Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) has released plans to force the sale of millions of acres of public land across the West. After refusing to provide details for weeks, on the evening of June 11 he released the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s text for the FY25 Budget Reconciliation Bill, which will soon be taken up by the full Senate (read our statement here). Below are some of the details we’ve gleaned from an initial review of Lee’s proposal.

All of this is on top of the many other awful provisions in the larger Budget Bill, which go after some of society’s most vulnerable and at-risk populations, all to pay for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy.  This assessment only focuses on the land sale portion of the bill.

• It requires the Department of the Interior and U.S. Forest Service to offer up for sale millions of acres of public land across 11 western states (AK, AZ, CA, CO, ID, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA, and WY) over the next five years.
  
  
• It targets both Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service land, and mandates the sale of between 2 million and 3 million acres of public land. 
  
  
• It puts spectacular and popular areas of Utah redrock country on the chopping block, including wilderness study areas, hiking and mountain biking trailheads, important habitat for big game, and inventoried roadless areas. In Utah, this includes lands along the Colorado, Green, and Virgin rivers; much of the spectacular Dirty Devil/Robbers Roost canyon systems; mountain biking destinations like the Slickrock and Brand Trails in Moab, Gooseberry Mesa in Hurricane, Iron Hills in Cedar City, and Pahvant Trails in Richfield; popular hiking areas on the Wasatch Front including within Mill Creek, Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood Canyons and near Moab including the Pipe Dream Trail, Mill Creek Canyon, and Corona Arch; as well as public lands near the gateway to each of the Mighty 5 national parks. To be clear, these places represent only a sliver of the spectacular public lands eligible for sale in Sen. Lee’s newest proposal.
  
  
• It bypasses public process, allowing public land to be sold with minimal transparency, and depriving the public of input on the future of their public lands. It also bypasses any environmental, cultural resources or endangered species reviews. 
  
  
• While Senator Lee attempts to make his bill more palatable by claiming that it will create opportunities for affordable housing, it does no such thing. There is no requirement that any housing developed on sold public lands would be affordable or meet any affordable housing requirements. 
  
  
  • There is no provision to prevent lands sold under Lee’s bill  from being developed into high-end vacation homes, Airbnbs, or luxury housing projects, which would be especially desirable near scenic or high-demand areas. 
    
    
  • The bill will primarily benefit real estate developers and speculators rather than addressing real housing needs. 

We strongly oppose any attempts to recklessly sell public lands through legislative shortcuts like budget reconciliation, which bypass public input, environmental review, and accountability; these actions threaten public access, undermine responsible land management, and betray the public’s trust. 

Selling off public lands is short-sighted, self-serving, and irreversible. These lands belong to all Americans, not to the highest bidder at the whims of a political agenda. Once they’re sold, they’re gone for good—fences go up, access disappears, and they are lost to the public forever. 

Americans overwhelmingly support the protection of public lands and have consistently rejected attempts to sell them off. Time and again, the public has made it clear: our forests, desert lands, and open spaces are not for sale. 

Senator Lee refused to provide details of his plan for weeks, even to fellow Senate Republicans. After releasing the bill text on the evening of June 11th, it was clear why: he wants to avoid any meaningful debate or public process on public land sell-off attempts that are deeply unpopular across the political spectrum.