Map by The Wilderness Society of public lands potentially eligible for sell-off. Eligible national forest lands are in green. Eligible BLM lands are in yellow. (Map and analysis by The Wilderness Society using source data from BLM, USFS, USGS, NPS, and SENR reconciliation bill text as of June 16, 2025.)
Attend tonight’s Glenwood Springs City Council meeting to support a city resolution opposing land sale provision now before Congress
6:15 p.m. tonight, June 19, 2025 • Glenwood Springs City Hall
Watch the City Council meeting on YouTube
This evening, June 19, the Glenwood Springs Citizens’ Alliance will ask the Glenwood Springs City Council to approve a resolution opposing provisions in the federal budget reconciliation bill that call for a vast sell-off of public lands in the West.
Join us in supporting this urgent action by attending the meeting. Resolutions approved by elected officials carry extra weight with Congress. The Citizens’ Alliance is asking our local elected officials to speak out against this deeply misguided provision.
The federal budget reconciliation bill has passed the House and is now in the Senate. There, U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is pushing a plan to sell off millions of acres of national forest and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands over the next five years.
While national parks, national monuments and wilderness areas are off the table, millions of acres of land not protected in these ways could be eligible for sale.
The Wilderness Society prepared a map illustrating in fine-grain detail the national forest and BLM lands potentially at risk. (Link to the map below.)
A deep zoom on the map shows that the area of the Transfer Trail limestone quarry would not likely be eligible because of the existing mining claims. That’s cold comfort for us, as we know that Rocky Mountain Industrials still hopes to renew its defunct mining permits.
Lands that are at risk for sale:
- The City of Glenwood Springs watershed, taking in nearly all of the Grizzly Creek and No Name Creek drainages and lands to the north.
- National forest land on both sides of Glenwood Canyon.
- BLM land directly north of the Glenwood Springs city limits, from Oasis Creek westward
- Storm King Mountain, including the Storm King 14 Memorial Trail
- The north-facing escarpment of Red Mountain, above the Meadows
- A patch of BLM land atop Lookout Mountain
- National forest lands on Compass Peak under lease by Sunlight Mountain Resort
“We are deeply alarmed at the potential eligibility of these lands for sale,” said Jeff Peterson, president of the Citizens’ Alliance.
This evening, the Citizens’ Alliance will ask the Glenwood Springs City Council to pass a resolution that will urge Colorado’s congressional delegation to actively oppose and aggressively pursue elimination of the public lands sell-off.
“Glenwood Springs can be a leader on this critical issue,” Peterson said. “We also urge elected officials in neighboring communities to quickly pass similar resolutions.
“Congress needs to hear that a mass sell-off of our public lands is not acceptable,” he added.
Resources:
Wilderness Society map of public lands eligible for sell-off
(Map and analysis by The Wilderness Society using source data from BLM, USFS, USGS, NPS, and SENR reconciliation bill text as of June 16, 2025.)
Wilderness Society information page: “250+ million acres of public lands eligible for sale in SENR bill” (updated as bill provisions change)
News coverage:
Glenwood Springs Post Independent, June 18, 2025
Here’s which Colorado public lands could be sold under the latest Republican budget proposal
By Ali Longwell
The Daily Sentinel, June 19, 2025
By Dennis Webb