The latest version of their funding package, unironically dubbed the “Big Beautiful Bill,” requires the sale of 3.3 million acres of public lands, and an amendment authorizes the sale of 258 million acres more—including many of the wild places you’ve worked to protect from logging—to private interests.
The bill would also mandate wildly inflated timber targets and ramp up oil and gas leasing and development across the West, exacerbating the worst impacts of the twin biodiversity and climate crises.
Masquerading as a fix to the housing crisis, this public land grab threatens the mature and old-growth forests that provide crucial fish and wildlife habitat, filter our drinking water, absorb climate pollution, and offer unrivaled recreation opportunities. We need your voice NOW to stop this brazen public land grab.
Dear [Elected Official],
I am urging you to vote NO on the “Big Beautiful Bill” and any bill that includes provisions to sell off public lands and ask that you encourage your colleagues to do the same. Public lands belong to all who call this country home, and it’s short-sighted to consider selling off vast swaths of public lands in western states to fund tax cuts for the wealthy few. I vehemently oppose the budget bill provisions being proposed to sell off public lands to private interests to increase commercial logging of public forests to meet arbitrarily inflated timber targets.
Public lands provide crucial fish and wildlife habitat, filter our drinking water, absorb climate pollution, and offer unrivaled recreation opportunities. Increased logging under Section 0302 would put drinking water sources at risk; impact habitat for old-growth dependent species like red tree voles, marbled murrelets, and northern spotted owls; and increase wildfire risk. Waterways home to wild salmon and steelhead would be at greater risk of increased sedimentation, pesticide pollution, and changes in flow and temperature with more logging. Claims that this public land privatization scheme would help address the housing crisis are disingenuous—much of the lands being targeted are far from communities and do not provide a feasible option for housing development. Indeed, the bill’s text does not require that the lands be used for housing. Proposed bill provisions would also double down on oil and gas extraction at a time when we must transition away from fossil fuels to abate the worst impacts of the climate crisis already impacting our communities.
Please oppose any efforts that increase logging, mining, and oil and gas drilling on public lands. I do not support any efforts to liquidate our public lands for private profit or development, and I encourage you to oppose any provisions that alter existing rules for agencies to ‘dispose’ of public land parcels or aim to exclude the public from decisions regarding public lands. Public lands are this country’s greatest idea and are to be held in trust for the American public—selling them off is a betrayal of current and future generations.
Thank you.
Cascadia Wildlands
P.O. Box 10455
Eugene, OR 97440
541.434.1463
