Just before midnight on May 7, members of the House of Representatives Natural Resource Committee added an amendment to a sprawling budget bill that would have forced the sale of a massive amount of public land in Utah and Nevada. The provision caused an uproar among public land advocates who said it would have cleared a path for more public land sell-offs during future budget negotiations. Now, it appears to have been stripped out of the so-called “Big Beautiful Budget Bill” during another marathon debate—this time in the House Rules Committee.
A slew brands and conservation groups in the hunting and fishing industry spoke out after the amendment made headlines on May 7, with everyone from the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) to the Congressional Sportsmens Foundation (CSF) expressing opposition. Opponents said the sell-off would have bypassed public input and diverted money from public land sales away from conservation efforts.
“From mule deer and pronghorn on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in the West to wild turkeys and trout on U.S. Forest Service (USFS) lands in the east, for many of us, America’s federal public lands are the bedrock of our access to our sporting traditions,” wrote CSF in a statement issued on May 15. “When efforts to sell or dispose of federal lands are unexpectedly added to a piece of legislation that requires a lower degree of Congressional passage than normal legislation, it causes concern.”
Hours before the amendment was squashed, OnX Maps released a detailed spatial analysis highlighting all of the lands at stake. While previous reports put the targeted land at just over half-million acres, the OnX analysis more than tripled those estimates, bumping the total amount up to a staggering 1,466,352 acres. "It wasn’t easy," the company wrote in an Instagram post announcing its discovery. "The amendment contained references to several maps, which had to be tracked down. The maps came from different sources and were all formatted differently. This [is] why public lands should not be part of budget reconciliation."
According to OnX, the targeted lands are places used by hunters, hikers, backpackers, and off-road enthusiasts. The company confirmed hunting opportunities for elk, mule deer, and upland birds on checker-boarded lands near Winnemucca, Nevada, for example. Their full map can be viewed here.
"This new analysis just goes to show how dangerous of a precedent this truly is when Congress doesn’t actually know what public lands are on table for disposal," Trout Unlimited Public Lands Policy Director Corey Fisher tells Field & Stream, "much less what’s at stake for their constituents and hunters and anglers."
Though the budget bill hasn't gone to the full House floor for a vote, the public land sell-off amendment will not be included in the final version of what's known as the Manager's Amendment, Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke told Beltway-based reporters. That means he believes it was struck from the budget bill completely. Zinke, who served as the Secretary of the Interior during the first Trump Administration, has called public land sales a "red line" that he's unwilling to cross.
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Conservation groups are celebrating the amendment's removal as a win not just for hunters and anglers who currently utilize public lands, but for future generations. "This is a landmark moment for Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and every American who values our nation’s public lands legacy," said Patrick Berry, BHA President and CEO. "When the BHA community shows up, speaks out, and takes action, we prove we can defy the odds and stop bad ideas before they become bad law."
