{"id":156130,"date":"2025-06-26T15:35:34","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T20:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=156130"},"modified":"2025-06-26T17:45:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T22:45:22","slug":"arizona-mirror-native-advocates-oppose-disposal-of-public-lands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2025\/06\/26\/arizona-mirror-native-advocates-oppose-disposal-of-public-lands\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona Mirror: Native advocates oppose ‘disposal’ of public lands"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Tonto<\/a>
A view of the Tonto National Forest in Arizona in March 2025. Photo by Preston Keres \/ USDA Forest Service<\/figcaption>\r\n
Opponents call GOP public lands sell-off a violation of tribal sovereignty and treaties<\/div>\r\n
Native leaders say privatization could block access to traditional and cultural sites<\/div>\r\n
Thursday, June 26, 2025<\/div>\r\n
<\/div>By Shondiin Silversmith, Arizona Mirror<\/a>

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After intense criticism from conservation groups, political leaders, and the public, a legislative proposal to sell public lands in several Western states, including Arizona, to supposedly address a housing crisis in the U.S., is now being revised and restructured.<\/p>

Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Lee on June 11 introduced draft legislation<\/a> in the budget reconciliation bill, known as the \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill Act\u201d<\/a>, which includes selling millions of acres of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands in 11 Western states for housing.\u00a0<\/p>

The original legislative draft directed the BLM and the Forest Service to dispose of .5% to .75% of BLM land and National Forest System land \u201cto address the housing crisis.\u201d That amounts to about 3.2 million acres of public lands that would be subject to sale, according to the Grand Canyon Trust<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>

Other language in the bill puts over 250 million acres of public lands across 11 Western states at risk, according to the Wilderness Society,<\/a> including local recreational areas, wilderness study areas, endangered species habitats and more.<\/p>

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\u201cThe bill authorizes the permanent privatization of millions of acres of publicly owned Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service land with no environmental review, meaningful Tribal consultation, or public input,\u201d the Center for Biological Diversity stated in a letter<\/a>.<\/p>

But after nearly two weeks of criticism over the potential sell-off of public lands, the Utah Republican Senator\u2019s proposal was stripped from the Senate budget reconciliation package altogether on procedural grounds by the Senate parliamentarian.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cDemocrats will not stand idly by while Republicans attempt to circumvent the rules of reconciliation in order to sell off public lands to fund tax breaks for billionaires,\u201d said U.S. Senate Budget Committee ranking Democrat Jeff Merkley of Oregon.<\/a><\/p>

The parliamentarian\u2019s announcement came after Lee posted about revisions to the bill on social media. He announced that they will remove all Forest Service land from the legislation.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cWe are not selling off our forests,\u201d he wrote in a social media post on X on Monday night.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Housing prices are crushing families and keeping young Americans from living where they grew up. We need to change that.

Thanks to YOU\u2014the AMERICAN PEOPLE\u2014here\u2019s what I plan to do:

1. REMOVE ALL Forest Service land. We are NOT selling off our forests.

2. SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE\u2026<\/p>— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) June 24, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>