Two weeks ago, House Republicans removed a controversial budget provision to sell half a million acres of public lands. The outdoor recreation industry, including national organizations and heavyweight brands like Patagonia and The North Face, helped raise a chorus of protest against the unprecedented move to sell off federal land used by hikers, mountain bikers, climbers, and paddlers.
For many longtime advocates of the outdoors, the idea that Congress would willingly sell off 500,000 acres of public land seemed hard to believe.
Now, Senate Republicans have proposed an even more extreme version of the same idea: Selling off more than 3.3 million acres of federal land in 11 Western states. That’s roughly four times the size of Rhode Island.
It’s “the most sweeping and indiscriminate public land sell-off we have ever seen,” said a statement from the Outdoor Alliance, an organization dedicated to protecting outdoor recreation.
Unlike past proposals, which largely limited sales to lands already identified for disposal, the Senate’s bill puts any multiuse Forest Service or BLM land on the table — including places vital for outdoor recreation. The idea was first proposed by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who argued that the land sale would make “housing more affordable for hardworking American families.”
However, the bill’s “vague language” actually opens the door to wealthy private interests looking to expand their holdings, the Outdoor Alliance said.
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“This package is truly the gravest threat to public lands we have ever seen moving through Congress,” said Louis Geltman, vice president of policy and government affairs at Outdoor Alliance. “Beyond the flagrant assault on public lands, it would be hard to imagine a ‘process’ more ripe for abuse and cronyism than what is spec’d out here. The outdoor community is categorically opposed to wholesale land sales.”
Outdoor Alliance has created an action page to empower concerned Americans to message the Senate about stopping the public land sale.
Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Would Require Land Sales
The land sale began as a theoretical proposal from Sen. Lee. But this week, it was officially added to the Senate’s version of a huge spending package, which President Trump has dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee added the proposal to a budget blueprint on Wednesday evening. It would require the federal government to sell off 2.2-3.3 million acres of land owned by the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service over the next 5 years.
Even more alarming for public land advocates, the budget reconciliation process allows Congress to pass legislation with only a simple majority. That means the typical 60-vote threshold doesn’t apply, and opportunities for public debate will be limited. Republicans currently hold 53 of the Senate’s 100 seats, so unless some GOP senators vote against the proposal, it could easily pass a vote from the full body.
Senate Republicans have defended the proposal as meeting the demands of President Trump, who has said that public lands should be sold to build more affordable housing.
Condemnation of the proposal came swiftly on Thursday from Democrats and an array of outdoor recreation groups representing hunters, anglers, and conservationists. According to the 2025 Conservation in the West Poll, 82% of Western voters prefer to build more housing close to existing communities rather than selling national public lands and building homes on land used for outdoor recreation.
“This is a shameless ploy to sell off pristine public lands for trophy homes and gated communities that will do nothing to address the affordable housing shortage in the West,” Jennifer Rokala, executive director at the Center for Western Priorities, said in a statement. “Anyone who cares about hiking, hunting, fishing, or camping would lose access to the lands that they rely on for outdoor recreation.”
Montana Senator Votes for Sale, Exempts His Own State
At least some of the GOP senators seem aware that selling off lands within their own state might now sit well with their constituents. Sen. Steve Daines (R-Montana), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, voted to approve the land sale. However, Daines’ home state of Montana is the only Western state excluded from the list of eligible states for land sales.
Daines’ representatives did not return GearJunkie emails seeking comment Thursday. GearJunkie also called his Washington, D.C., office, but were left on hold for 20 minutes until someone hung up.
Even a local publication like the Montana Free Press didn’t have any luck reaching the senator. Sen. Daines had long said he opposes sales of public land. But last week, Sen. Daines said he would work with Sen. Lee on the land sales proposal, alarming conservationists. When the Montana Free Press reached out to him for clarification, Sen. Daines declined to grant an interview, and his aides didn’t directly answer questions.
Also, land sales aren’t the only Senate addition to the budget that drew immediate opposition from the outdoor recreation community.
The draft legislation from the Senate Energy Committee would also boost timber harvests in federally owned forests. It seeks to raise more than $15 billion through oil, gas, and coal leases on public land in Alaska and several other states. Some of those provisions were already approved by the House, and parallel Trump’s executive orders.
The Senate Committee also decided to redirect more than $6 billion in unspent climate funding approved by Democrats in 2002 under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. That includes money intended to support the clean energy market and improve supply chains for electric vehicles.
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