Public lands are still for sale. 1.2 million acres of Bureau of Land Management Lands are the next target of the Big Beautiful Bill.
Following intense public outcry opposing efforts to sell off treasured public lands to private interests, including your messages, the Senate funding package (or “Big Beautiful Bill”) will no longer include its original provisions authorizing the sale of hundreds of millions of acres of public lands across the West (but, keep reading… they’re still trying to sell off public lands). The Senate parliamentarian called Senate Republicans’ bluff, ruling that the initial massive public land sell-off of proposal violated the Byrd rule, which prohibits public policy issues from being addressed during the budget reconciliation process.
However, we are not out of the woods yet…
While bill sponsors have backed off attempts to sell U.S. Forest Service managed public lands, the updated proposal still targets Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public lands “located within 5 miles of the border of a population center.” Key terms like “population center” have yet to be defined and provisions enabling rampant logging were maintained. BLM-managed public lands in most of the west are already a patchwork with private lands, such that selling public lands near towns could block access to some of our best and last remaining mature and old-growth forests, favorite hiking trails and foraging spots, cherished waterways, and more. Selling these lands would threaten tribal nations’ constitutional and treaty rights to access hunting and fishing grounds, as well as their cultural and ceremonial sites. And while bill sponsors continue to claim good intentions for these public land grabs like supplying affordable housing, nothing in the bill language requires the lands proposed for sale be actually used for that. Tell Congress to keep ALL public lands in public hands!
While the threat is reduced, any public land sale sets a dangerous precedent—once we sell off public lands and pave the way for resource extraction and public exclusion, we don’t get them back. Worse yet, the bill waives public engagement in the sale process, meaning this is our last chance to weigh in.
We must stand strong and united against this ongoing threat to public lands. Make sure your federal reps know that you oppose any efforts to sell off even one acre of public land. Keep sending messages and making calls even if your electeds have voiced opposition! Tell your friends, family, and community to do the same. We’re seeing the power of public pressure in action and can’t let up now.
