Senate GOP bill could sell off millions of acres of public land, including Sabino Canyon

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee released a proposal calling for the sale of millions of acres in public lands as part of the reconciliation spending bill. The long list of federal lands that might be auctioned includes such local landmarks as Sabino Canyon and Mount Lemmon.

The text is part of the Senate’s version of the budget, and calls for the “mandatory disposal of Bureau of Land Management land and National Forest System land for housing and any associated community needs.”

The text calls for the disposal of anywhere between 0.5 and 0.75 percent of BLM and NFS lands with new tracts of land being listed every 60 days after the date of enactment. Nearly 250 million acres of public land would be eligible for sale including local recreation areas. The land falls in each western state but Montana, where Rep. Ryan Zinke — a former Interior Department chief — has opposed such a move.

Included in the types of lands that would be eligible to be auctioned off are large parts of Mount Lemmon, Madera Canyon, Mount Graham and Sabino Canyon Recreation Area. Those lands are not among the types of National Parks Service properties that would be excluded from sale, along with national monuments and wilderness areas.

Senator Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah and Chairman of the ENR Committee, said this bill would not interfere with parks and monuments in an explainer video posted on the Energy GOP YouTube page.

“We’re talking about isolated parcels that are difficult to manage or better suited for housing and infrastructure,” said Lee.

Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona denounced the bill, calling it reckless.

“I oppose any effort to force the sale of Forest Service land in Arizona. These public lands are part of who we are as they support our economy, protect our environment, and offer Arizonans a place to hike, hunt, and explore. Selling them off to fund Trump’s tax giveaways to billionaires is reckless and wrong. Once they’re gone, they’re gone for good—lost forever to public use and conservation,” said Kelly in a press release.

His fellow Democratic Arizona senator, Ruben Gallego, tweeted Monday that although he had earlier this year offered to discuss using federal lands for affordable housing, the Republicans are now “burying language to sell off public lands in their reckless budget bill — arbitrarily mandating how much land should be sold and leaving out any protections to ensure the housing build on that land would be affordable.”

U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani, the Southern Arizona Republican, didn’t respond to a request for comment on the measure.

The House version of the reconciliation bill, which passed at the end of May, did not include text calling for public land disposal. The bill titled “The One Big Beautiful Bill Act” must now go through Senate approval, with any changes then requiring another vote in the House. Republicans narrowly control both chambers.

Environmental groups such as The Wilderness Society are urging other lawmakers to reject the Senate bill.

“Americans disagree about a lot of things, but most of us are on the same page about keeping public lands in public hands,” said Michael Carroll, director of the BLM campaign at the Wilderness Society in a news release. “We call on lawmakers who cherish public lands to reject any inclusion of public land sales in the budget reconciliation bill.”

The House and Senate must approve a spending plan before September 30 to avoid a government shutdown.