Trump Administration Plans to Sell Federal Lands to States, Tribes and Local Governments

The Trump administration is pushing to sell federal lands to states, tribes and local governments as part of a new Interior Department strategic plan to “decrease the size of the federal estate,” according to The Washington Sun.

The plan states that Interior will “work to decrease the size of the federal estate” and sell federal lands to states, tribes and local governments, then give the local and state governments a portion of the proceeds for conservation work elsewhere.

The Interior Department oversees more than 750,000 square miles (1.9 million square kilometers) of land — an area greater than Texas and California combined — along with vast underground mineral reserves, according to the Associated Press.

The strategic plan also declared that Interior will no longer use the Land and Water Conservation Fund to expand the federal government’s real estate footprint. The congressionally mandated fund receives $900 million annually, a portion of which is required to be used for land acquisition, but Interior said in the plan that it will instead use the money to increase access on privately owned lands.

Interior Secretary’s Vision

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has referred to the country’s 640 million acres of federal lands as a “balance sheet” and pushed for increased development on that land, The Washington Sun reported. Burgum published the strategic plan the same day that he announced that the agency’s vision would shift from “manage our land, water, and resources for the benefit of all Americans, today and tomorrow” to “manage resources, improve lives, and create opportunities.”

Opposition and Legal Constraints

The plan drew quick pushback from some lawmakers, including Trump’s former Interior secretary, Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke, showing it faces strong headwinds in Congress even before Democrats assume the majority in January, according to the Associated Press.

Zinke’s office said in a statement that he “remains firmly opposed to the sale or transfer of public lands.” It said Zinke would vote against any legislation on the issue if it happens before the lawmaker leaves Congress after this term.

Democratic New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich said federal lands “belong to the American people, not private interests looking to cash in.” California Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman said Democrats would resist the move.

“Americans love their public lands and sent a clear message last week: the Trump administration’s schemes to auction off our treasured resources and silence opposition must stop now. Democrats in Congress are going to deliver,” Huffman said.

Federal law puts significant constraints on public land sales, said Mark Squillace, a professor of natural resources law at University of Colorado Law School. Land cannot be sold if it’s under protected status. And before a sale can occur, it must be deemed appropriate under certain criteria, including cases of land that is uneconomic to manage or where a sale would “serve important public objectives, including but not limited to, expansion of communities and economic development.”

Related BLM Rulemaking

Separately, the administration announced a proposed Bureau of Land Management rulemaking that would weaken public involvement in land use planning and gut protections for Areas of Critical Environmental Concern across 245 million acres of Western public lands, according to CleanTechnica. The rule proposes to shorten public comment periods and cut out robust environmental analysis, and kicks off a 60 day comment period with a January 9th deadline.

The rule would attempt to eliminate mandatory Environmental Impact Statements for land use plans, eliminate the 90-day public comment period, and allow BLM to eliminate written comment opportunities in favor of public meetings, CleanTechnica reported.

Why it matters

The Interior Department’s plan marks a break with 50 years of precedent that largely limited land sales. The first Trump administration’s strategic plan for the Interior Department made no mention of land sales, swaps or disposal, according to The Washington Sun. The new plan sets out a road map for the Interior Department’s priorities and actions between 2026 and 2030, and future administrations would not be bound by it, according to the Associated Press.

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Sources

• washingtonsun.com: The Trump Administration Has a Plan to Sell Off Federal Lands - The Washington Sun
• cleantechnica.com: Trump Administration Continues Systematic Dismantling of Public Lands - CleanTechnica
• 2news.com: Trump administration wants to sell public lands and shrink the federal estate | National News | 2news.com

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.