sent to federal prison for two years. His audacity, however, saved some of the most glorious lands in Utah by buying time and drawing national attention to the BLM’s shocking management practices. A judge subsequently blocked several of the leases, and the Department of the Interior later withdrew others.