East Glacier Park, MT -- Late Wednesday, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-UT) proposal to mandate the sale of approximately 3 million acres of public lands managed by the US Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management across the West over the next five years.  The proposed mandate, which is now part of the Senate’s budget reconciliation bill currently being assembled, would provide the Secretary of Agriculture and Interior vast discretion to determine which tracks of land to sell, so long as they were not part of a federally-designated protected areas like national parks or Wilderness.

The scale of the proposed land grab is shocking, especially considering that just a few weeks ago Congressmen Ryan Zinke and Troy Downing admirably kept their promises and succeeded in stripping a comparatively modest proposal to sell 500,000-acres of public lands in Utah and Nevada from the House’s version of the bill.

The mandated sell-off isn’t the only way the bill proposes to privatize public lands and resources. It also mandates that the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management escalate their respective annual timber harvests by an additional 250 million board feet per year every year for the next decade, regardless of market conditions or environmental considerations, and enter into “long-term timber sale contracts” with private companies, setting up scenarios where private companies will essentially manage areas of our national forests similar to in Canada.

Peter Metcalf, Executive Director of Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, issued the following statement in response to the news:

“Public lands belong to all of us, they are our shared heritage, the places where any of us, regardless of income or status, can hunt, fish, gather, explore, or simply get outside to enjoy time with friends or family. Though Montana may be excluded from the mandate, it’s passage would set a dangerous precedent that will lead to further widespread sell-offs, including right here in northwest Montana. And once these lands are sold, we’re not getting them back.

The bill also sets another terrible precedent by mandating annual volume timber harvests from Washington, D.C. We all know how well central planning played out in Stalinist Soviet Union. Legislatively mandated timber targets for far-flung, diverse national forests is a totally irresponsible and unsustainable way to manage them.

Through and through, this bill is nothing but an extreme, short-sighted attack on our incredible public lands legacy, a massive land grab for the wealthy, and a betrayal of the public trust.  Our beloved public lands should never be sold off or managed in this way, especially not without a meaningful public process, and especially not to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.

Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance strongly opposes the proposed mandates. We urge Sen. Daines and Sen. Sheehy to emulate Congressmen Zinke’s leadership, to keep their promises to Montanans not to sell public lands, and to strip these terrible mandates from the budget reconciliation bill.”

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About Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance

Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance is a community-based, grassroots conservation organization dedicated to the protection, stewardship, and shared enjoyment of the lands, waters, and wildlife of the Badger-Two Medicine and adjacent areas in Montana’s Crown of the Continent ecosystem, including Glacier National Park and the Rocky Mountain Front. Through science-based advocacy, community education programs, and on-the-ground conservation projects, we work to protect grizzly bears, connect habitat, and reduce conflicts so both grizzlies and people can flourish in this irreplaceable ecosystem. Learn more at www.glaciertwomedicine.org.