Please explain what is going on with public land.

[Archery1995]

Hey guys im terribly confused and uneducated on the latest issues regarding all this public land drama. Im trying to research and get caught up so I thought it would be useful to reach out to the community here as well.

Point blank : Are we loosing our public lands? What the hell is going in with all this BLM stuff?


Please put it in basic terms thanks.

 

[Addicting]

@Big Fin

 

[Buffs35]

Short version: our politicians only work for the billionaire class, not the red or blue. The billionaire class wants to buy public land at a severe discount, therefore, public land will be sold for parts to the lowest billionaire bidder.

 

[rookieforever33]

All while the public land users ar told how this will be better for them, and small concessions are thrown their way and told they are more big wins for public land users.


Which none are.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Are we loosing our public lands?

99.9% of it is neither for sale nor up for auction. There are small scale changes of ownership from public to private and vice versa going on all the time, through the proper hoops (it is a slow process).

There are immense threats to the future of our public lands. They are collectively worth at least 2 trillion dollars - that is an estimate on the extreme lower end. There are many eyes in the prize, looking for one or another way to obtain it at a steep discount. Significant corruption within the US government is easily exploited to execute these transfers.

Public land liquidation experts use a sophisticated multi-prong strategy spanning decades to set the stage for eventual successful divestment of public lands. One of the multitude of their initiatives is to intentionally sabotage federal land management to make it look like our government is incapable of managing it.

Under both Trump administrations, the BLM has suffered waves of “reforms” that cripple the agency’s ability to generate revenue, maintain critical infrastructure, fight wildfires, negotiate with a multitude of stakeholders, preserve land ecology, and otherwise exist in any form as a functional agency.

The deep dysfunction irritates local communities, sportspersons, extraction industry, ranchers, Indian tribes, environmentalists, and basically everyone whose life or livelihood intersects with BLM land. The idea is get enough people irritated for long enough, we eventually get exhausted and give in to getting rid of federal ownership so that the land can be put to better use. The catch is that in the process of doing so, billion-dollar investors take an enormous bite out of the land’s present and future value, leaving the public on the losing end of the transaction.

A lot is going on with the BLM lately. To name just a few things:
-Massive staff turnover via firings, months of work without pay via government shut downs, destruction of morale at being handed over to Elon’s metaphorical chainsaw, conversion of civil servant positions to partisan appointees, overwork due to budget cuts and unfilled positions, underfunding, and many other factors.
-Dramatically cut research budgets, and scuttling of science-based resource management
-Appointing an anti-public lands Director
-Removing “conservation” as one of the shared use objectives
-facing a wacky, untenable idea to reinstitute large-scale logging, despite the sawmills long since shuttered and non-operational.
-survived a 2025 attempt by Sen Mike Lee (R-UT) to sell vast stretches to pad the Treasury General Fund
-facing pressure to convert vast stretches into solar or wind farms, or sale/transfer to build affordable housing
-Habitat loss, severe drought (in many places), and major troughs in wildlife populations such as antelope and sage grouse.
-Major habitat destruction via expanding feral equid herds, loss of range quality through invasive plant species such as cheatgrass and juniper encroachment

 

[SAJ-99]

A few more…
- eliminating oversight
- cutting lease rates to make drilling more lucrative
- banning bison grazing

The list is long. Most will only notice small changes in the near term, but the effects will last a long time.

Interesting article.

The Biggest Takeaways From Our Investigation Into Grazing on Public Lands

Livestock grazing is allowed across 240 million acres of federal land. Our investigation revealed the subsidies propping up ranching, its impact on the environment and the politics underpinning the system.

www.propublica.org

 

[WyoCoalMiner]

Others have made some really strong points. But don't forget to include:

• A decent amount of hyperbolic over-reaction to some relatively benign changes.

 

[SAJ-99]

 

[Bonasababy]

Others have made some really strong points. But don't forget to include:

• A decent amount of hyperbolic over-reaction to some relatively benign changes.

The changes are in fact seismic when looking at the entire picture. Roll back of environmental protections and massive cutbacks in staff need to be looked at in conjunction with land losses.

At the core of all of it is a clear desire to allow wealthy and Trump contributors access to public lands to increase personal profit.

That sound you hear is Teddy Rooseveldt spinning in his grave.

 

[shrapnel]

Short version: our politicians only work for the billionaire class, not the red or blue. The billionaire class wants to buy public land at a severe discount, therefore, public land will be sold for parts to the lowest billionaire bidder.

There are less than 1000 bilionaires in America and they don't all belong to the same party.

I doubt 1000 people are having that much impact on 360,000,000 people...

 

[Dave N]

There are less than 1000 bilionaires in America and they don't all belong to the same party.

I doubt 1000 people are having that much impact on 360,000,000 people...

All it takes is a handful.

 

[Buffs35]

I doubt 1000 people are having that much impact on 360,000,000 people...

 

[jryoung]

There are less than 1000 bilionaires in America and they don't all belong to the same party.

I doubt 1000 people are having that much impact on 360,000,000 people...

It's not like any of them have purchased/developed traditional and or social media platforms to craft narratives or anything.

And how did Massie get primaried.....or why does Montana have the most political campaign spending per capital?

 

[Archery1995]

I think im starting to get an idea on these issues now. Thank you to everyone who replied.

 

[WyoCoalMiner]

Just some data for context of the issue over the last 20 years. Appears all Admins are incredibly bad at selling off FS land.

 

[Rack Daniels]

I think im starting to get an idea on these issues now. Thank you to everyone who replied.

Just read that really long one by pucky freak over and over. It really sums up the seismic scale that SAJ was talking about