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DENVER – The latest proposal from Senate Republicans to rapidly sell off public lands through the budget reconciliation process continues to pose very real threats to wildlife, rural communities, hunting, angling and other outdoor recreation while doing nothing to meaningfully address the affordable housing crisis. This latest version, which also should be struck down by the Senate parliamentarian, mandates that the Bureau of Land Management sell at least roughly 612,000 acres of land and up to 1.2 million acres across 11 western states within five years. 

“This plan is a smokescreen to sell public lands to the highest bidder under the guise of fixing the housing policy. Millions of hunters, anglers, and other public lands users have spoken up: not one acre of public land should be sold through the budget reconciliation process,” said David Willms, associate vice president for public lands at the National Wildlife Federation.“This newest proposal confines land sales to areas within five miles of a ‘population center,’ which could include anything from a municipality to a handful of 40 acre ranchettes dozens of miles from any town. However, these BLM lands are often the most important for people that recreate, and often provide vital  mule deer, pronghorn, and other wildlife habitat – land that clearly is not suitable for housing.”