Last week, the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources unveiled a plan to sell off as much as 3 million acres of federally managed public lands across several western states. The proposal sparked a massive public outcry among hunters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts of all stripes. Now, a new map from the Wilderness Society shows some of the specific parcels that could be sold to private interests, with no input from the public, if the Senate’s proposal were to pass.
The map can be viewed here. It allows users to toggle back and forth between the 11 states that are being targeted for public land sell-offs: Nevada, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Arizona, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Utah, and Alaska. It highlight US Forest Service lands in green and Bureau of Land Management lands in yellow. Notably, Utah Sen. Mike Lee—who crafted the provision—exempted the state of Montana from his sell-off plans.
"Of all of the battles that we’ve had since public lands were established back in 1781, this is the biggest we’ve ever had to fight," Backcountry Hunters & Anglers CEO Patrick Berry tells Field & Stream. "It's completely unprecedented—not only the scope and scale of the proposed sell-offs, but the way in which the public has been shut out of a process to sell assets that we all own."
Berry says the Montana carve out is a carefully crafted political ploy. "Its one of the most devious strategies you could employ," he says. "Clearly his goal is to build the support he needs for this land grab without the Montana delegation standing in his way, since they've said explicitly that they won't vote for any kind of public land sell-off liquidations in Montana whatsoever."
The Wilderness Society's map shows that world-class hunting and fishing grounds could be sold under Lee's plan. In Colorado, for example, the organization highlights vast swaths of the Roosevelt National Forest, the Arapaho National Forest, and the Pike National Forest—just to name few. In New Mexico, it shows a massive chunk of the Carson National Forest south of Taos. In Idaho, the Clearwater National Forest, the Coeur d'Alene National Forest, the Payette National Forest, and the Boise National Forest are all on the chopping block, per the Wilderness Society Map.
In Wyoming the maps feautures a huge section of the Teton National Forest, and there are big tracts of USFS land for sale throughout the Pacific Northwest and in California. In Alaska, it includes large tracts within the Chugach and Tongass National Forests along and sprawling blocks of BLM further north.
"Make no mistake, it is not hyperbole to say that your favorite place to go hunt and fish is on the chopping block next if it isn't already," says Berry. "If Congress gets away with this land grab, it'll just be the first domino to fall."
Berry believes that Sen. Lee's sell-off provision violates his own state's constitution. "Utah disclaimed any ownership rights to federal lands when they entered into the Union [in 1896]," he says. "That was a condition of their statehood. The state of Utah does not own the federal lands within its bounds. Those lands belong to the American people."
In the days since Lee announced the plan, opposition from national and local hunting and angling groups has reached a fever pitch. Organizations decrying the proposed sell-off include the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, The Congressional Sportsmen's Alliance, the Boone & Crockett Club, the Wild Sheep Foundation, Trout Unlimited, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, HOWL for Wildlife, and many others.
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All of these groups are calling on members to contact their US Senators and express opposition to the attempted land grab. Others are urging Sen. Majority Leader John Thune to remove it from the federal budget bill altogether. If you'd like to contact your Senator, you can connect with them via the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121, and BHA also has an action portal for contacting representatives here.
