Colorado Republicans Aren't Big on GOP Plan to Sell Off Public Lands, Either

A Republican-led effort to sell millions of acres of federal lands has divided Congress in recent weeks, but the bipartisan opposition is clear in Colorado.

United States Senator Mike Lee of Utah proposed selling up to 3.3 million acres of land in the West controlled by the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management. That plan was removed from President Donald Trump's budget bill for violating Senate rules, but Lee is trying again. His revised proposal, released on June 25, would sell up to 1.2 million acres of BLM land.

The new plan would require the sale of between 0.25 and 0.5 percent of BLM land. In Colorado, 8.3 million acres of land are managed by the BLM, meaning between 20,750 and 41,500 acres in the state would have to be sold if Lee's proposal passes. Up to 114,000 acres would have to be sold in his own state of Utah.

"The local voices are strong and clear: Coloradans do not support public land sell-off," wrote a group of state legislators from the Western Slope, in a letter to Congress expressing their "unwavering opposition" to the proposal. "These lands drive our regional economy through outdoor recreation, hunting, tourism and industries, like agriculture and ranching. They provide essential clean air and water, supporting the quality of life that attracts businesses and skilled workers."

The letter was signed by Democrats House Speaker Julie McCluskie of Dillon and Senator Dylan Roberts of Frisco, in addition to Republicans Representative Rick Taggart of Grand Junction and Senator Marc Catlin of Montrose.

Taggart and Catlin are the latest of many Colorado Republicans who have pushed against their federal party members regarding public lands sales. In March, the Colorado Legislature passed a resolution formally opposing efforts to sell, transfer or dispose of the state's national public lands. Out of 100 lawmakers, 93 voted in support, including the vast majority of the Republican caucus.

Colorado's Republican Congressman Jeff Hurd has been a leading voice against the effort to sell public lands. When Trump's budget bill was in the House, Hurd worked to successfully remove an amendment that would have mandated the sale of public lands in Utah and Nevada, along with Democratic Congressman Joe Neguse.

"Colorado’s public lands belong to the people and are held in trust for future generations," Hurd and Neguse said in a joint statement. "They don’t belong to political appointees or outside interests. Neither of our districts asked for this land sale, and any efforts to sell off these shared spaces are deeply unpopular with the hunters, ranchers, fishermen, recreationists, conservationists, and outdoor enthusiasts we are proud to represent in Congress."

"Republican or Democrat — representing red, purple or blue districts — one sentiment continues to ring true: public lands are not for sale," they added.

Supporters of the effort to sell public lands say it would spur development and generate revenue for Western states. Lee has championed the effort as a solution to rising housing prices. His new proposal specifies that the sold BLM land must be used for housing development or infrastructure to support local housing needs, and must be within five miles of a population center.

"Housing prices are crushing families and keeping young Americans from living where they grew up. We need to change that," Lee said via X on Monday. "I’m doing everything I can to support President Trump and move this forward."

Opponents have criticized the proposal as benefiting private interests at the expense of clean water and wildlife space, while also limiting land for recreation. The latter is an especially strong concern in Colorado, where the outdoor recreation industry generated over $65.8 billion in 2023 and supported 404,000 jobs statewide, according to state legislative reports.

"They want to pave over your favorite campsite and seize your favorite hiking trail so billionaires can build private playgrounds and shut the rest of us out," said Laiken Jordahl, a conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, which ran a full-page ad in the Denver Post on June 25 to oppose the GOP plan. "Mike Lee and Senate Republicans are waging an all-out war on the West, trying to pull off the largest public lands heist in U.S. history."

Lee's initial failed proposal would have made over 14.3 million acres of land in Colorado eligible for sale, according to an analysis by the Wilderness Society. That included 2,067 climbing sites, 25,428 miles of trails and 328 river miles, as reported by the Craig Daily Press.

The state-specific impacts of the new proposal are still being analyzed. It's expected to face a major fight in Congress.

"Republicans’ provision to sell off our American treasures is wildly unpopular in Colorado and throughout the country. It is flat out wrong," U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper said in a statement Wednesday. "We’ll keep fighting against their last-ditch efforts to sneak their provision back into their big ugly bill.

"Our public lands are not for sale now, or ever."

This latest attempt at selling public lands comes the same week that the Trump administration announced plans to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule, a landmark conservation rule that prohibits logging on millions of acres of federal forest lands. However, Colorado is one of just two states that will be spared from the impact of loosening those federal protections, as the state has its own roadless rule conserving Colorado forests.