Protect public lands for public use

The push to sell off America’s public lands is accelerating. Top officials—including the secretaries of the Treasury and Interior—want to “monetize” our shared lands by selling them to oil drillers, mining companies and developers. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum called these lands “stranded assets” and estimated their value at up to $2 trillion.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) oversees 245 million acres of public land and 700 million acres of mineral rights. That’s the real target: the oil, gas, coal and other resources underground. Now, thanks to a quiet rule change in Congress, federal land can be handed over to states or private interests without being counted as a financial loss.

Protections for national monuments like Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante are under threat. Offshore drilling is being revived. Clean energy projects on federal land face higher costs, while fossil fuel development is fast-tracked. Meanwhile, thousands of public lands experts have been fired or pushed out. It’s all being pitched as a budget fix—but gutting access to nature, clean air, clean water and the outdoor spaces millions of Americans rely on is really a massive land grab.

Montana conservationist Nick Gevock put it best: “This is the last bit of wealth that the average working-class American has—their public lands—and the billionaires are coming for it.”

So here’s the question: Do Americans want to auction off national parks and public lands—turning them into oil fields, strip mines and luxury developments—for the benefit of special interests?

Public lands aren’t “stranded assets.” They are a public good, a shared legacy and a vital part of our economy, identity and environment.

Urge your member of Congress to block legislative attacks to industrialize our lands and waters. Once these places are gone, we won’t get them back.

Donna Limper

Bloomingdale