Provision pulled from Senate reconciliation bill after widespread outcry from anglers, hunters and outdoors enthusiasts
Contacts:
- Chris Wood, President and CEO, Trout Unlimited – chris.wood@tu.org
- Corey Fisher, Public Lands Policy Director, Trout Unlimited – corey.fisher@tu.org
- David Kinney, Vice President for Communication & Brand, Trout Unlimited – david.kinney@tu.org, 856-834-6591
ARLINGTON, Va.—A controversial provision to sell millions of acres of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management was pulled from the Senate budget reconciliation bill today—an important victory for champions of America’s public lands.
The Senate provision had sparked widespread outrage from hunters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts across the country. Trout Unlimited supporters sent tens of thousands of email messages to Congress and made thousands of direct calls to their Senators over the past week in opposition to the public land sales proposal.
“Protecting public lands is the most nonpartisan issue in the country,” said Chris Wood, president and CEO of Trout Unlimited. “Public lands are the cornerstone of our conservation legacy, uniting us with the last best places this country has to offer. We thank the members of Congress who have joined hundreds of thousands of outdoorsmen and women in opposing widespread public land selloffs in reconciliation. This is certainly not the first attempt to privatize or transfer our public lands, and it won’t be the last. We must stay vigilant and defend the places we love to fish, hike, hunt, and explore.”
The initial proposal in the Senate bill would have mandated the sale of up to 3.2 million acres of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management holdings. After the Senate parliamentarian declared that provision in violation of Senate rules, the proposal was narrowed to 1.2 million acres of public lands managed by the BLM. Amid opposition from the public and from public lands champions in Congress, U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) announced tonight in a post on X that he was withdrawing the provision.
Public lands provide critical habitat for fish and wildlife, recreation access, and drinking water supplies. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 72% of sportsmen and women in the West rely on public lands for hunting and half of all blue-ribbon trout fisheries flow across National Forests. Public lands are also critical for the protection of headwaters that provide clean drinking water for millions of Americans.
Outdoor recreation is a major economic force for the United States, generating $1.2 trillion in economic output and supporting five million jobs in 2023, according to the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable.
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Trout Unlimited is the nation’s leading conservation organization working to care for and recover rivers and streams and their trout and salmon populations. We bring people together across the country to be champions for their rivers and help make our water cleaner and our communities healthier. Founded by a small band of Michigan anglers in 1959, we have grown into a national organization with more than 350 staff, 400 chapters, and 300,000 members and supporters. We bring science-driven restoration know-how, state and national policy muscle, and local volunteer energy to bear on behalf of clean water, healthy trout and salmon and thriving communities.