Latest news with #ForestService
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Beloved Lift To Be Replaced at New Mexico Ski Area
The historic and rare 47-year-old detachable surface lift at Sipapu Ski Area, New Mexico, will soon be replaced by a new fixed-grip two-person chairlift that the ski area says will make accessing the slopes quicker and easier, particularly for #3 services two terrain parks and two unique beginner trails. But that terrain, according to Sipapu, was hard to reach, and often untouched because of the aging surface lift.'If you've skied Lift 3 before, you know: that entire area is magical. It's on the upper part of the mountain, with wider runs and opportunities to lap beginner trails that are very different from those on the rest of the resort,' said Sipapu's general manager, John Paul chairlift replacement, Bradley added, will create a new 'way for our guests to now experience terrain they haven't really explored because they simply couldn't ride the surface lift.'Want to keep up with the best stories and photos in skiing? Subscribe to the new Powder To The People newsletter for weekly updates. The original Lift #3 was first installed at Sipapu in 1978, according to Forest Service documentation. Then, in 2001, it was relocated to its current location and terrain pod. This diesel-powered, detachable ropeway was one of the last of its kind in North America. The Forest Service document said that in addition to wanting to create a more beginner-friendly experience, Sipapu was having a hard time finding replacement project upgrade was developed alongside the U.S. Forest Service under Sipapu's Master Development Plan, according to the ski area.'This was a win-win for everyone: our guests, our local Forest Service and our resort. We're grateful,' said under-construction two-seater is Sipapu's fifth new lift since 2001 and its second in under a decade. The ski area expects the Lift #3 upgrade will be completed in time for the upcoming ski investments into Sipapu's Lift #3 area are underway, totaling more than $1 million. The ski area plans to install a new skier services deck and more restrooms, as well as burying its snowmaking infrastructure.'These projects will allow guests to enjoy the upper mountain without needing to return to the base for food or restrooms,' said Bradley. 'That's going to be a game-changer for families with young children.'Beloved Lift To Be Replaced at New Mexico Ski Area first appeared on Powder on Jun 20, 2025
The Star
2 days ago
- General
- The Star
Weed manager of the year: One man's quest to save the Sonoran Desert
When Don Pike takes his daily walk, he laces up his brown hiking boots, grabs his walking stick and bucket hat and heads outside. Ten feet (3m) later, he carefully slips past barbed wire and enters the Tonto National Forest in Arizona, the United States. Unlike other parts of the Tonto, where the ground between native plants and trees is covered with dry grasses, the earth is pale, crusty and barren, like it's meant to be. That's because Pike has been pulling weeds. 'You won't find any of them in this area here because I've removed them,' said Pike, 84, a retiree from Maine who installed floor-to-ceiling windows in his living room to better see his beloved desert. Pike estimates that he's cleared invasive plants from roughly 222ha of desert near his home. Pike is at war with buffel grass and fountain grass, two invasive species that are spreading in the Sonoran Desert, choking native plants, increasing the risk and intensity of wildfires and threatening a vibrant ecosystem. He began hunting the thick grasses, which were introduced to the area by landscapers, almost 15 years ago. Since then, he estimates that he and his team of volunteers have cleared 550 acres (222ha) of the roughly 14,000 acres (5,665ha) they oversee. In 2024, that earned him the title of Arizona's Weed Manager of the Year. Work by volunteers like Pike has always been an important supplement to managing federal lands, according to US government workers who say their programmes have been underfunded for years. A cactus blooms in the Tonto National Forest. But since the Trump administration and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency began mass firings of federal workers, volunteers like Pike have become more vital than ever. 'It's going to be important for the federal agencies, the Forest Service in particular, to find ways to engage people,' Pike said on his back porch in March. 'There's a lot of people that want to get involved. Particularly retirees who have a lot of skills.' In February, at least 2,000 employees had been eliminated from the US Forest Service, which is responsible for lands across the country that, together, rival the size of Texas. Forests like the Tonto are at risk as climate change increases the chances of wildfires and as invasive species spread. But citizen scientists like Pike are working to reduce fire and heat risks, clear hundreds of acres of invasives and capture data on threatened cactuses, helping to save what otherwise might be lost. Parking and shade structures (right) at a trailhead in an area where abundant red brome, an invasive species of grass, raises the wildfire risk, in the Tonto National Forest. Bringing in reinforcements Patti Fenner was an invasive weeds specialist for the US Forest Service in 2011 when she gave a presentation to a retirees group that included Pike. After the talk, Fenner and Pike took a hike and she pointed out how invasive grasses had begun overtaking native plants. That first outing led to a decades-long obsession, and when Fenner retired three years later and founded Friends of the Tonto, a volunteer group with about 70 members that assists the national forest, Pike became one of the first members. Fenner had worked in the forest since college, doing a variety of jobs. She liked the US Forest Service-style of land management because it demanded compromise from all parties. Unlike national parks, US Forest Service land is used by multiple interests, including logging, mining and ranching in addition to recreation. Fenner holds a blade of invasive red brome grass, which raises the risk of wildfire. But maintaining an ecological balance is also key, and when Fenner became the forest's first noxious weed manager in 2003, it felt like a Sisyphean task to clear three million acres (1.2 million hectares) of rapidly multiplying invasive species. Pike decided to concentrate on a smaller scale, homing in on what's known as the wildland urban interface, or the space where developments like his neighbourhood creep up on wilderness areas like the Tonto. A former engineer, he created a map to track the progress he made with his team of volunteers, pinning a green flag where invasives were cleared. The flag turns yellow after two years as a reminder to clear the area again. While his system is effective in his relatively small section, it's an unlikely fix for an entire forest. 'In the direction that we're headed, the desert will become a grassland,' Pike said. Fenner became the Tonto National Forest's first noxious weed manager in 2003. Lightning-strike fires have always been possible in the desert, but excess vegetation like red brome, a grass that dries into short haylike tufts, has contributed to bigger and more frequent wildfires in the Tonto. One of the first huge wildfires came in 2005, when the Cave Creek Complex fire burned 243,000 acres (98,340ha). Then, in the summer of 2020, Pike watched the sky turn orange as the Bush fire burned 193,000 acres (78,104ha), killing roughly 80,000 saguaros, the distinctive cactuses with cartoonish curved arms. Invasive plants grew back quickly, outcompeting the native saguaros and paloverde, the state tree with flowers like tiny yellow bells. A dying saguaro cactus that was scorched by a fire in the Tonto National Forest. So, Friends of the Tonto started a second monitoring programme for the saguaros. In late 2023, Pike created another map with more than 9,900 tiny saguaros. On this one, green signals good health and black means the cactus is dead. He's trained about 40 people to find additional saguaros and monitor the ones already in the database. The future of the forest The main office at Tonto has been closed for years because the US Forest Service had trouble staffing it, even before the recent hiring freeze and terminations, largely because the pay was low, Fenner said. Other offices within the forest used to stay open on weekends during the busy season, but that also ended years ago because of a lack of employees. 'If you're trying to get ahold of somebody there's no one to talk to,' Fenner said of the forest staff. 'It's like nobody's home.' Ongoing budget and staffing issues at the Tonto have limited the scope of volunteer work, which is based on an agreement with the US Forest Service that spells out the terms of the relationship. The US Forest Service did not respond to a request for comment. Pike has been struggling to contact federal employees who can help him apply for grants. In 2024, he helped win a US$105,000 (RM444,255) grant from the state's Department of Forestry and Fire Management to hire a contractor to apply herbicide and organise a youth group to cull invasive plants in the forest. A detail of the epidermis of a fire-scorched saguaro cactus. 'It's not going to get better, it's going to get worse,' Pike said of communication with forest managers. He wants to secure more grants to better manage the invasive plants, but without support from forest officials, he said, 'I can't logically expand the area that I'm covering.' Still, they are tackling the impossible, weed by weed. At the top of a hill overlooking the Tonto called Sears-Kay, which features ruins almost 1,000 years old, Fenner spotted buffel grass in late March. She tried to pull it with her bare hands but it was rooted too firmly. So she called Pike, and he encouraged her to go back with a shovel. She went on a walk and pulled the plant the next day. – ©2025 The New York Times Company
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Climate
- Los Angeles Times
California's 2025 wildfire season was already going to be dangerous. Trump has made it worse
As California continues to reel from the historic firestorm that decimated portions of Los Angeles in January, the state is now facing the prospect of an exceptionally active wildfire season fueled by hot, dry conditions. It may not be ready: Experts say sweeping changes at federal agencies that play key roles in California's wildfire preparation and response could make a challenging season even worse. The latest forecast from the National Interagency Fire Center calls for above-normal fire activity across much of California and the Northwest through September. The government outlook warns of 'significant fire potential' in Northern California, the Sierra Nevada and several of the state's coastal areas due largely to a pronounced warm and dry trend. The forecast arrives as the Trump administration is enacting budget cuts, layoffs, office closures and restructuring at the U.S. Forest Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Trump has said the changes will help eliminate federal waste and save Americans' tax dollars. However, these three agencies are critical components of California's wildfire response capabilities, from forecasting and forest management to firefighting and disaster relief. Weakening them at the start of fire season — and at a moment when human-caused climate change is driving larger and more destructive blazes — puts California at a dangerous disadvantage, multiple experts said. 'The level of anxiety is so extreme among people who understand the consequences of converging crises,' said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. The combination of a bone-dry winter, an early and rapid spring snowmelt, and a forecasted anomalously hot summer raises the risk of intense fire activity across the region, he said. When coupled with new federal policies that decrease the state's ability to foresee, prepare for and respond to wildfires, it could spell disaster. 'It isn't just NOAA, it isn't just the Forest Service, it isn't just FEMA,' Swain said. 'It's every single one of these agencies, departments and entities that would be helping us either preemptively prepare or emergently respond to wildfire events and other kinds of disasters — all of which are dysfunctional at exactly the same moment.' The U.S. Forest Service oversees more than half of the forestland in California and represents the largest federal firefighting entity. The Trump administration has called for a 63% budget cut at the agency and a reduction of as many as 10,000 employees, or roughly 30% of its workforce. Agency officials say firefighters are exempt from layoffs and buyouts. 'The Forest Service continues to ensure it has the strongest and most prepared wildland firefighting force in the world,' said Larry Moore, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, in an email. There are nearly 11,000 wildland firefighters on board for the season, including about 3,500 in the Pacific Southwest region that includes California, agency data show. However, the Forest Service's ranks also include scientists that study landscape and fire conditions, crews that help clear flammable vegetation through mechanical thinning and prescribed burns, and other employees that manage machinery, technology and operational necessities — categories that were not protected from the staff reductions. What's more, approximately 1,400 workers known as 'red card' employees were also among those who left or were fired this year. The red card holders are not full-time firefighters, but are certified to deploy to blazes and assist with firefighting operations and response. Officials are now scrambling to call them back. 'It takes resources and capacity to manage our forests, and right now this administration is choking off the agency,' said Josh Hicks, conservation campaigns director with the national nonprofit the Wilderness Society. 'There's not going to be the staff, whether it's the on-the-ground staff or staff that might be more behind the scenes, to address all the needs that our forests have.' The changes at the Forest Service aren't limited to staffing. President Trump has ordered the expansion of resource mining and oil and gas drilling in the nation's forests and public lands. In April, the administration opened 112.5 million acres of federal forestland to industrial logging in an effort to increase domestic timber supplies. The order includes all 18 of California national forests. Hicks said directing the agency to extract more resources from the landscape while simultaneously reducing its staff and budget will further hamper its ability to prepare for and respond to fires this year. 'I think we'll find out soon enough if … diverting and reprioritizing what the agency ought to be working on is going to be a major distraction,' he said. The president has also proposed a drastic restructuring that would transfer much of the Forest Service's wildfire personnel to a new department located within the Department of the Interior, according to his 2026 budget plan. The change would reallocate the Forest Service's firefighting budget to the new agency and fundamentally reorient its mission to one of extraction and recreation. 'We are getting back to the basics of managing our national forests for their intended purposes of producing timber, clean water, recreation, and other necessities for the American taxpayers,' agency head Tom Schultz said in a statement ahead of a budget review hearing with the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee last week. Schultz, a Trump appointee, is a former timber industry executive. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D–Ore.) said during the hearing he was concerned about the implications of such changes for fire season, noting that his state saw a record 1.93 million acres burn last year. 'What happens if those fires are all happening all at once? And what happens if [a] longer, hotter, drier summer produces more fires than last year?' Merkley said. 'Instead of investing more in wildfire prevention and firefighting, this budget slashes those investments.' FEMA has been plagued by similar upheaval in recent months, also losing about 30% of its workforce through an estimated 2,000 workers who were laid off or took buyouts. President Trump has called for eliminating the agency altogether as part of a larger strategy to shift disaster response responsibilities away from the federal government and onto the states. In a statement to The Times, FEMA officials said the agency is committed to ensuring Americans get the support they need in an emergency, but that 'disasters are best when they're managed at the state and local level.' Last month, FEMA's acting director, Cameron Hamilton, was ousted one day after testifying in Congress that he did not think it was in the best interest of the American people to dissolve the agency. He was replaced by David Richardson, who vowed in a recent staff meeting to 'achieve the president's intent.' As with the Forest Service, experts say the turmoil at FEMA could have considerable ramifications for California. Its Fire Management Assistance Grants are often the first federal lifeline during a fire and have in the past covered up to 75% of the state's costs for equipment, personnel and other immediate firefighting needs. After a fire, FEMA typically operates disaster recovery centers, provides public assistance funds, and helps coordinate infrastructure repair, debris removal, shelters and other forms of aid. That is now likely to change. 'The scope and the capacity of the agency has been very intentionally narrowed,' said Jeffrey Schlegelmilch, an associate professor of practice at Columbia Climate School who specializes in national disaster preparedness. As a result, he said, federal disaster relief is only likely to become more rare in the months ahead. Still, Schlegelmilch said there has been broad bipartisan support for reforming FEMA, and that many experts agree that states should do more to prepare for disasters. But 'where we do need to see states spending more, we don't necessarily need to see the federal government spending less,' he said. Indeed, FEMA's programs are already seeing funding cuts and reduced capabilities across the country, including in Los Angeles, where the agency broke with tradition and declined to fund soil testing following the Palisades and Eaton fires earlier this year. The Trump administration also eliminated FEMA's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grants, which help states prepare for disaster. Trump's proposed plan would slash an additional estimated $646 million from the agency's overall budget. States don't have much time to prepare for such a potentially rapid loss of federal support. It's not clear whether FEMA will even exist come wildfire season. Trump has said he would like to wind down FEMA after this year's hurricane season, which ends in November — just as California's fire season typically peaks. 'It's going to be a very, very rough road for many states under this new paradigm,' said Schlegelmilch. When it comes to California's increasing battle against wildfires, those new challenges begin well ahead of disaster response. The Trump administration has also targeted NOAA and its subsidiary, the National Weather Service, for cutbacks. NOAA provides the foundation for much of California's wildfire preparedness, as its forecasts and warnings are often the first indication of trouble ahead and a signal for government agencies to begin positioning resources. The president's recent directives have roiled NOAA, which is facing a potential budget cut of roughly $1.5 billion following recent layoffs of more than 1,000 employees, including many meteorologists and other scientists, and the gutting of research programs. Officials this year have already suspended the launch of weather balloons at several locations across the country. At least two NWS offices in California no longer have enough staff to operate overnight: Sacramento and Hanford, which together cover the Central Valley and the Sierra, among the state's most fire-prone regions. When asked whether the agency can assure the public that recent changes will not affect its ability to forecast fire conditions and alert the public to danger, NWS spokesperson Erica Grow Cei said only that officials are taking steps to refill roles at key locations through short-term temporary duty assignments and reassignments. 'Additionally, a targeted number of permanent, mission-critical field positions will soon be advertised under an exception to the department-wide hiring freeze,' she said. Swain, of the University of California, said the loss of personnel, expertise and redundancies at NOAA and the NWS put the state's residents and firefighters at a considerable disadvantage as fire season ramps up. While cracks may not show on an ordinary weather day, 'the problem is when there is an extreme event or a disaster or an emergency,' he said. 'That's where people are going to mess up and make mistakes — not on purpose, not due to lack of training or lack of professionalism, but because they're being asked to do 200 things simultaneously, and all of them are life-and-death critical.' Compounding all of these challenges is the fiery forecast for this summer and fall. The wet winters of 2022 and 2023 prompted new vegetation growth across California, which subsequently baked under recent dry conditions. The NIFC outlook notes that precipitation in Central and Southern California has been about 70% below average since October. All that dry brush will meet with a remarkably hot summer across California and the West, which could lead to explosive fires, Swain said. He is particularly concerned about the national picture between August and October, when there is an overlap between peak fire season and peak hurricane season. 'This year is ringing a lot of alarm bells, and would be ringing alarm bells even if we had fully functional, fully funded federal agencies,' Swain said. At the state level, officials say they are doing what they can to prepare for an active fire year. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has been steadily adding more personnel in recent years and now employs more than 12,500 people with a goal to increase staffing to 14,500 over the next few years, according to David Acuña, battalion chief of communications at the agency's headquarters in Sacramento. Acuña acknowledged that conditions are ripe for a dangerous summer and fall. 'It's a haystack of dry fuels that are just waiting to burn,' he said. However, when asked about changes at the federal level, he demurred. 'There's a lot yet to be known,' he said. 'We don't really know. What we do know, though, is that when there is a fire, if Cal Fire is called upon, we will be ready and able to respond immediately.' Indeed, Cal Fire isn't only adding staff but is also expanding its firefighting capabilities through partnerships with other nonfederal entities, he said. Among them is Earth Fire Alliance, a nonprofit coalition launching satellites that analyze the landscape and search the state for wildfire activity. Another project known as ALERT California, which is operated by Cal Fire and UC San Diego, uses artificial intelligence to scan more than 1,000 remote mountaintop cameras for the first signs of sparks. While such efforts may help reduce California's reliance on the federal government, they can't fully replace its assets yet. For example, Acuña said Cal Fire depends on red flag warnings and other data from the NWS to position crews, and it often fights side-by-side with firefighters from the Forest Service. 'We rely on our local partners, tribal partners, federal partners,' he said. 'Even as large as we are, we still can't do it alone.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Feds release Oak Flat copper mine review, clearing a hurdle for disputed land exchange
The U.S. Forest Service has released the final environmental review for a huge copper mine proposed 60 miles east of Phoenix, marking one of the final steps toward a controversial land exchange that has been embroiled in legal challenges over its potential damage to land held sacred by Indigenous communities. The document, known as a Final Environmental Impact Statement, is a six-volume review of the proposed Resolution Copper mine at Oak Flat, a parcel of land in the Tonto National Forest. In 2014, Congress approved the land exchange, requiring the federal government to transfer ownership of over 2,400 acres to Resolution Copper, a multinational company, in exchange for over 5,000 acres of ecologically valuable land within Arizona. The law says the trade must occur within 60 days after the publication of a Final Environmental Impact Statement. At over 2,500 pages, the document is at the center of a long legal battle, including two recent lawsuits seeking to stop the transfer of federal land to the multinational mining company, one brought by a coalition of environmental groups and the other by the San Carlos Apache Tribe. Sacred lands: A place of prayer faces obliteration by a copper mine The original environmental impact statement was published in 2021, but was rescinded by President Joe Biden for further tribal consultation. The document will be officially posted in the Federal Register on June 20, initiating the 60-day countdown for the land to be transferred. On June 9, a federal judge in Arizona ruled the Forest Service may not transfer the land until the end of the 60-day period, giving the plaintiff groups time to review the large document. Pending future legal action, the date for the land transfer has been set for August 19. The controversial mine, owned by international conglomerates BHP and Rio Tinto, would extract one of the largest undeveloped copper deposits in the world, and would, the company says, create hundreds of jobs and contribute millions to local, state and national economies. 'This project has undergone one of the most comprehensive environmental and social reviews in U.S. history. The republication of the FEIS reflects the thorough work by the USFS, local communities, and Native American Tribes and the seriousness with which all stakeholders have approached this process,' said Vicky Peacey, general manager of Resolution Copper, in a news release. 'We remain committed to earning trust through transparency, engagement, and responsible development as we move forward,' said Peacey. The mine would also form a crater approximately 2 miles wide and 1,000 feet deep, and destroy Oak Flat, also known as Chi'chil Biłdagoteel, which is held sacred by the San Carlos Apache Tribe and other Indigenous communities and is the site of religious ceremonies. Mining: Why can't the US mine and refine all its copper? What to know about new Trump order Opponents of the mine say the huge project will also destroy rare wetland habitats and deplete ground and surface water. 'We are reviewing the environmental impact statement now, but think it is highly unlikely the Forest Service addressed the significant issues with the prior document or corrected its deficiencies,' said Sandy Bahr, director of the Sierra Club Grand Canyon chapter, one of the groups involved with the lawsuit. 'This proposed land exchange will provide enormous financial benefits to these mining companies and cause significant harm to Oak Flat and to the public that cannot be mitigated,' said Bahr. In April, the Trump administration added the Resolution Copper mine, along with nine other projects, to a priority permitting list to increase the domestic production of critical minerals in accordance with an executive order signed in March. 'The Resolution Copper Project is a prime example of how we can harness America's abundant resources to fuel growth in rural America, reduce our dependence on foreign imports, strengthen our supply chains, and enhance our national security,' said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, in a news release. 'By advancing responsible mining, we are fulfilling President Trump's vision of ensuring America remains a global leader in mineral production while creating jobs for the people and communities we serve.' According to the USDA, the mine is projected to create nearly 1,500 jobs, provide between $80 and $120 million a year in estimated state and local tax revenue for rural economies, and contribute $200 million a year to the federal government. Because the United States lacks smelting capacity, opponents of the mine say the project will ultimately benefit global markets, as the multinational company is likely to send the copper ore overseas for processing. For over a decade, Oak Flat has been the subject of debate over religious freedoms, environmental conservation, mining reform and the green energy revolution. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the lawsuit brought by grassroots group Apache Stronghold, which argued the land swap was a violation of their rights under the First Amendment and Religious Freedom Restoration Act. John Leos covers environmental issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send tips or questions to Environmental coverage on and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Follow The Republic environmental reporting team at and @azcenvironment on Facebook and Instagram. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: US Forest Service releases environmental statement for Oak Flat mine
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
More Details Emerge Around the Public Land Sale Bill — and It's Worse Than You Think
As the magnitude of Senate Republicans' proposal to sell millions of acres of public land in the West has reverberated over the last two days, opponents are mobilizing to keep what they call a bad idea from becoming law. They're encouraging the hunting and fishing community to flood Instagram and Facebook with 'hell no' videos and posts that denounce the Wednesday night bill introduced by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). They're contacting congressional delegations to let them know that the mandatory sale of between 2.02 and 3.04 million unidentified acres of BLM and Forest Service land over the next five years is a political land mine. And they're digging into the arcane and dense language of the bill to learn that it has much, much wider ramifications for Western land management than its proponents have indicated. 'Don't take the bait that this is about 'affordable housing,' as its proponent claims,' says David Willms, associate vice president for public lands with the National Wildlife Federation. 'It isn't.' An attorney, Willms has parsed the bill's language and concluded that, in both its wording and intention, it intends to remake the map of the Western United States by allowing the sale of public lands that could be used for nearly any purpose under an expansive 'associated community needs' definition. He says that could include AI data centers, ski areas, golf courses, or consolidation of large ranches. Willms and co-host of Your Mountain podcast Nephi Cole detail both the specifics of the bill and its potential consequences in a remarkable podcast that dropped today. Other conservation groups have calculated the amount and mapped the locations of BLM and Forest Service land that would be eligible for sale under Lee's bill. It totals 120 million acres across 11 Western states. .embed-container {position: relative; padding-bottom: 80%; height: 0; max-width: 100%;} .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container iframe{position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;} small{position: absolute; z-index: 40; bottom: 0; margin-bottom: -15px;} For public-land advocates, defeating the Senate Energy and Natural Resources' budget draft, which contains the public-land sale language, is the biggest fight of their careers. 'Anybody who supports this in the Senate that has any inkling that this is a good idea, they need to get their ass kicked,' says Land Tawney, the animated leader of a lobbying group called American Hunters and Anglers. 'We need to flood their social pages with comments. We need to call their offices. These folks are too scared of the public to have public meetings, but if you see them on an airplane coming home for the recess, that's a good time to remind them to keep public lands in public hands.' Meanwhile, critter conservation groups like the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation are encouraging their members to get engaged. 'RMEF is very concerned about the federal land sales provision included in Chairman Mike Lee's energy and natural resources section of the pending budget reconciliation bill and will continue to work to remove that measure from the legislation,' the foundation said in a press release. 'We encourage our members to contact their senators to express their opinions about selling two million acres of BLM and national forest lands across the West. ' Because Lee's bill draft was dropped on Wednesday evening, following an hours-long meeting of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which he chairs, early reporting focused on the jaw-dropping acreage in play. The bill, in a section titled 'Mandatory Disposal of Bureau of Land Management Land and National Forest Service System Land for Housing,' requires the BLM and Forest Service to 'select for disposal no less than 0.50 percent and not more than 0.75 percent' of eligible land for sale. National parks, wildlife refuges, designated wilderness areas, national monuments, and historic sites would be exempt from sale. The bill identifies additional exemptions: lands where there are legally recognized permits or rights-of-ways are not eligible for sale. That means livestock grazing leases, mining claims, rights-of-way for a transmission line or a pipeline or an energy lease or a solar or wind project. And federal land in Montana is exempt, because that state's senior senator, Steve Daines (R), negotiated with Lee to omit Montana from the budget package in order to reduce bill-killing opposition. In a video that discusses some of the provisions of his bill, Lee stresses that the sales would be of 'underutilized' federal land 'suitable for residential development' in order to alleviate housing shortages around fast-growing Western cities. That's not the case, says Willms. 'You're hearing that this bill would address affordable housing. It won't,' he says, pointing to bill language that says eligible land must address 'local housing needs or any associated community needs.' 'The term 'community' isn't defined,' notes Willms. 'We know the administration has called for building data centers on public land. Maybe that's considered a 'community need'? It could be a business park. Or maybe a golf course. It's public land sale under the guise of affordable housing but it's really for economic development for any use. And land can be nominated for sale by state and local governments, but the bill also says land can be nominated for sale by 'interested parties.' That could include corporations, foreign governments, we just don't know.' The bill also contains a provision that 'a person may not purchase more than 2 tracts of covered Federal land in any 1 sale… unless the person owns land surrounding the tracts of covered Federal land to be sold.' In other words, large landowners could use the land-sale mechanism to buy inholdings and consolidate their private holdings. Willms also takes exception to Lee's claim that the public would have opportunities to weigh in on proposed land sales. 'The bill contains language that says all these sales are 'considered to meet the requirements of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act,' which means that they are deemed to have already complied with all public-notice and participation requirements,' says Willms. 'It basically means the public is cut out of this. These sales will not have a public process.' If the lands package makes it into the Senate's version of the budget reconciliation bill, and the bill becomes law, public-land sales would start quickly. The bill calls for the process to start within 60 days of passage and requires the 2 to 3 million acres to be sold within five years, with 90 percent of revenue going to the U.S. Treasury, 5 percent returned to the state of the sale, and 5 percent going to the agency that sold the land. The upshot, says Willms, is 'they're going to try to jam this through in a week or two without public input, without vetting any of the potential consequences this bill will cause. This bill is not ready for prime time, yet it's in prime time … everybody is forced to take a vote on it. But I think that's intentional: jam this [mandatory land sale] into a big bill with a high priority in a tight time frame.' Sources don't expect Lee's lands package to get a vote in his Energy and Natural Resources Committee. 'Under the reconciliation process, they aren't required to mark up each section in committee,' said an unnamed legislative source who wasn't authorized to speak to the press. 'They will probably not do committee votes in order to avoid taking any more hard votes than what is necessary.' The committee's portion of the budget package, containing the land-sale requirement, will go to the Senate budget committee for review and then for a vote on the full Senate floor. That vote could happen prior to the July 4 congressional recess, says the source. The majority Republicans can only lose three votes in the Senate. If the budget package passes the Senate, then it's likely to return to the House, where it passed by a single vote last month. 'If this does pass the Senate, then I don't think the House can stomach the lands provision,' the legislative source says. 'The House language [that proposed selling 500,000 acres of federal land in Utah and Nevada] was a bridge too far for Representative Zinke (R-Mont.), among others. I think this Senate version is a continent too far for some of these folks.' A number of sources have criticized Daines for abrogating campaign pledges to defend public land. As the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, widely credited with winning the Republican majority in the Senate, and as a ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, he could use his influence to strip or moderate the lands package. 'When this lands package was in the House, we had Zinke stand up and say that selling public land was his 'San Juan Hill' and his 'red line,'' says Willms. 'But on the Senate side you don't have [a Republican] who is saying they will not vote for this.' But critics say Daines' deal with Lee has taken both Montana senators out of the fight. 'Hopefully some Republican Senator will stand up and be that champion, but we don't have that, so there's a high risk of this provision staying in this bill.' Which means, if the Senate passes the lands bill, the next and probably last place to kill it will be in the House conference committee. The unnamed legislative source said that Western senators and representatives are already getting plenty of heat on the topic, and they said that continued pressure could cause them to pull the lands package from the budget bill. 'The hunting and angling community needs to keep the pressure up,' they said. 'At the end of the day, the Republican delegations need to realize that the sportsmen's community is a big voting bloc, and the broader outdoor recreation community is an even bigger voting bloc. These folks need to realize that they're messing with a $1.3 trillion industry, but even more to the point, they need to realize this is the third rail and they've been put in an untenable position by their party's leadership.' The larger issue of disposing of the public estate without a public process or a clear public purpose isn't just a Western issue, the legislative source said. 'It doesn't matter if you live in Bozeman or Baltimore, these lands belong to you. The best thing I can advise, as someone who sees how members [of Congress] respond to stimuli, is let your Congressman know how you feel. Your members need to hear from you, and the time window is very short to engage.'
