Outdoor industry opposes massive public lands sale tied to GOP budget bill

A screenshot of U.S. Forest Service land that would be available for sale if Sen. Mike Lee’s provision passes with the GOP’s budget reconciliation package. Photo: Screenshot via TownLift

PARK CITY, Utah — The nation’s largest outdoor recreation coalition is urging the U.S. Senate to strip language from a Republican budget reconciliation bill that would authorize the sale of millions of acres of public land, including large tracts in Summit and Wasatch counties.

The Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR), representing over 110,000 businesses nationwide, sent a letter this week to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, warning that the proposal “could have a significant impact on the Americans who visit their lands and waters for recreational purposes and the broader $1.2 trillion outdoor recreation industry.”

The amendment, introduced by Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.), was quietly inserted into the reconciliation package and would allow the federal government to sell up to 258 million acres of Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service land across 10 Western states and Alaska. That includes more than 18.7 million acres in Utah—about one-third of the state’s total land area.

In Summit County, lands potentially eligible for sale include sections of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest near Oakley, Samak and Woodland. The High Uintas Wilderness would remain protected under the bill, but surrounding alpine areas, including land east of Park City and south of I-80 in Parleys Canyon, are not explicitly excluded.

“This sets a dangerous precedent that lands can be sold anytime the U.S. Treasury needs a budget ‘pay-for,’ depriving the American people of the ongoing return on investment public lands provide,” ORR said in its letter.

The reconciliation process allows the bill—nicknamed the “One Big Beautiful Bill”—to bypass the Senate filibuster and pass with a simple majority, heightening urgency among conservationists, local officials and outdoor business owners.

According to a report by TownLift, the bill grants broad authority to sell land for housing or infrastructure development. While it excludes national parks, monuments and designated wilderness areas, it does not list which specific parcels are eligible for sale. The bill also removes a previous exemption for grazing lands.

Sen. Lee has defended the measure as a way to divest isolated, underutilized parcels to support local growth and reduce federal land management burdens. His office released a video emphasizing that states would be able to nominate parcels, with decisions made in consultation with governors, local officials and tribes.

However, outdoor recreation advocates argue that public lands are a critical economic and cultural asset. ORR’s letter emphasizes that “keeping public lands public is a bipartisan, pro-business solution that ensures economic growth, job creation, continued recreational opportunities, and safeguards for outdoor businesses.”

The letter, co-signed by 19 national organizations, calls on the Senate to remove the provisions “before final passage, just as they were removed in the House version.”

The Outdoor Recreation Roundtable is the nation’s leading coalition of outdoor associations, representing the full spectrum of outdoor-related activities. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, outdoor recreation generates $1.2 trillion in economic output and supports 5 million American jobs.