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The Getches-Wilkinson Center has published a white paper that provides a rapid assessment of a proposal from the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee to mandate the sale of federal public lands. This proposal was being considered as a part of an expedited budget reconciliation process with little to no meaningful public engagement.

A Rapid Assessment of the Senate’s Proposal to Sell Off Public Lands

The updated white paper published on June 25, 2025 analyzes updated Senate language that was made available to the public on the same day.

The earlier version of the white paper dated June 18, 2025 can be viewed here.Ìý

On June 29, 2025, Senator Mike Lee from Utah announced that he was pulling the proposed sell-off of public lands form the budget reconciliation passage. His decision comes after several republican lawmakers from western states stated that they would oppose the reconciliation package if the sell-off was included in the bill.

Many million acres of public land were at risk under this proposal, and 1.2 million acres across the west could have be privatized in only 10 years. The resulting sell off would have threatened drinking water for rural communities, cultural resources valued by Tribes and Indigenous people, recreational access, wildlife habitat, and many other important ecosystem services that support rural economies and communities.

In addition, the sell-off proposal would have marked a dramatic departure from existing public land law and policy in the United States, which requires the retention of federal public lands and management of those resources according to multiple use, sustained yield principles for the benefit of the American public. Existing law carefully circumscribes when public lands can be sold to private parties, ensuring that those transactions are designed to further the public interest in public lands and that any proceeds are reinvested into conservation and recreation. The Senate ENR proposal would have waived these existing legal protections and instead sold off federal public land to fund the federal government and offset tax breaks.Ìý

If you have questions, please contact Chris Winter, Executive Director at chris.winter@colorado.edu.