Could the popular Phil’s World bicycling trail system east of Cortez be put up for sale in the near future? The answer appears to be yes, if the federal budget reconciliation bill in its current form becomes law. The latest version of the bill as of press time would make more than 250 million acres of Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service lands eligible for sale to the highest bidder. An interactive map published by the nonprofit Wilderness Society shows a number of tracts of BLM land in Montezuma County as eligible, including Phil’s World. Much of the San Juan National Forest is also eligible for sale. The manager of the BLM Tres Rios Field Office, Derek Padilla, told KSJD that the existing Resource Management Plan for the 600,000-acre area has a list of lands available for disposal. However, that list is far different from what could be sold under the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.” Padilla said, “The Phil’s World tract is not identified for disposal in the RMP.” Matt Dietz of the Wilderness Society told KSJD their map is based on criteria currently in the bill, which is still being worked on in the U.S. Senate. It now mandates that between 2 and 3 million acres of BLM and Forest Service lands be sold within five years.
The interactive map published by the Wilderness Society is at: (https://wilderness.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/basic/index.html?appid=821970f0212d46d7aa854718aac42310)
