The Senate Public Lands Sale – A Breakdown

A.J. DeRosa, founder of Project Upland, is a New England…

Gabby Zaldumbide is Project Upland's Editor in Chief. Gabby was…

A Deep Look at the Mandatory Sale of Public Lands in the President’s Budget Bill Before the Senate

In this episode, AJ and Gabby take a break from their regular programming to discuss the sale of public lands as part of the federal budget reconciliation bill. They watched the Energy and Natural Resources Committee Hearing to Examine the President’s Budget Request for the Department of the Interior for Fiscal Year 2026 and break it down in this podcast.

Right now, the reconciliation bill is in the Senate. Although the language surrounding the sale of public lands was removed by the House of Representatives, Senator Mike Lee is attempting to stick that language back in. The “Mandatory Disposal of Bureau of Land Management Land And National Forest System Land for Housing” would require the sale of 2-3 million acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) land. Not only that, but the draft requires the selling process to begin within 60 days of the bill’s passage and to be completed within five years.

However, the potential public land sell-off isn’t the only issue at hand. There’s been an ongoing lack of transparency surrounding this bill both with the public and with lawmakers. Not only that, but there are concerns of backroom dealing—Montana Senator Steve Daines had his state omitted from the potential sale as part of a negotiation “to reduce bill-killing opposition,” according to Andrew McKean for Outdoor Life. Additionally, bill supporters claim that the land sale would help solve the housing crisis by increasing the land available for affordable housing developments. Yet, according to the maps of the potential lands for sale, most of these lands occur in very remote areas.

So why are senators trying to include the sale of public lands as part of the budget reconciliation bill? Some theorize that it’s part of a systematic, long-term approach to shift public lands towards private control. The current reconciliation effort isn’t an isolated policy—it’s the culmination of decades of ideological moves.

If you care about the American public retaining access to the land we collectively own, now is the time to speak up. Contact your senators via social media, phone, email, or snail mail and tell them what you think. Three million acres of your lands are on the line.

Listen to past episodes here: Project Upland Podcast

If you want to support independent journalism, check out the Project Upland Podcast Patreon.

You can also subscribe to the Project Upland Podcast on:

Tags

Public Land

A.J. DeRosa

A.J. DeRosa, founder of Project Upland, is a New England native with over 35 years of hunting experience across three continents. His passion for upland birds and side-by-side shotguns has taken him around the world, uncovering the stories of people and places connected to the uplands. First published in 2004, he wrote The Urban Deer Complex in 2014 and soon discovered a love for filmmaking, which led to the award-winning Project Upland film series. A.J.'s dedication to wildlife drives his advocacy for conservation policy and habitat funding at both federal and state levels. He serves as Vice Chair of the New Hampshire Fish & Game Commission, giving back to his community. You can often find A.J. and his Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Grim, hunting in the mountains of New England—or wherever the birds lead them.

Gabriela Zaldumbide

Gabby Zaldumbide is Project Upland's Editor in Chief. Gabby was born in Maryland and raised in southern Wisconsin, where she also studied wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2018, she moved to Gunnison, Colorado to earn her master's in public land management from Western Colorado University. Gabby still lives there today and shares 11 acres with eight dogs, five horses, and three cats. She herds cows for a local rancher on the side.