Public land sale is off, but California’s forests aren’t out of the woods | Opinion
Three million acres of public land across California and 10 other Western states won’t be auctioned to the highest bidder following bipartisan backlash and widespread public rebuke.
But mass sell-off or not, America’s forests aren’t out of the woods under this administration.
The Utah Republican behind the misguided idea withdrew the provision from the sprawling tax and spending bill making its way through Congress that President Donald Trump wants passed by July 4. Senator Mike Lee, in a feeble attempt to save face, blamed the timeline rather than admit his ham-fisted solution to the housing shortage facing many communities wouldn’t fly.
“Because of the strict constraints of the budget reconciliation process,” Lee posted Saturday night on X, “I was unable to secure clear, enforceable safeguards to guarantee that these lands would be sold only to American families — not to China, not to BlackRock and not to any foreign interests.”
Last week, in response to criticism, Lee pared down a requirement that the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management make between 2.2 million and 3.3 million acres across the West available for sale over the next five years. His next version removed forest service lands from the bill and reduced the BLM’s quota to 1.2 million acres.
But even a scaled-back sell-off faced opposition on Capitol Hill including from Congressman David Valadao (R-Hanford), who last week joined four fellow House Republicans in announcing “they cannot accept the sale of federal lands that Senator Lee seeks.”
Also among the quintet was Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke, the Secretary of the Interior during Trump’s first administration.
“I agree with my colleagues that the federal government has mismanaged federal lands for decades. But I don’t agree with their solution,” Zinke posted on X, before Lee pulled his plan.
“The solution is not to sell public lands. The solution is better management. Let’s send legislation to POTUS desk to improve management and access.”
The fiercest, loudest voices of dissent came from environmental nonprofits and conservation organizations whose members are devoted to hunting and fishing.
Turns out public lands aren’t just cherished by liberal tree-huggers but conservative Trump voters as well.
“Protecting public lands is the most nonpartisan issue in the country,” Chris Wood, president and CEO of Trout Unlimited, said in a statement. “This is certainly not the first attempt to privatize or transfer our public lands, and it won’t be the last. We must stay vigilant and defend the places we love to fish, hike, hunt and explore.”
Forests still under threat
Millions of acres of forests and deserts across the West may not be for sale. But under the Trump administration, they’re still very much under threat.
Under the shady pretense of a “National Energy Emergency” declaration by the Department of the Interior, dozens of oil, gas and mining leases on federally owned lands are being fast tracked to corporations at rock-bottom prices without lawful environmental or public review.
Last month, the Trump administration proposed opening up 7 million additional acres of federal land on Alaska’s North Slope to oil production – a redux of an earlier proposal he didn’t follow through on. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Land Management (headed up by an oil and gas industry insider) intends to sell drilling rights on 32 new parcels totaling 20,479 acres across New Mexico and Oklahoma.
Closer to home, the BLM rescinded a 2012 memorandum of understanding between the federal land agency and the state agency that oversees oil production in California – a move cheered by Valley House Republicans Vince Fong, Tom McClintock and Valdadao.
So not only “drill, baby, drill” but also “frack, baby, frack.”
Let us not forget Trump’s order to increase timber production by 25% while opening up roughly 112 million acres of our nation’s forestland to logging.
At the same time, his administration wants to trim $1.4 billion from the U.S. Forest Service’s budget, including a 50% cut to funds for infrastructure such as roads, trails and facilities and a 33% cut to operations. That’s in addition to the 10% across-the-board staffing cuts earlier this year, including to vital wildfire support positions.
Our public lands may not be on sale – for now. Yet they remain in great peril.
