If our public lands are sold off, we’ll never get them back
Republicans are proposing the sale of up to 3.3 million acres of public lands within the next five years. Think about that for a second…3,300,000 acres. That the equivalent to 5,156 square miles, which is larger than either the states of Rhode Island or Delaware and nearly as large as Puerto Rico and Connecticut. It would be the same as lopping off one-tenth of Louisiana or Alabama. Here’s the rub – the 3.3 million acres is just the beginning, as more than 250 million acres would become eligible. That’s 1.45 times the size of Texas, folks! More area than any state except Alaska.
“Less well understood is the fact that the bill makes more than 250 million acres of public lands eligible for those sales, including via nomination by any interested party.”
“Over 250 million acres of public lands are eligible for sale in the bill, including local recreation areas, wilderness study areas and inventoried roadless areas.”
Source: americanprogress.org and wilderness.org
Source: blm.gov
If you have ever tried to hike longer distances in the east, midwest, Great Lakes, south, and much of the Great Plains, it is not necessarily an easy thing to do. With the exception of certain trails like the Appalachian Trail, it is quite difficult because of trespassing laws related to private property. Even a mega trails like the Appalachian and North Country have to obtain easements and/or sometimes have to alter their routes.
West of the 100th Meridian, numerous outdoor activities would be limited or completely unavailable if it was not for our public lands. These include, but are not limited to:
- Want to go off-roading? Good luck if our public lands are sold-off.
- Want to go hunting? There will be less options without these public lands.
- Want to hike through the glorious Rockies, Cascades, Sierra Nevada, and other mountain ranges? These options will be less likely if public lands are sold off. Furthermore, what happens to the Continental Divide Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, the Arizona Trail, the Colorado Trail, the Tahoe Rim Trail, and other scenic corridors if this bill passes in its current form?
- Want to mountain bike? Your options will be reduced by this public lands sell-off.
- Want to go camping in the forest, the desert, or aside an Alpine lake in the mountains? You’d be out of luck, if this public lands sell-off happens.
- Want to kayak, canoe, or fish? Yet again, options will be reduced by this sell-off.
The problem with short term thinking like this proposed public land sell-off is once it is gone, there is little or no chance of ever getting the land back. It would be very unlikely if ANY OF US would ever have another chance to explore sold off land again in our lifetimes.
“This proposal is a direct attack on our jointly held ownership of the very soul of America – its public lands.”
Even more infuriating is the likelihood that these lands will be sold at “giveaway” prices for the claim that it will add more land for more housing. Instead, these lands will be sold to help offset the tax breaks being proposed for billionaires. These very same public lands will likely end up being bought by billionaires and corporate interests from both inside and outside the United States.
If selling off our shared land upsets you, please call, write, email, text, or talk to your senators and representatives in Congress. Don’t let them inflict irreparable and unnecessary pain on our beautiful nation for badly conceived short-term political or economic reasons. This proposal is a direct attack on our jointly held ownership of the very soul of America – its public lands.
“Whatever happened to: ‘This land is your land, this land is my land…”?
(Lyrics by Woody Guthrie)
Peace!
Greg Cocks 
