A Senate budget proposal that threatened to force the sale of millions of acres of public land throughout the western United States, including more than 875,000 acres in the Los Padres National Forest according to an analysis by Santa Barbara-based conservation organization Los Padres ForestWatch, hit a snag on Tuesday night.
The proposal was voted out of the GOP’s tax and spending bill on the basis it could go against the chamber’s rules.
The provision—developed by Senator Mike Lee of Utah and Senate Energy Committee Chairman— had pushed for the sale of more than 2 million acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) land over the next five years to generate federal income to cover the costs of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
The proposal was met by opposition during Senate deliberations over Trump’s sweeping tax and spending cuts package which would add $2.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis.
Los Padres ForestWatch’s Director of Conservation & Research, Bryant Baker, stated this is good news, but public lands are still under attack.
“We’re glad to see the Senate parliamentarian reject Senator Lee’s proposal to sell off millions of acres of America’s public lands. These wild places are an integral part of our region and should never be placed on the chopping block. While our public lands face a variety of other threats from the Trump administration, this most recent threat seems to have dissipated for now,” said Baker.
Senator Lee has stated he plans to revise the language of his proposal to exclude national forest land and to limit the sale of lands under the Bureau of Land Management’s jurisdiction to those within five miles of a population center.
The Los Padres ForestWatch states these changes are likely due to immense public pressure and backlash from both sides of the political aisle over the initial proposal. It is unclear whether a revised proposal will be its own legislation or part of another bill that is not subject to the same rules that prevented it from being incorporated into the budget reconciliation process.
According to a ForestWatch analysis of public land data, some 281,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management land in Kern, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties would still meet the new criteria Senator Lee suggested in a social media post earlier today.
ForestWatch states they will continue to monitor proposed legislation that may involve federal public land sales.
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The Reagan supporting turned MAGA horse riders in Buellton and Santa Ynez have turned in to full – fledged psycho bigots online spewing out anti-constitutional garbage and supporting full fledged fascism. At least they are using their real profiles on social media so we know who the really bad neighbors are.
GENERAL – it is really amazing (and sometimes repulsively shocking) to see so many neighbors and community members unabashedly post the hateful things they do with their photos and real names on Nextdoor and Facebook. There are some people I know of that I will never trust/care for/talk to ever again that I thought were decent folks. It’s gross.
Yeah! Let’s protect our national forests & BLM land.
Anti-Capitalist. That’s what made our country great you Commie.
The Republican party is a terrorist organization designed to kill our most vulnerable citizens and to destroy the very valuable resources of our great country.
What about if the Los Padres went up for sale and some group, like the Los Padres Forest Watch, bought it?
Then they could do with it what ever they wanted or did not want.
Hello?
What if we had programs on a federal level to help protect our environment and resources..yes, that would be with the help and guardianship of the government and it’s affiliated/ suborganizations. It should not be necessary to have private citizens fundraise in 2025 to buy up patches of land for all our and our future generation’s protection. The Roosevelt’s back then really got it, may be you catch on eventually. The data is long out to back it up. What are you waiting for?
Hello.
Yeah, DENNIS, why should a private group of citizens have to purchase federal land? Why is the federal government so mismanaged that it has to sell OUR LAND to fund the tax cuts for billionaires that will hurt the majority of Americans?
You’re asking the wrong questions.
I bet you’re a recipient of a tax cut too! The gov’t is funding, and has funded all kinds of things it should not have. “funding tax cuts for billionaires” is a too convenient tag line, try something legit.
You’re definitely not paying attention.
OOPS – if you don’t think that statement is “legit,” then you’ve been relying on memes and Trump’s own words as your sources of “fact.”
I really suggest you learn more about what is actually happening.