A mandate to sell millions of acres of federal land for housing development did not make it into President Trump’s mega tax bill signed earlier this month.
That’s after a wide range of opponents, including environmentalists, hunters, business leaders and Republican congressmembers from Idaho and Montana, fiercely rallied against the proposal from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).
The revised version would have required the Bureau of Land Management to sell up to 1.2 million acres within five miles of population centers in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah.
The proposal triggered a flood of comments to politicians’ inboxes.
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers reported sending more than 33,000 communications to U.S. Senators on June 25 – what it dubbed “Flood the Lines Day” – urging them to reject the measure.
Sen. John Hickenlooper’s (D-Colo.) office said it received 62,000 emails and 5,000 phone calls, all in opposition to Lee’s bill. A spokesperson called it a “staggering” number for the office.
“Literally, I think most of the West is united that this would be a terrible idea,” Hickenlooper said in an interview.
A spokesperson for Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) did not share specific numbers, but said public feedback to their team was “overwhelmingly positive” in response to Zinke’s efforts to kill the public land sales amendment. He led a group of five House members who all said they wouldn’t vote for the larger reconciliation package if the provision was included.
“We always had backup plans, and we had the greatest coalition of support I've seen,” Zinke said in a statement.
Idaho Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch also came out against Lee’s proposal. Crapo’s office said it doesn’t tally calls and emails and Risch’s team didn’t respond to an inquiry. But more than 40 Republican state legislators from Idaho thanked them and Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) for putting a stop to the land sales, according to reporting by the Idaho Capital Sun.
“By standing up for Idaho’s public lands, you’re standing up for Idaho’s future generations,” the letter stated.
When Sen. Lee withdrew the bill to mandate public land sales, he indicated an interest in continuing to move the idea forward.
“I continue to believe the federal government owns far too much land – land it is mismanaging, and in many cases ruining for the next generation,” Lee wrote on the platform X.
Sen. Hickenlooper said he wasn’t sure whether Lee would bring the proposal forward again through legislation after the reconciliation process wrapped.
“I think he heard loud and clear from his fellow Republican senators,” Hickenlooper said.
But the push to build in these parts of the West could be revived. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner started a task force this spring to look at “underutilized” federal land for housing. That could hold promise for some communities in Colorado – if it targets small areas and local communities are involved, Hickenlooper said.
“But, again, having Washington come in and tell Coloradans that these public lands are going to suddenly no longer be public lands, and that Washington is going to make a decision as how they're going to be used, that's not going to sell very well in Colorado,” he said.
The U.S. Department of the Interior said it doesn’t have an update on next steps for Burgum’s initiative at this time.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
