Posted on 06/27/2025 7:04:22 PM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
Don’t Sell Off Our American Birthright
By Johnny Morris and Collin O’Mara
June 27, 2025
America's public lands embody a revolutionary promise. Rejecting the European model that reserved the best lands and wildlife for the crown, our nation established that our majestic natural treasures⁶ would be the birthright of every American. These lands are not only central to our identity—the places we hunt, fish, and recreate across generations—they also serve as the foundation of America’s outdoor recreation economy, which supports more than five million jobs and contributes mightily to our US economy.
A recent proposal in the Senate’s budget reconciliation package threatens to begin liquidating this natural inheritance of every American. The provision would force the disposal of more than a million acres of federal land across the West. While this is not an assault on our iconic national parks, wildlife refuges, and other designated lands, it does target the lands of the Bureau of Land Management where tens of millions of Americans hunt, fish, and hike. Importantly, these same public lands that are proposed to be sold also provide vital public access for sportsmen and women to other adjoining public lands. This is a bad deal for taxpayers, a threat to our way of life!
It just doesn’t make fiscal sense to liquidate capital assets that generate a compounding $1.1 trillion return annually for a one-time payment of what is, in the grand scheme of things, a relatively small amount of money. That’s not just selling the family farm; it's selling it for a fraction of a single year’s harvest. To be clear, we are not opposed to all land transfers. There are instances where land swaps or targeted sales make sense to meet specific community and housing needs, improve management, expand access, or enhance ecological connectivity. Responsible governance, however, demands an orderly and transparent process. We already have proven, long-established frameworks for this.
The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 created a transparent, public process to ensure any land disposal serves the national interest.
The Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA), which was improved with bipartisan support during the first Trump Administration, established a smart, market-based system where proceeds from the sale of parcels are reinvested into acquiring high-priority conservation lands and creating new access for sportsmen and women. We should make these laws work better, rather than circumventing them. The reconciliation proposal abandons these safeguards, using a procedural shortcut to bypass public input and silence the voices of local communities. Worse, it raids the dedicated conservation fund created by FLTFA, diverting nearly all of the sale proceeds to the general Treasury and breaking the conservation covenant that guarantees a net-gain for conservation, wildlife, and public access. All of us at Bass Pro Shops and the National Wildlife Federation are proud to remain steadfast in our commitment to stand united with the sportsmen and women we are blessed to serve. This is why we have been working with a broad and unprecedented coalition that has risen in opposition. Nearly every major hunting, fishing, outdoor recreation, and conservation organization in the country— representing tens of millions of sportsmen and women—have formally urged the Senate to reject this provision.
We stand united that our focus should be on the restoration and improved management of our public lands “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people”—not selling them to the highest bidder! Heeding this call, the House of Representatives, under the leadership of former Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Rep. Mike Simpson, wisely rejected a similar provision. The Senate should do the same.
The choice is clear: Uphold President Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy of wise stewardship or erode our nation’s outdoor heritage. Let’s not sell off our American birthright.
Mr. Morris is a noted conservationist and the founder and Lead Outfitter of Bass Pro Shops. Mr. O’Mara is president and CEO of the seven million members strong National Wildlife Federation.
Sounds like they were speaking to you, not for you.
(And I agree with them.)
So you support the selling off of these lands to corporations to do with it what they please?
Yeah, everybody. It's just some high-growth potential land that our masters at Blackrock want. If we don't transfer it to them now, some laboring American families might get it later!
I prefer to keep wild lands open. We don’t need every inch of habitat sold to corporate interests to ruin, pave, and/or fill with foreigners. This isn’t the Homestead Act.
Cabela’s business depends in part on selling sporting goods to recreational users of public lands and waterways. I disfavor corporations getting into political advocacy unrelated to their operations. In this case, Cabela’s has a legitimate interest in the issue. Not sure why it bothers you so much.
If I recall correctly, Lee is also one of the major proponents of the H1B Program, and pushed a huge increase in the numbers of foreign workers brought into the US.
Either the federal government should long-term lease the land, sell some of the land or operate the land as a private landowner. Too much federal land in an area stifles economic growth. It makes privately owned land too expensive for the middle class to purchase. It increases the chance of wildfires because the government does not harvest trees or even clean up dead trees. The federal government does not agressively clean up and replant burned areas. It sounds great to have land protected from development, but in my area it is always the federal forests that spread wildfire and endanger whole communities. I am sick of their mismanagement or what can better be called no mamagement of the land.
Sales of lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains is largely responsible for paying off our enormous Revolutionary War debt.
If Congress got a hold (yeah, I know) on spending, western land sales to pay our current enormous debt would be worth looking into.
It really looks to me like we are headed for a civil war because of all of the deep, vicious divisions and disagreements over everything. If and when that happens, I will tell people at the appropriate time WHY so many things bothered me. At that time, they will not be able to do anything about it. It is coming down to fact that the element of surprise is all that matters now.
It is NOT what you don't know that will get you in trouble/hurt/etc./ad nauseum, it's what you know that AIN'T so. Have at it.
Like.
Yup, the elite would buy it for themselves and it would be lost to public use forever. And the best spots at that.
+1
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