05-02-2025
Vasquez sponsors legislation to make public land sell-offs harder
Feb. 4—Congressman Gabe Vasquez wants to make it harder for the federal government to sell public lands, an idea that has been floated to balance the federal budget.
Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., introduced the Public Lands in Public Hands Act with Vasquez, D-N.M., in January. The bill would require congressional approval for selling or transferring public lands managed by the Department of the Interior or the U.S. Forest Service.
"The fact that our former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has joined me in supporting this bill as a Republican is hugely important, as we've seen that the sale and transfer of public lands are part of what we see from this administration's attempt to shore up the budget, essentially to make budget cuts to give away trillions of dollars to billionaires in this country," Vasquez said.
House Republicans' new rules for the House this congressional session could make it easier to sell public lands. The rules package adopted by the House includes a provision that lawmakers can't raise a budgetary point of order if a bill to transfer federal land to state, local or tribal governments comes to the floor.
The Public Lands in Public Hands Act was introduced previously in early 2024 but has become timelier after the state of Utah filed a lawsuit pushing for control of about half of the state's federal public lands. The Supreme Court declined to hear that lawsuit in January. Utah could refile in federal district court.
The bill is critical to ensuring public lands remain accessible, said Michael Casaus, New Mexico state director for The Wilderness Society.
"These are lands that the vast majority of New Mexicans depend on for outdoor recreation, for traditional uses, firewood gathering, collecting piñon nuts and medicinal plants, hunting and fishing," Casaus said. "For me, you can't put a price tag on that. Any efforts to sell off and privatize our public lands is really only aimed to privilege the few wealthy individuals who'd be able to purchase those lands."
Fix Our Forests Act
Vasquez is also cosponsoring the Fix Our Forests Act, forest management legislation introduced by Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, which passed the House last week in a 279-141 vote. The stated goal of the Fix Our Forests Act is to reduce wildfire threat and expedite forest management projects.
The bill includes legislation from Vasquez to allow targeted livestock grazing meant to reduce wildfire risk and to expand Good Neighbor Authority to tribes, allowing tribes to sell timber under Good Neighbor Authority agreements.
"Allowing tribes like the Mescalero Apache to be able to participate in force in projects in an area in the Lincoln National Forest that impacts their traditional homelands is really important for me, and their ability to actually take on some of these projects is included in this bill, which is one of the main reasons I supported it," Vasquez said.
The U.S. Forest Service can enter agreements with non-federal entities like states or counties through the Good Neighbor Authority. But under existing law, tribal governments cannot do timber sales under their own Good Neighbor Authority agreements.
The legislation would allow tribes to "have thinning operations that both help prevent catastrophic wildfires, and at the same time, allows them to benefit both from the jobs and the timber sales that come with reducing that wildfire risk," Vasquez said.
The Fix Our Forests Act would also exempt some activities from review under the National Environmental Policy Act and exempt the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management from some regulatory requirements under the Endangered Species Act, a measure drawing ire from environmental advocacy groups.
NEPA requires federal agencies to consider environmental impacts of major projects, such as new roads or mining, while the Endangered Species Act provides protections for endangered plants and animals.
According to advocacy groups Environment America and Defenders of Wildlife, exempting a range of vegetation management activities from NEPA would open public lands to massive logging projects.
"This is nothing more than a bill of goods that will do little of anything to combat fires and instead plays favorites with the timber industry which is hungry to consume more of our forests — removing large fire-resilient trees and devastating the lands and species which call them home," Robert Dewey, vice president of government relations at Defenders of Wildlife said in a statement.
