The stream of new and changing news over the last few months has been like drinking from a firehose, even for those who enjoy following current events and politics. Something considered safe from Congressional enshittification one day will be back on the chopping block less than 24 hours later. Unfortunately, a mandated public lands sell-off has been at the forefront of this tug-of-war, rolled into negotiations by Utah Senator Mike Lee and Montana Senator Steve Daines as the Trump administration’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” advances through Congress.
As of press time, 250 million acres of your public lands are on the chopping block for a mandatory and fast-tracked sale. It would be the largest single sale of public land in modern history.
While a detailed map can be found here, below is a simplified table detailing the total acreage eligible to be sold under the current version of the bill:
| State | Total Acreage Available For Sale |
|---|---|
| Alaska Arizona California Colorado Idaho Nevada New Mexico Oregon Utah Washington Wyoming Total | 82,831,388 14,423,967 16,682,607 14,352,632 21,685,823 33,580,624 14,312,074 21,745,380 18,746,709 5,371,690 14,940,234 258,673,128 |
While not exactly reassuring in any way, there are some exemptions to this mandatory sale. These exemptions include lands of the following designations:
- A National Seashore or National Lakeshore
- A National Historical Park
- A National Conservation Area
- A National Memorial
- A unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System
- A component of the National Trails System
- A unit of the National Park System
- A National Monument
- A unit of the National Fish Hatchery System
- A component of the National Wilderness Preservation System
- A National Recreation Area
- A component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System
- A National Historic Site
- A National Preserve
- A National Battlefield, National Battlefield Park, National Battlefield Site, or National Military Park
I prefer to avoid wading through the swamp of politics as much as one man possibly can, especially when it comes to writing articles for this site. Unfortunately and to paraphrase The Bard, one sometimes has politics thrust upon them. This is one of those cases.
I also prefer to avoid alarmism of any kind. This isn’t alarmism. As Bob McMichael over at Chukar Culture said… “This is real.” Once opened, the genie can’t be put back in the bottle.
Today’s community of sportsmen was built on the conservation efforts of our fathers and grandfathers who truly followed the science and were able to effectively articulate their positions and concerns to implement the changes that they knew. This requires acknowledgement that politics — whatever way they sway — is not binary. There is no inerrantly “good guy” in today’s politics, and this land sale is a clear and present danger to all of the monumental achievements in wildlife conservation over the last century-and-change.
It is our job as outdoorsmen and conservationists to call attention to terrible ideas no matter what side of the aisle they originate on, and to voice our collective mandate for a course correction where necessary. Having these public lands sales dropped from the reconciliation bill is a necessity.
One last note — I have seen some online chatter insinuating that the purpose of selling off this land is “solely for housing.” Even if that were the case and there were statutory provisions to ensure land sold was then developed for housing (there aren’t)… sorry, nope. It’s bullshit, it’s not worth it, and it won’t end well.
Contact your members of Congress ASAP to let them know this is an awful, awful idea. Click the button below to send a message to using TRCP’s handy contact form, or call the Congressional switchboard and have them connect you to your Congressperson.
Congressional switchboard: (202) 224-3121
