A BIG, BEAUTIFUL MESS
This article was published in the June 28, 2025 edition.
Significant portions of public land in Mono and Inyo County could be vulnerable to private sale if a proposal to sell millions of acres of public land is passed through congress.
Senate Energy Chairman Mike Lee included the sale proposal in the “Big Beautiful Bill,” a legislative package that includes tax breaks, spending cuts, and border security funding, but it was ruled out Tuesday after Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough determined the provision violated the Byrd Rule and removed it from the reconciliation bill.
Parliamentarian’s rulings are advisory, but they are rarely, if ever, ignored, according to the Associated Press.
Lee’s proposal seeks to make public lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) eligible for sale to “be used solely for the development of housing or to address associated infrastructure to support local housing needs.”
However, the legislation holds no stipulation of the affordability of such housing, meaning developers could purchase the land and use it to dot the landscape with private estates.
The proposal revives a longtime ambition of Western conservatives to cede lands to private interests after a similar proposal failed in the House earlier this year.
And though the initial proposal was struck down, Lee has pushed forward on his goal, indicating on X Monday night he would modify his original proposal to remove all USFS land from possible sale and reduce sales of sites controlled by the BLM so that only land within 5 miles of population centers could be sold.
“Housing prices are crushing families and keeping young Americans from living where they grew up,” he wrote. We need to change that.’’
Considering that 88% of Mono County and 92% of Inyo County are federally owned, these proposed sales could have major implications for the area, according to a GIS map created by Outdoor Alliance, a coalition of environmental organizations.
Much of the land surrounding Mono Lake is highlighted in the Outdoor Alliance map. This area hosts several endangered species, including the endangered bi-state sage grouse and the Mono Lake Tufa rare geologic formations.
It also serves as a major tourist attraction, creating revenue for surrounding towns Lee Vining and Bridgeport. The shoreline of the Lake is managed by USFS, but just beyond it lay swaths of BLM land.
A significant portion of the Bodie Hills is managed by the BLM, and therefore could be eligible for public land disposal if Lee’s proposal were to come to fruition. This area is host to a diverse assemblage of plant and animal species, including Pronghorn antelope, which are rare in central eastern California. It also holds cultural resources from historical mining and local tribes.
Further south, there are massive tracts of BLM land surrounding Benton, bordered by the White Mountains to the east and the Benton Range to the west. This area is largely used for livestock grazing, though it remains ambiguous whether active grazing allotments would be prioritized or avoided in disposal criteria.
There are a few lands that are excluded from the sale proposal, including lands “subject to existing rights,” which would apply distinctly to mining claims and energy leases.
Other federally protected lands, such as national monuments, conservation areas and wilderness areas are also protected from the proposal. The proposal also does not include public lands in Montana; a move some analysts interpret as a strategy to secure political support from the state’s congressional delegation.
Local environmental groups including Mono Lake Committee and Friends of the Inyo have called local residents to contact U.S. Representative for California Kevin Kiley to oppose the proposed sale of public lands.
“We need to be targeting key republicans in California to stand up for their districts and tell their colleagues in the Senate they will not vote for this bill” wrote Allison Weber, Friends of the Inyo Forest and Water Policy Director in a post to the organization’s website. “Our Representative, Kevin Kiley, happens to be one of these key republicans.”
On a national scale, the proposal is largely opposed by congressional democrats and has split republicans, the Associated Press reported.
Congressional republicans in favor of the “Big Beautiful Bill” have set a goal to have it passed through congress by July 4, a timeline President Donald Trump has endorsed.
