Photo by Meg Frederick
As co-owners of America’s public lands, we all must continue to oppose the sell-off of public land sales in the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill.
Call your senators at (202) 224-3121. Urge them to fight the sale of public lands.
Earlier this week, the Senate’s nonpartisan parliamentarian ruled that the sales language did not comply with the standards of the Byrd Rule. It requires reconciliation bills to meet a 60-vote threshold, rather than a simple majority, if they do not remain focused on fiscal matters.
But Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has not given up.
He has amended his provision to remove U.S. Forest Service lands, but it would still force the rapid liquidation of up to 1.2 million acres overseen by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) — all without public comment, debate or hearings.
A new area concern for wild horse advocates: Lee added that priority considerations should include reducing checkerboard land patterns.
Return to Freedom is awaiting a federal appeals court ruling in our battle to protect the future of wild herds in southwest Wyoming’s Checkerboard, a region of alternating public and private land. The BLM decided to remove some 2 million acres from wild horse use, benefitting livestock ranchers, because it deemed it too difficult to manage wild horses there.
Lee touts the sale provision as supporting President Trump’s vow to increase affordable housing. But the provision lacks needed safeguards — and agencies already have the ability to identify land for housing if it serves public needs.
Some Republican senators are voicing opposition to the provision. Five GOP House members have also reportedly said that they will not vote for the final bill if land sales remain in it.
We cannot be sure that public land sales will be stripped from the bill until it passes, though, which the president seeks to have done in the next week.
Please call your senators. Tell them our irreplaceable public lands must remain in public hands.
Donate to our Wild Horse Defense Fund, which supports our lobbying, grassroots advocacy and selective litigation