Public Land War Report - Two Roadside Bombs Diffused: Republicans in DC Now Arming Small Scale Nukes
On Sunday, more than 15,000 of you read my weekend update, THIS IS NOT A DRILL, where you were alerted to Montana Republican sponsored HB676 which, if passed unaltered would have sold 1.5million acres of state-owned land. You also read about HJ24 from Republican Tom Millett which would have enjoined Montana in Utah’s effort to transfer millions of acres of federally managed public lands to state control.
WOW!! You all brought the heat!! Many of you reposted that article, forwarded it to friends, and made calls to Montana legislators. THANK YOU!! And, if you don’t have an “I am an ass-kicker” tee-shirt go get yourself one! The groundswell of opposition you helped create forced Republicans to strip land sale from HB6761 (it’s still a horrible water rights bill.) You also helped force defeat of HJ24. All Democrats opposed this dangerous bill along with some Republicans - while 36 Republicans voted for the resolution.2
That’s the good news, but I’m afraid the update from the National frontline is not so good, in fact it’s terrible. The Republican majority in DC is full speed ahead on their mission to drop the equivalent of two public land nukes on our country.
The first bomb is being prepped by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum with his plan to proceed with the sale of more than half a million acres of land administered by the Bureau of Land Managment (BLM) under the guise of easing housing affordability.
The BLM manages about 245 million acres of your public land3, mostly across the west, and importantly, there is already a legal mechanism on the books which would allow the sale of much of it. Up until now, no one has been sinister enough to deploy the portion of the Federal Land Policy and Management act of 19764 which allows sale of BLM parcels under 2500 acres in size.
But Republicans are now signaling they fully intend to use this 48-year-old law to sell every BLM acre they can push through the system. It’s serious enough that they are enlisting their allies in the right wing think-tank-spere like American Enterprise Institute (AEI) to do their sales and marketing. AEI has even warmed up the real-estate calculator; “The sale of BLM land is expected to generate revenue of $100 billion over ten years.”
About 10 days ago, frightening reports of a second public land nuke device began to circulate amongst public land activists. This morning its existence was confirmed when Politico reported “Republicans weigh sales of public land in reconciliation.” (Reconciliation is a budget negotiation process in the Senate that allows expedited consideration of actions impacting revenue.)
As the headline indicates, details are still fuzzy but here’s what we know about it so far. While the fist bomb targets BLM, which is under the Dept of Interior, this bomb probably going to be aimed at the Department of Agriculture which contains the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the agency that manages all 193 million acres of your national forests.5
Credible reports emerging from insiders in DC point to demands from UT Senator (and Donald Trump Jr. BFF) Mike Lee, who has long advocated for wholesale divestiture of public lands. It’s reported that Lee is forcing the department of Agriculture to develop a legal mechanism similar process deployed by the BLM. “He’s insisting that we sell half a million acres of our National Forest land,” a lobbyist explained to me after meeting with Senate staff.
I also reported last week that normal folks have had it up to their eyeballs with all the Plutocrats ripping Montana apart. Well, if that pissed you off, connecting these next few dots is going to really get you going…maybe you should sit down, or grab a drink before you read…
Some of our most beautiful national forests surround like places like Aspen, Big Sky, and Lake Tahoe. It only takes a couple seconds on the google to confirm that MAGA billionaires like Steve Wynn have properties in Aspen. Another click and you can see that newly minted MAGA fanboy Mark Zuckerberg has an expansive personal property and a controversial real estate business that butts up to national forest around Tahoe. If your blood pressure is not too high, click one more time to see that billionaire plutocrat and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum has a huge home at the Yellowstone club bordering national forest land outside of Big Sky, MT.
I don’t know about you, but I feel like buying a truckload of pitchforks.
MT HB676 | 2025 | Regular Session | LegiScan
HJ24 | Montana 2025-2026 | Joint house resolution supporting Utah in their land lawsuit against the United States | TrackBill
Bureau of Land Management - Wikipedia
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 - Wikipedia
Republicans weigh sales of public land in reconciliation - E&E News by POLITICO
I think you mean to say "defused." :)
This is no longer just a land use debate—it’s a coordinated assault on public memory, public trust, and public land. The word nukes isn’t hyperbole. They’re detonating decades of bipartisan conservation ethic and replacing it with a billionaire land grab wrapped in Orwellian PR.