Opinion: Public lands should not be sold. Open lands are our shared 'inheritance. . . and space of democracy'

Humpback whale joyfully feeding in the Kenai Fjords, Alaska. (NPS Photo by K. Thoresen)

Even though lawmakers ultimately rejected the sale of public lands as part of the federal budget bill called the Big Beautiful Bill, that doesn’t mean the idea won't come around again. In her opinion for The New York Times, Terry Tempest Williams explains what motivated Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and other like-minded Republicans to push for the provision and why so many Americans opposed it.

Had it passed, the provision would have facilitated the sale of more than one million acres of public lands; however, the loss of public property wouldn't be the only consequence. "Lee claimed in each of his many revisions of the proposal that disposing of our public lands was a way to address the housing crisis," Williams writes. "But that was a ruse; housing experts have said it wouldn’t have made a dent in the problem. What the senator wanted was to establish a precedent — to normalize selling off our public lands to generate cash to pay for tax cuts. Open that door, and the open space of democracy closes."

Porcupine caribou mothers go to Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in 
Alaska for calving season. (Photo by P. Maher, CPAWS) 

As lawmakers wrangled over the provision, a dramatic rejection of the idea came from "over 100 conservation groups and public lands advocates, as well as hunters, anglers, ranchers, recreationists and right-wing influencers," Williams explains. The sale legislation failed because "in addition to Democrats, four Republican senators from Montana and Idaho refused to vote for it. . . five Republican House representatives from Western states said it was a 'poison pill.' . . . America’s public lands are safe — for now."

Americans made it known to Congress that their lands were not for sale. "Members of Congress learned once again that if they don’t support public lands, they risk being voted out of office, especially in the American West," Williams writes. "What we saw was collective outrage fueled by love — energy we must nurture and draw on in the months and years to come."

Lee isn't the first politician to look at federal lands and see the money privatization could bring. According to Williams, Americans must remain stalwart protectors of their public "inheritance" that remains home to vastly different kinds of wildlife and broad expanses of landscapes found nowhere else on the planet. Williams writes, "What I feel more deeply now is that open lands inspire open minds. This is the open space of democracy."