Stop the Sell Off: Keep Public Lands Public

Golden aspen next to river with cragy in the background
Animas River, Colorado. Photo by Mike McBey from Flickr (CC by 2.0). Under the Senate’s mandated sale plan Animas Mountain would be one of the areas that would be eligible for sale.

Conservatives in Congress are using the Budget Reconciliation Process to force through their agenda. These changes would disproportionally harm low-income Americans, halt progress fighting climate change, and threaten fundamental environmental laws. This is the most anti-environmental legislation ever passed in a chamber of Congress.

Late Wednesday evening, June 11, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) rolled out the Energy and Natural Resources Committee Budget Reconciliation Text. This bill forces the arbitrary sale of at least 2 million acres of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands in 11 Western states over the next five years. Public lands eligible for sale in the bill encompass over 120 million acres. This could local recreation areas, wilderness study areas, inventoried roadless areas, critical wildlife habitat and big game migration corridors.

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 national parks, forests, and open spaces are not for sale.

We need your help now! Reach out to your Senators and demand they stop the sell off of our public lands in budget reconciliation. Make it crystal clear—especially to Senate Republicans—that it’s reckless and outrageous to sell off America’s public lands to fund tax breaks for the wealthy. Demand that they strip the sell off language from the reconciliation package and keep public lands public before it’s too late.