by Kirk Kirkland
Tucked into a budget reconciliation bill, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee made a recommendation to sell off more than 250 million acres of public lands across the American West to private developers. This proposal was personal and would have had a significant effect on National Forests in Washington.
If passed, this would include public lands in the Olympic National Forest, Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, and parts of the Mountains to Sound Greenway along I-90.
Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, said late Saturday that he had dropped his contentious plan to sell millions of acres of public lands from the sweeping domestic policy package that the Senate will soon begin debating. Mr. Lee made the night time announcement on social media after it became clear that the plan faced insurmountable opposition from within his own party.
At least four Republican senators from Western states had said they planned to vote for an amendment to strike the proposal from the bill. The plan triggered intense pushback from conservative hunters and outdoorsmen across the American West, who had warned that it threatened the lands where they hunted and fished. The four Republicans were from Montana and Idaho who rejected a public lands sell-off as a solution to a housing shortage plan.
When such a horrible proposal comes forward people are concerned that they can have a say and can stop the proposal. This an example of how grass roots activism has the power to stop such projects. The proposed 250 million acres of public lands across the American West to is not aren’t just any acres on a highway map.
These lands are home. Places with public access for recreation. Land that we’ve intentionally invested in. Critical for clean water, carbon storage, wildlife habitat, and cultural connection.
These acres represent—access to nature, ecological health and the protection of iconic places—echo our own 36-year mission. Once lost to development, they’re gone for good. Proposing a fire sale of one-third of our national public lands, our heritage and legacy? That’s not fiscal responsibility, or good economic policy.
This U.S. National Forest and Bureau of Land Management portfolio generates continuous revenue for local economies. The harm and financial loss to neighboring communities is hard to fathom. How did the environmental movement move so quickly and stop the project within a few weeks?
Senator Mike Lee of Utah was the key figure in pushing for significant sales of federal land, including Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land,. He is also the Senate Energy Committee Chairman. He was well positioned to pass the proposal. But four Republican senators from Western states said they planned to vote for an amendment to strike the proposal from the bill.
The plan triggered intense pushback from fisherman, hunters and a few bird lovers across the American West. These outdoorsmen warned their local senators that it threatened the lands where they hunted, fished and played.
This story was printed here to demonstrate that protesting and writing Congress does work. And there is still a government by the people And We The People still have political power enough to stop Congress from doing really stupid stuff.
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