THIS IS NOT A DRILL

Republican's are ramping up public land sales at the state and federal level

On most weekends, I offer something beautiful about Montana. But efforts to transfer, sell, and defund our public lands are moving so quickly that we must interrupt our regularly scheduled programming for this urgent bulletin.

REPUBLICANS ARE MOVING QUICKLY TO SELL YOUR PUBLIC LANDS; IT’S HAPPENING AT THE STATE AND FEDERAL LEVELS

Here are three critical updates from the past few days:

1. Republican led effort to sell state lands:

This week, Republicans in the Montana legislature voted to advance HB676, which would sell 1.5 million acres of state-owned land. (The vote was party line - all Democrats opposed.) And yes, you read that acreage number correctly: 1.5 million acres or about 30% of all land currently owned by the state of Montana.¹ That’s a land mass 50% larger than Glacier National Park. The bill is sponsored by Republican Speaker of the House Brandon Ler, and Montana Republicans are determined to pass it despite vehement opposition from several constituency groups. This bill is dangerously close to advancing to the Governor’s desk, and to say that the Governor is untrustworthy on public lands issues would be a foolish understatement.

Losing this public land would be a devastating blow for the state, but it also perfectly exposes the real aim of “land transfer,” which is codified in the Republican Party platform; “We support the granting of federally managed public lands to the state, and development of a transition plan for the timely and orderly transfer.” If there ever was a veil, it’s lifted now. Republicans want the land transferred so that they can quickly sell it.

2. Republican led effort to transfer federal land to the state:

While Republicans work to sell land under state control, they are also making good on that transfer plank. This week, Tom Millett, R-Marion, made it official when he introduced HJ24², which would enjoin Montana with Utah Republicans who are suing to wrest control of nearly 20 million acres of federal land in the beehive state.

Marion Republican Tom Millett - author of HJ24, which seeks to force MT to join UT in its effort to obtain control of millions of acres of Federal Land Photo: Flathead Beacon

Again, Republicans are hell bent on passing the resolution despite vehement opposition from groups like the Backcountry Horsemen, whose chairman Mack Long testified, “signing on to support Utah opens the door for our public lands in Montana to be disposed of … We ask you to vote no on HJ 24 and oppose efforts to take away our public lands.”

3. Republican plan to sell federal public lands exposed in AEI policy plan:

Speaking of federal policy, last month, Ryan Zinke voted for a budget resolution making land sale very easy. This week, we received an important glimpse into the Trump administration’s plans to begin those sales when the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) released its policy paper, “Homesteading 2.0: Making Housing Affordable Again.” AEI is a right-wing think tank known to be on the inside of Trump's admin decision-making. AEI is where Republican administrations go to obtain or sell their plans. As such, this published paper is a bit like a leaked signal conversation containing land sale war plans.

AEI Event promotion of their public lands sales policy disguised in housing affordability.

It’s far enough along that AEI (and presumably the Trump administration) have already calculated the actual “revenue” from the initial sales of more than half a million acres: “The sale of BLM land is expected to generate revenue of $100 billion over ten years.”

This AEI plan illuminates recent predictive announcements by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum: “As we enter the Golden Age promised by President Trump, this partnership will change how we use public resources.”³

“Our federal lands are an incredible asset on America’s balance sheet,” Burgum said in the release accompanying this photo.

Sheezus, I’ll say! Aggressively opening the process of public land divestiture by selling hundreds of thousands of acres would certainly be “a change.” We know this is just the beginning because Project 2025 lays the groundwork for selling all federal lands.

What you can do:

1. Share this story with everyone you know and on every platform

2. If you are a Montana Resident, call your representative and senator to register your opposition to HB676

3. Call Daines, Sheehy, Zinke, and Downing to register your opposition

4. Sharpen your knives for 2026. Zinke and Daines are up, and they must pay a political price for this, or it will not slow down

5. Have a laugh at Elise Stafanik’s expense. Sorry, just had to throw it in. She got booted from the UN ambassador post this week because the Whitehouse is scared of losing her house seat…which she won by 24%

1. https://montanafreepress.org/2025/03/25/montana-bill-that-would-sell-isolated-state-land-to-neighboring-landowners-advances/

2. https://flatheadbeacon.com/2025/03/26/montanans-line-up-against-resolution-to-back-utahs-federal-public-lands-lawsuit/

3. https://www.aei.org/events/homesteading-2-0-a-proposal-to-make-housing-affordable-again/