Republicans in the U.S. Senate have proposed a major sell-off of public lands throughout the West as part of their budget bill.
It would apply to 11 states, including Arizona, over the next five years.
The measure directs the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service to dispose of up to 3.3 million acres.
The effort excludes national parks and monuments along with wilderness and other areas with additional federal protections.
Utah Senator Mike Lee proposed the sell-off and says it’s needed to address housing shortages in western communities.
He made that case in a video released last week.
“We’re opening underused federal land to expand housing, support local development and get Washington DC out of the way," Lee says.
Earlier this week, the nonprofit Wilderness Society released a map outlining the 250 million acres nationwide that would be eligible for sale.
It includes nearly 14.5 million acres in Arizona alone.
Mike Quigly is the group’s Arizona state director.
“It’s really a large portion of the forests around Flagstaff that would be eligible. Now again, all that getting sold off in one chunk? Highly unlikely. But within that footprint there could be land sales from the federal estate to private interests," Quigly says.
The U.S. House rejected a smaller proposal to sell off close to 500 thousand acres in Utah and Nevada last month.
Critics say the Senate’s proposal would fund tax cuts for billionaires.
Democratic Senator Mark Kelly calls it “reckless and wrong” and says it would hurt Arizona’s environment and economy.
