Analysis: Trump Plan to Sell Public Lands Targets Treasured Places, Protected Wildlife

Nearly 500 separate areas deemed worthy of protection by the Bureau of Land Management or Congress, including dozens of national monuments and protected waterways, fall within the Interior Department’s target to sell roughly 400,000 acres to local governments and private developers.

These areas include critical habitat for federally protected threatened or endangered plants and animals, including desert tortoises, Canadian lynx, Pacific martens and several species of birds and fish.

“Trump’s ham-fisted plan could destroy some of America’s most treasured places and imperiled wildlife habitat so fat cat developers can build malls, McMansions and data centers,” said Randi Spivak, public lands policy director at the Center. “It’s appalling that the Trump administration wants to steal these public lands from the public, and even more galling that these billionaires think people will stand for it. No one voted to have their favorite campsite paved over and rare animals driven to extinction.”

The Interior Department is considering selling federal lands within 10 miles of cities and towns with a population greater than 5,000 people. That would sweep in dozens of wilderness areas and areas of critical environmental concern — designated by the BLM as needing protection under federal law — in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and Montana. National monuments, including Vermilion Cliffs in Arizona, Sand to Snow in California, and Bears Ears in Utah, are also at risk, according to the Center’s analysis.

The Center’s analysis includes BLM lands designated specifically for conservation purposes, critical habitat designated for numerous threatened and endangered species, protected wild and scenic rivers, and habitat for imperiled species such as greater sage grouse. The analysis was done using mapping software and publicly available datasets from the BLM, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey.

“We refuse to allow the reckless looting of our public lands by the Trump administration and his rich friends,” said Spivak. “We’ll do everything possible to keep Trump from paving over treasured places and wildlife habitat for sprawl development. Americans cherish their public lands and they know that once these lands are sold there’s no going back.”


The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.8 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/analysis-trump-plan-to-sell-public-lands-targets-treasured-places-protected-wildlife-2025-04-07