If the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources proposes to sell hundreds of millions of acres of public land in the West, it could cause irreparable damage to sensitive natural, historical and cultural sites.
As Andrew McKeane explains in Outdoor Living, “The bill sells land for the BLM and the Forest Service “over 0.50%, over 0.50%, or less than 0.75% eligible land to the BLM and the Forest Service in the section entitled “Forced Disposal of Land Management and the National Forest Service.” The map created by the Wilderness Association shows more than 250 million acres eligible for sale under the proposal.
The bill aims to make more land available in affordable housing, but critics point out that while strategic use of federal land may help, much of the land in question is far from existing cities and infrastructure and is not suitable for housing. The language of the bill includes a vast “related community needs” provision that could enable “almost any purpose,” according to the attorney who analyzed the text. Meanwhile, the administration moved to open more public lands to mining, timber and other extraction industries.
This is not a unique Western concern. “It doesn’t matter if you live in Bozeman or Baltimore. These lands belong to you,” said an unknown legislator who provided details of the story. Actions to refund, reduce or eliminate national monuments and historical and cultural sites will harm ecosystems, erase important parts of the country’s history, and prevent public lands from becoming more difficult for all Americans to access.
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