Public Lands Sale - US Senate Budget Reconciliation Bill
Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2025 10:35 pm
I've been hearing a lot about this bill through my other social networks and thought it might be of interest to folks in the valley. A map of the lands potentially eligible for sale appears to include all the USFS land surrounding the valley. You can find more information about the bill and a map of eligible lands by using the search terms "ArcGIS Public lands available for sale in the Senate Reconciliation Bill"
The following is a description of the proposed bill from the Spokesman Review:
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"The fight over the sale of federal public lands in the West has been revived after the release of a fresh GOP proposal to sell millions of acres.
The proposal from Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee would mandate the sale of between 2 million and 3 million acres across 11 Western states, including Idaho and Washington.
The proposal comes in the form of a draft provision of Senate Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill. It has drawn staunch opposition from Democrats and conservationists who say selling off public lands is an attack on the places Americans camp, hunt, hike and fish.
Brad Smith, the conservation director for the Idaho Conservation League, said there have been fights over public land sales in the past, but that the proposal released this week is the most detailed he’s seen.
“This is the worst yet,” he said.
It comes after a group of Republicans killed a provision in the House reconciliation bill last month that would have sold off about 500,000 acres in Nevada and Utah. Montana Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke has been credited with leading the charge to erase that provision.
Montana is not one of the states included in the proposal from Lee, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
The draft provision, which was released last week, would direct the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service to sell between 0.5% and 0.75% of its holdings. Protected lands, such as designated wilderness areas or national monuments, would not be eligible for sale.
It does not say which lands specifically would be put up for sale, just that it would come from the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington.
The bill says the sales should be used for housing or “to address associated community needs.”
Mitch Friedman, executive director of the Washington-based group Conservation Northwest, said the bill leaves open plenty of loopholes that keep it from ensuring the sales are used to boost housing supply.
He also said the federal government already has ways to sell public land for housing, and that it’s been done many times in Nevada.
“It’s absolutely not clear that this would benefit housing and certainly not affordable housing,” Friedman said. “It’s really not a housing provision. It’s an anti-public lands provision.”
The debate in the Senate now turns to whether the provision will end up in the final budget reconciliation bill. Washington’s Democratic senators have expressed their displeasure with the idea of selling off public lands.
During a committee hearing with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum last week, Sen. Maria Cantwell criticized the idea of selling public lands as part of a budget proposal, arguing that legislation approved during the first Trump administration actually directs the agencies to do the opposite – it set aside money to acquire land.
Sen. Patty Murray said in a statement last week that the Lee proposal is “a complete betrayal of future generations and puts beloved hiking trails, hunting spots, fishing holes, campgrounds and more at risk.”
Idaho’s Republican senators have not signaled where they stand on the Lee proposal. A spokesperson for Sen. Mike Crapo said the senator is reviewing the details of the proposal and could not comment, but that he has said he “does not support transferring public lands to private ownership.”
A spokesperson for Sen. Jim Risch did not respond to a request for comment.
Smith said both Risch and Crapo have signaled in the past that they understand how important public lands are to Idahoans. His group is hoping they’ll oppose this new proposal.
He said that once federal lands are sold, “we’ll never get it back, regardless of where it is.”
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Thank you for reading!
-Catherine Billor
The following is a description of the proposed bill from the Spokesman Review:
---
"The fight over the sale of federal public lands in the West has been revived after the release of a fresh GOP proposal to sell millions of acres.
The proposal from Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee would mandate the sale of between 2 million and 3 million acres across 11 Western states, including Idaho and Washington.
The proposal comes in the form of a draft provision of Senate Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill. It has drawn staunch opposition from Democrats and conservationists who say selling off public lands is an attack on the places Americans camp, hunt, hike and fish.
Brad Smith, the conservation director for the Idaho Conservation League, said there have been fights over public land sales in the past, but that the proposal released this week is the most detailed he’s seen.
“This is the worst yet,” he said.
It comes after a group of Republicans killed a provision in the House reconciliation bill last month that would have sold off about 500,000 acres in Nevada and Utah. Montana Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke has been credited with leading the charge to erase that provision.
Montana is not one of the states included in the proposal from Lee, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
The draft provision, which was released last week, would direct the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service to sell between 0.5% and 0.75% of its holdings. Protected lands, such as designated wilderness areas or national monuments, would not be eligible for sale.
It does not say which lands specifically would be put up for sale, just that it would come from the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington.
The bill says the sales should be used for housing or “to address associated community needs.”
Mitch Friedman, executive director of the Washington-based group Conservation Northwest, said the bill leaves open plenty of loopholes that keep it from ensuring the sales are used to boost housing supply.
He also said the federal government already has ways to sell public land for housing, and that it’s been done many times in Nevada.
“It’s absolutely not clear that this would benefit housing and certainly not affordable housing,” Friedman said. “It’s really not a housing provision. It’s an anti-public lands provision.”
The debate in the Senate now turns to whether the provision will end up in the final budget reconciliation bill. Washington’s Democratic senators have expressed their displeasure with the idea of selling off public lands.
During a committee hearing with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum last week, Sen. Maria Cantwell criticized the idea of selling public lands as part of a budget proposal, arguing that legislation approved during the first Trump administration actually directs the agencies to do the opposite – it set aside money to acquire land.
Sen. Patty Murray said in a statement last week that the Lee proposal is “a complete betrayal of future generations and puts beloved hiking trails, hunting spots, fishing holes, campgrounds and more at risk.”
Idaho’s Republican senators have not signaled where they stand on the Lee proposal. A spokesperson for Sen. Mike Crapo said the senator is reviewing the details of the proposal and could not comment, but that he has said he “does not support transferring public lands to private ownership.”
A spokesperson for Sen. Jim Risch did not respond to a request for comment.
Smith said both Risch and Crapo have signaled in the past that they understand how important public lands are to Idahoans. His group is hoping they’ll oppose this new proposal.
He said that once federal lands are sold, “we’ll never get it back, regardless of where it is.”
---
Thank you for reading!
-Catherine Billor