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7/2/2025 Keep Public Lands in Public Hands!by Tina Tyler A tidal wave of protest erupted across party lines over an amendment added to the “Big, Beautiful Bill’ by Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah. Lee has stated that auctioning off land with “zero recreational value” was a “common sense solution” to the housing shortage. The proposal was to sell over 250 million acres of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land over the next 5 years. (The amounts were doubled at one point by a Senate committee.) This included 400,000 acres of the Olympic National Forest, approximately 63% of the entire forest. (See map below) Opponents think much, if not most, of the land shown nationally on maps would be more likely sold for building vacation homes, ski villas and as luxury real estate. The land is too far from the areas with severe housing shortages.  Map courtesy of Sportsmen for Wild Olympics Western governors, including GOP governors, raised a protest as well as many organizations representing hikers, hunters, campers, rivers, and other outdoor nature lovers. The overwhelming backlash caused Lee to claim he would remove all USFS lands from the bill. In addition, the parliamentarian in the Senate Rules committee ruled that the bill cannot be included in the budget. The massive calls and public mobilization against this proposal made a difference. But Senator Lee is not going to give up. He is looking for a way around the rule or other ways to meet President Trump’s stated goals. The day after the Senate Rules Committee parliamentarian ruled against inclusion, the administration announced they are rescinding protections for over 58 million acres of national forest backcountry wild lands to allow logging. According to the Wild Olympics Campaign, a coalition working to protect wild forest and river watersheds on the Olympic Peninsula, this includes the South Quinault Ridge Ancient Forest and other old growth places on the Peninsula. These areas, once sold, once logged, are gone forever. It is short-term economic gain and long-term loss of habitat affecting rivers, recreation, and wildlife. In addition, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, a grassroots organization focused on ecosystem-wide conservation across the continent, reported that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) intends to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The nearly 25-year-old rule, built on 600 public meetings and 1.6 million comments (95% support), was designed to protect backcountry areas without closing existing roads or access for hunting, fishing, fire management, and more. Removing it opens the door to road building and development. According to former Olympic National Forest Supervisor Dale Hom, selling these public lands would threaten the Port Townsend watershed and cause compliance issues with nationally mandated protections and tribal agreements. Once sold, the lack of oversight and restrictions on those lands would affect salmon habitat, flood mitigation, old growth and recreational access. UPDATE: A news release from Sportsmen for Wild Olympics dated June 27, 2025, highlights the fight against selling public lands and the coalition that has been formed in that effort. Thousands of local and regional hunters and anglers, and over 30 leading sportsmen organizations, have been contacting members of Congress to oppose the unprecedented threats to public lands. According to Ashley Nichole Lewis, a Quinault Indian Nation fishing guide and spokesperson for Sportsmen for Wild Olympics, these threats highlight exactly why the group supports the Wild Olympics Wilderness & Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, recently reintroduced by Senator Patty Murray and Representative Emily Randall. We in Clallam County are blessed to live at the edge of some of the most beautiful and, up to now, protected public lands. This story is not over, and is evolving every day. Let’s fight to continue to keep these lands protected from abuse or being sold! WHAT CAN YOU DO?
To read more about the proposed sale of public lands, select the links below: Comments are closed.
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