Conservation groups are alarmed about a provision currently in Republicans’ tax-cut package that would allow for the sale of hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands in two Western states.
The advocacy and stewardship director for the Dolores River Boating Advocates, Rica Fulton, told KSJD, “It sets a scary precedent.”
Very early Wednesday morning, the House Natural Resources Committee adopted an amendment to the budget-reconciliation package that would sell some lands in Utah and Nevada. Rep. Jeff Hurd, who represents Colorado’s Third District, voted against the amendment but later voted for advancing the final reconciliation package, which is still being worked on in Congress.
The DRBA advocates for protection of the Dolores River.
“It’s a huge amount of land,” Fulton said. “That was unclear when they passed it, but analyses show that it’s over 500,000 acres.” The local Tres Rios Office of the Bureau of Land Management manages about 600,000 acres, she said, “so that amount is like a whole field office.”
The proposal was put forth by two Republican representatives, Celeste Maloy of Utah and Mark Amodei of Nevada. The sites in Nevada are in four counties. The parcels in Utah are scattered across the state’s western side. One parcel is adjacent to Zion National Park, by the Price River, according to Fulton., and another is outside the city of St. George.
Advocates for the land sales say the parcels could be used for much-needed affordable housing as well as mining and drilling. Fulton told KSJD that is not spelled out in the language, however. “The amendment doesn’t outline what the lands can or can’t be used for,” Fulton said. “Those lands could be sold to whoever.”
She said arguing that the lands are needed for affordable housing is “an excuse,” as it’s unclear whether local governments could afford to supply the infrastructure needed for large housing developments. “It’s more likely they’d be used by some bigwig for a hotel.”
The idea of selling off public lands has been bandied about for some time. A serious effort was made to do that during the first Trump administration, but there did not seem to be much support for it then. “This time it seems like there’s more support,” Fulton said.
The Trump administration has dramatically slashed budgets and staff for federal land-management agencies, saying the cuts are needed to balance the nation’s budget. Fulton said this is all connected.
“The agencies were already short-staffed,” she said. “When you don’t fund staff, people will say, ‘Oh, you’re not managing the land anyway’ and be more supportive of selling it.”
She said she isn’t as worried about possible sales of national parks as of Forest Service and BLM lands.
“A lot of folks don’t understand the value of our public lands,” she said. “Think about, just here in Dolores, how good it is to just go to Boggy Draw for a hike or to float down the Dolores River.
“This land belongs to all of us as Americans. The land is critical for wildlife, clean water, and clean air. Yet it’s multiple-use land – you can have logging, mining, recreation. There are multiple ways to get economic benefits from these lands that benefit all of us.”
She said another concern about selling public lands in the West is what will happen to cultural resources, which are rich on lands throughout the Four Corners. “It would be impossible to preserve those if the land belonged to a single private entity and there was no consultation with tribal folks.”
Fulton said Congress is being lobbied extensively by the oil and gas industry, but the United States is not in any sort of energy crisis. Energy production peaked during the Biden administration, she said, and is market-driven. There is already a high level of energy extraction on public lands, she said, but Republicans want the time involved in obtaining a lease to be shorter.
“I think the general public wants there to be a thoughtful process involved in energy,” she said.
Fulton said that although the current budget-reconciliation package does not call for the sale of any public lands in Colorado, locals should still be concerned. “If this passes, it sets a scary precedent,” she reiterated. “It could then happen in Colorado. We have to lobby Congress. They have control of the lands.”
