Conservationists rejoiced when a contentious plan to sell hundreds of thousands of acres of public property in Western states, including California, was removed from the Republican tax and spending measure due to bipartisan opposition.
The proposal’s lead author, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), declared on social media site X on Saturday night that he was withdrawing the measure. Lee had mentioned the lack of affordability plaguing families in numerous places and stated that the land sale was meant to alleviate the financial strain of housing.
He added in the essay, “I was unable to secure clear, enforceable safeguards to guarantee that these lands would be sold only to American families, not to China, not to BlackRock, and not to any foreign interests, because of the strict constraints of the budget reconciliation process.”
Because of this, he said, he was pulling the One Big Beautiful Bill bill that Trump has stated he intends to approve by July 4.
The unsuccessful bill proposed by Lee would have required the sale of about 600,000 to 1.2 million acres of land owned by the Bureau of Land Management in 11 Western states, including California. It was intended that the areas up for auction would be situated within five miles of major cities.
A scaled-down version of the idea was attempted, but it was removed from the reconciliation measure on Monday due to a violation of Senate rules. Up to 3.3 million acres of land under BLM and USFS management may have been sold under the original plan.
Environment & Climate
A Senate lawmaker rejected the reconciliation bill, putting a proposal to sell off up to 3 million acres of public lands in the West in limbo.
At least four Republican senators from Western states promised to vote for an amendment to remove the provision from the bill, which led Lee to decide to drop it.
Reps. Ryan Zinke of Montana and David Valadao of California, who were the Interior secretary during Trump’s first term, were among at least five House Republicans who expressed their disapproval of the idea.
Even as they braced themselves for a continuing battle over federal lands, conservationists and recreationists, especially hunters and fishermen, rejoiced over the provision’s demise.
The Trump administration recently said it would repeal a rule that protects 58.5 million acres of national forestland from road building and timber harvesting, as part of its efforts to unlock public lands for resource and energy extraction.
The now-canceled scheduled property sale was viewed by some detractors as a way to counteract the reconciliation bill’s tax cuts.
According to a statement from Athan Manuel, director of Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program, “this is a victory for everyone who hikes, hunts, explores, and cherishes these places, but it’s not the end of the threats to our public lands.” Donald Trump and his congressional allies have stated that they will do all in their power to sell our public lands to corporate polluters and billionaires.
Protecting public lands is the most nonpartisan issue in the nation, according to Chris Wood, president and CEO of Trout Unlimited, a nonprofit organization devoted to preserving rivers and streams to benefit salmon and trout.
According to a statement from Wood, this is undoubtedly not the first attempt to transfer or commercialize our public lands, and it won’t be the last. We need to be on guard and protect the areas where we enjoy hunting, hiking, fishing, and exploring.
In the Saturday X post, Lee implied that the problem was still present.
He expressed his opinion that the federal government is mismanaging its land holdings and holds an excessive amount of it. He asserted that Utah’s locked-away land raises taxes and restricts the construction of new dwellings.
I look forward to working with President Trump to fulfill his pledge to use underutilized federal land for American families in a way that honors the legacy of our public lands and represents the values of those who use them most.
