Use your voice: Our national public lands are not for sale

June 12, 2025 update: Despite hundreds of organizations, including WTA, asking the Senate to keep unpopular public land sales off the table, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources released the text of a spending bill that would mandate the sale of up to 3.2 million acres of national public lands. The areas that would be put up for sale are currently managed by either the U.S. Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management. If this bill becomes law, national public lands would be sold in 11 western states, including in Washington. 

Explore the full map produced by the Outdoor Alliance (a coalition which includes WTA) that shows areas in green and yellow which national public lands and trails could be open for the sales mandate, threatening everyone's access to trails, rivers and forests from the Olympic National Forest to the Colville here in Washington, and many more places across the West. 

This year, leaders across the federal government have proposed selling our national public lands — to give them away for development, open them to resource extraction or use them to generate revenue.

Taking away public lands for private benefit is a decision that can’t be reversed. You can help protect public lands by adding your voice to WTA’s petition to let leaders of our national land management agencies know: Our public lands are not for sale.

PROTECT PUBLIC LANDS

Most of our state’s outdoor areas where you hike are national public lands. Photo of Umtanum Ridge Crest on Bureau of Management land by WTA trip reporter Maddy.

Public lands are for everyone’s benefit

National public lands have the greatest benefit for the most people when they remain protected and managed by the federal government on behalf of the public. Here in Washington, a majority of our state’s outdoor areas are national public lands, managed by one of these agencies: U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife or Bureau of Land Management.

As a hiker, you know firsthand that public lands support our physical and mental health. Public lands also contribute $1.2 trillion to our national economy through outdoor recreation. Here in Washington, that’s $22.5 billion added to the state’s economy. National public lands also provide immense environmental benefits.

“These are our last refuges for plants and wildlife. It's our last places we get clean water from,” Jamie Ervin, Outdoor Alliance’s senior policy manager said. “Some of our best, natural, undeveloped areas in the world are American public lands.”

A new Congress, new threats to public lands

Since the new Congress convened in January, leaders in the House and Senate have opened the conversation on selling federal lands. The House of Representatives passed a rules package that defines how they operate. That package made it easier, from a budget perspective, for lawmakers to give away national public lands.

National public lands support wildlife, clean water, community health and our economy here in Washington state. Photo by Adam McJunkin.

In April, when the Senate budget reconciliation process began, a number of senators introduced an amendment that would have prevented the sale of public lands to generate revenue. The amendment failed. The introduction of that amendment, and its failure, shows that some members of Congress are willing to take away America’s right to access our public lands.

Then in May, the House Natural Resources Committee added the sale of public lands into its version of the reconciliation bill. Thanks to outdoor enthusiasts who spoke up and the leadership of Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke and the new bipartisan Public Lands Caucus, the House removed sale of public lands from its version of the bill. Senators are currently considering adding the sale of public lands back into the language of the bill. WTA has joined 100 other organizations and urged the Senate to keep public-land sales out of this budget bill.

The idea of selling national lands goes beyond budget negotiations. In March, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum announced that the Bureau of Land Management was looking into selling its lands that are near cities for development.

“A lot of those lands that are near population centers are places that we think of as really valuable, specifically for recreation. These are the places where mountain bike loop systems might exist, or where you might have a trailhead accessible by public transportation. Because of that, we uniquely stand to lose from this idea that we're going to sell off a bunch of public lands near where all the people are,” Jamie said.

States can’t afford to care for national lands

The decision to sell lands that belong to the American public is one that cannot be reversed. Once national lands are transferred to private companies, or state governments, it would be very difficult to get these places back. Some members of Congress have proposed giving national lands to state governments. 

The problem with giving national lands to state governments is that states don’t have the capacity to manage additional land. Combined, Washington State Parks, Department of Natural Resources and Department of Fish and Wildlife manage more than 6 million acres of land. Compare that to the 12 million acres of national lands in our state.

Without the resources to keep up with existing maintenance backlogs on state lands, state governments are not able to care for national public lands. Photo of Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest by Huy Dang.

State agencies already face maintenance backlogs on their lands costing hundreds of millions of dollars, without enough budget to match that need.

“Our state’s land managers do not currently have the resources they need to care for state lands and maintain recreational infrastructure and access. Asking state agencies to manage national public lands would be setting them up to fail, ultimately restricting our ability to get outside,” said Michael DeCramer, WTA’s policy and planning manager.

Add your voice to protect public lands

Support for public lands and a desire to see them protected cuts across political lines. The leaders of federal agencies that manage our national lands need to hear that message.

Add your name to WTA’s petition to protect our public lands. WTA staff will share your input with land management agency leaders.