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The Getches-Wilkinson Center has published a white paper that provides a rapid assessment of a proposal from the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee to mandate the sale of federal public lands.

A Rapid Assessment of the Senate’s Proposal to Sell Off Public Lands

This proposal is being considered as a part of an expedited budget reconciliation process with little to no meaningful public engagement. More than 250 million acres of public land are at risk under this proposal, and more than 3 million acres across the west could be privatized in only 5 years. The resulting sell off could threaten drinking water for rural communities, cultural resources valued by Tribes and Indigenous people, recreational access, wildlife habitat, and many other important ecosystem services that support rural economies and communities.

In addition, the current proposal would mark a dramatic departure from existing public land law and policy in the United States, which requires the retention of federal public lands and management of those resources according to multiple use, sustained yield principles for the benefit of the American public. Existing law carefully circumscribes when public lands can be sold to private parties, ensuring that those transactions are designed to further the public interest in public lands and that any proceeds are reinvested into conservation and recreation. The Senate ENR proposal would waive these existing legal protections and would instead sell off federal public land to fund the federal government and offset tax breaks.

The situation is fluid and the Getches-Wilkinson Center will maintain an updated version of the memo on its website at /center/gwc/publications/research-and-publications.

If you have questions, please contact Chris Winter, Executive Director at chris.winter@colorado.edu.