A Breakdown of Senator Mike Lee’s (R-UT) public land sell-off budget amendment and what it means for the lands and communities on the California side of the Amargosa Basin.
On June 14th, 2025, Senator Mike Lee of Utah introduced an amendment as part of the process of working through the Senate’s side of the Federal budget bill, termed the “Big Beautiful Bill” by President Trump. This amendment was introduced with the intention of mandatory selling, or “disposing” of approximately 2.2 to 3.2 million acres of federally controlled public land in 11 Western states over five years, including: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Lands in Montana were notably excluded.
However, on the proverbial table is essentially any Forest Service (USFS) or Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands without a designation, such as national monuments, wilderness, or national recreation areas. In total, approximately 250 million acres of public lands are applicable under Senator Lee’s original proposal. And this initial proposal opens the door to selling off more and more, all under the guise of “affordable housing”, which is itself not explicitly required to be affordable in the actual proposal language.
Lands included in the initial June 14th bill text include thousands of acres surrounding Death Valley Junction, Shoshone, Tecopa, Charleston View, Sandy Valley, and Baker, as well as Pahrump, Amargosa Valley, and Las Vegas in Nevada (see attached maps). If sold at this scale, and without proper consultation with local communities and entities, land sales would stand to permanently change the fabric of local life in a way that would likely not benefit those who live here. Public land sales would not lead to affordable housing, as publicly stated, and would effectively cut off public access to lands that are our favorite places to recreate in, would leave a tarnished legacy for future generations, and would harm intact lands and communities that depend upon them.
Through this proposal, lands administratively designated (through a BLM planning process) for protection and recreational use through California’s Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) face an uncertain future. This includes Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs), Special and Extensive Recreation Management Areas (SRMAs & ERMAs), National Conservation Lands (NCLs), designated Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) routes, and more. Places we love and enjoy are now threatened at an unprecedented scale and with little to no public and tribal input.
Public lands at risk on the California side of the basin encompass much of what is currently included in the proposal for an Amargosa Basin National Monument.
This effort by Senator Lee has received tremendous pushback from constituents, tribes, recreationists, conservation groups, other elected officials, and members of the general American public. Whether or not any public land gets sold off as part of the Senate’s version of the budget reconciliation bill, the threat will not stop here.
As of June 24th, the U.S. Senate parliamentarian, essentially a referee of the budget bill process, ruled that Senator Lee’s proposal violates Senate budget reconciliation rules. However, a new proposal has been submitted that allegedly scales potential sell-offs back to within five miles of population centers, still putting vast acreages at risk.
The bottom line is that grassroots efforts with local community engagement are needed more than ever. The public lands and communities of the Amargosa Basin are vulnerable to short-sighted proposals like Senator Lee’s. It is therefore important that we continue to advocate for our local public lands and their lasting protection.
A snapshot of all public lands eligible to be sold as part of Senator Lee’s June 14th proposal. BLM lands are in orange, and USFS lands are in green.
BLM lands eligible to be sold in the Amargosa Basin, with the proposed Amargosa Basin National Monument boundary overlaid.
BLM lands eligible to be sold surrounding Death Valley Junction, CA.
BLM lands eligible to be sold surrounding Shoshone and Tecopa, CA.
