For immediate release June 16, 2025
Media contact:
Greta Anderson, Western Watersheds Project 520-623-1878; greta@westernwatersheds.org
Millions of Acres on the Auction Block: New Map Exposes Lands Targeted for Sale in Senate Budget Proposal
HAILEY, Ida. — Today, Western Watersheds Project (WWP) unveiled an interactive map highlighting the sweeping extent of public lands at risk of being sold off under the U.S. Senate’s newly unveiled budget reconciliation proposal—legislation that would mandate the liquidation of 2.19 million to 3.18 million acres of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands across eleven Western states over the next five years.
While masquerading as a response to the nation’s housing crisis, the Senate reconciliation bill is actually a sneak attack on all Americans’ publicly-owned backyards – opening over 120 million acres to bidding wars from developers, wealthy speculators, and extractive industries under the vague banner of “community development,” with no binding safeguards on environmental protection, affordability or public use.
“This is an enormous land grab—handing over millions of acres of public lands to private interests while pretending to care about affordable housing for western communities,” said Greta Anderson, deputy director of WWP. “These lands are our communities’ easy access to trailheads, hiking paths, bird watching areas, and the well-understood benefits of being in nature.”
WWP’s new map shows Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service lands that are not excluded from sale under the plain language of the Senate bill– including roadless areas, Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, tribal cultural sites, and ecologically vital landscapes. The bill grants local and state governments the right of first refusal when the lands are sold, but pointedly fails to to extend the same courtesy to Tribal Nations whose ancestral ties to these landscapes span millenia. Notably, Montana is the only western state explicitly exempted from these forced land sales, raising questions about political favoritism and the integrity of selection criteria.
“This is not the only outrageous provision in the bill, but it’s a clear sign of what this legislation is about: lining the pockets of the wealthy few to the detriment of all Americans,” said Anderson. “That is true whether we are talking about selling off public lands, gutting environmental review, or letting polluters off the hook for poisoning our air and water. It’s all part of the same agenda: deregulate, privatize and profit – no matter the cost to the people, wildlife or the planet.”
From alpine forests, and desert canyons to wildlife migration corridors and sacred Indigenous lands, the scope of what’s at risk is staggering. Among the threatened areas:
- Public lands in Wyoming bordering Yellowstone National Park, including parts of Caribou-Targhee National Forest;
- Parcels in the Boise Foothills in Idaho, including segments of the Ridge to Rivers trail system, a public recreation network developed by local, state, and federal partners;
- Riverfront BLM lands between Canyonlands National Park and Glenwood Canyon National Recreation Area;
- Front Range foothills near Denver and Colorado Springs, including much of Pikes Peak;
- Backcountry ski areas and bighorn sheep habitat in Colorado;
- Forest Service lands above Santa Fe and the headwaters of the Red River in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in New Mexico;
- Upper Oak Creek Canyon near Sedona and frontcountry hiking areas around Flagstaff, Arizona;
- Forest Service-managed lands in the Klamath River watershed in northwest California—vital to the Yurok and Karuk Tribes for salmon restoration and cultural fire stewardship;
- Lands in Clark County, Nevada, that have been nominated for Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) designation;
- National Forest lands surrounding Lake Tahoe (shared with California), facing escalating development pressure and wildlife-human interaction;
- The headwaters of the Hood River, including slopes of Mount Hood, in Oregon; and
- The Icicle Creek Valley near Leavenworth, Washington—gateway to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, home to threatened bull trout, Columbia River steelhead, and Chinook salmon.
In defending the plan, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum claimed lands targeted for disposal were just “barren stretches next to highway billboards”—a cynical mischaracterization that ignores the value of these public lands.
“These are not ‘disposable’ acres,” said Anderson. “These lands aren’t vacant – they’re alive. They’re home to pronghorn, sage grouse, mountain lions, native trout and ancient cultural sites; they are gateways to national parks and Wilderness. Just because they are not profitable to the extractive industry doesn’t mean they are not priceless to the rest of us.”
About Western Watersheds Project
Western Watersheds Project (WWP) is a nonprofit conservation organization working to protect and restore wildlife and watersheds throughout the American West. With field offices across the region, WWP uses science, public education, and legal advocacy to challenge the damaging impacts of livestock grazing and industrial development on public lands. Learn more at www.westernwatersheds.org.
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