Congressional Push to Sell Public Lands Threatens Hunting Access
Keith Lusher 06.24.25
Congressional Republicans are advancing a plan that could remove millions of acres from public hunting access under the banner of addressing affordable housing shortages. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has included provisions in their budget reconciliation proposal mandating the sale of between 2 million and 3 million acres of federal land across 11 western states: a six-fold increase from earlier House proposals targeting 500,000 acres.
The budget reconciliation process allows legislation to pass with just 51 Senate votes, but comes with concerning limitations. “The trade-off is that you can’t have policy in reconciliation, only vague guidelines that the administration can implement as they see fit,” explains Joel Webster of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. This creates a “real risk of selling land that was maybe unintended by members of Congress.”
Questionable Housing Solution = Threatened Hunting Access
While proponents frame land sales as addressing housing crises, critics question the logic. “It seems a little nonsensical to use the sale of public lands for affordable housing as any meaningful offset,” notes Kaden McArthur of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. “By definition if these are going to be affordable housing units, you have to wonder how much revenue gets generated.”
Many targeted lands exist far from urban centers where housing shortages are acute, raising questions about whether disposal would meaningfully address housing availability.
Permanent Loss of Hunting Access
For hunters and anglers, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Once public lands are sold, they typically become private with restricted access, with a permanent loss, unlike temporary closures or management changes.
“If you’re in a community that has public lands in and around it, you could be caught up in a mandate to sell lands that have nothing to do with addressing housing costs,” Webster warns. Joel Pedersen of TRCP emphasized the finality: “Once public lands are sold, they are gone for good.”
The hunting community has mobilized significant opposition. Forty-four hunting, fishing, and conservation organizations sent a joint letter to Senate leadership urging the removal of land sales from reconciliation. Individual sportsmen have voiced strong objections, with one noting: “Once it’s sold and gone, it will be developed and will be lost to outdoor recreation forever.”
The proposed sales would affect BLM, Forest Service, National Wildlife Refuge, and Bureau of Reclamation lands. These sales would cover up to 3 million acres, roughly the size of Connecticut.
Conservation groups urge hunters to contact Congress. “Right now our biggest ask is for folks who hunt and fish to reach out to members of Congress and say ‘we should not be selling public land,'” McArthur emphasizes. “It’s nonsensical and not something we’re interested in.”
As Congress deliberates the budget package, the hunting community faces a critical moment that could determine whether future generations inherit the same access to wild places, or find vast swaths permanently off-limits behind private gates
