Oppose Transferring Federal Public Lands

ESWA maintains that our national public lands - including our invaluable Wilderness Areas - belong to all Americans. Transferring public lands would result in increased industrial development, real estate development, and privatization.

In January 2025, the US House of Representatives changed its rules to remove barriers for transferring federally owned lands to state, local, or tribal governments. Next we saw - and successfully opposed - the budget reconciliation bill's attempted transfer of millions of acres of public lands.

Then came the proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which would erase protections for 45 million acres of national forest lands, including important proposed Wilderness Areas. Now, we’re faced with rollback of the Bureau of Land Management’s Public Lands Rule, which has also helped preserve proposed Wilderness Areas.

The fight to keep our federal lands protected and in federal hands is far from over.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Write and call your state governor. Write and call your federal Congresspersons and Senators at (202) 224-3121. Tell them you OPPOSE transfer of our national public lands, rescission of 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, and rollback of the BLM's Public Lands Rule.   

Additional resources:

1. US House Rule change to facilitate transfer of federal lands: In Resolution 5 (H. Res. 5), modifying procedural rules for how the House will process legislative activity for the next two years, see (Sec 3c2).

2. Colorado Senate Joint Resolution 25-009 CONCERNING THE PROTECTION OF COLORADO PUBLIC LANDS 

3. Senator John Hickenlooper Vail Daily  4/16/25: “Some things just shouldn’t be for sale and selling our public lands, which is one of the greatest assets we have as a country, is unthinkable”.