From proposed sell-offs of millions of acres of public lands, to rescinding of the beloved “Roadless Rule”, it’s been a big week for federal land policy. So how does this all impact us here in the Wasatch?
Things are evolving quickly, this is our best available information as of 8pm MT on 6/26/25
A Battle Against Public Land Sell-Offs in the Budget Bill
Utah Senator Mike Lee attempted to mandate the sale of up to 3.3 million acres of public land by adding provisions to the House Fiscal Year 2025 Reconciliation Bill (aka Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”), a process typically reserved for fiscal matters. In the Central Wasatch alone, 35,839 acres were at risk, with even more endangered throughout the rest of the Wasatch. Masked as a way to solve the national housing shortage, the bill permitted the sale of public land to the highest bidder – hardly a solution. Alongside advocacy from hundreds of other organizations across the nation, Save Our Canyons members sent almost 2,000 letters to our Senators asking for “solutions, not sell-offs”. Save Our Canyons also signed on to letters by the National Wilderness Coalition and Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance in opposition to these sell-offs, and met with several congressional offices to voice our concerns. Late Tuesday, June 23rd, the Senate Parliamentarian ruled that Senator Lee’s proposal violated the Byrd Rule, which requires the reconciliation process to remain focused on the budget. This resulted in the language mandating public land sales being stripped from the bill unless it could receive at least 60 votes, a nearly impossible feat in a closely-divided Congress.
This is great news, but the fight is far from over. Senator Lee has already reintroduced a new version of his public lands sell-off proposal. The original language was scaled back to include only land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) within 5 miles of population centers, selling up to 1.2 million acres. The Getches-Wilkinson Center at University of Colorado Boulder has published an updated one-pager on the new version. Though public lands in the Wasatch, primarily National Forest Lands, are safe from this attack, the precedent of selling public lands as a budget patch is still on the table. It is important to note that there is a clear, transparent congressional process to sell or swap individual parcels of federal land as has been proposed in the Central Wasatch National Conservation and Recreation Area Act (CWNCRA). The proposal by Senator Lee, however, is a sweeping change with little opportunity for local communities that use the at-risk public lands to shape the outcome – and if Lee gets his way, it won’t stop there. It’s possible the Parliamentarian may have further issues, and Lee may revise the language again, but it’s likely he will continue his efforts to turn public land into paychecks as long as he is in office.
Though the worst public lands portion of the larger bill was stripped, it still includes a “pay-to-play” system allowing sponsors to fast-track the NEPA process by paying a fee (think - ski resorts paying to shorten Environmental Impact Statements and Assessments for developments on National Forest land). It also includes mandates for the Forest Service to enter into long-term logging contracts in every region, ignoring local needs and forest plans. Both of these changes – hardly budgetary matters – would have sweeping and irreversible impacts to the Wasatch if passed.
With a majority vote on the Senate Floor, possibly as soon as this Friday (6/27/25), this bill would then be sent back to the House for concurrence. With the bad provisions around NEPA and logging contracts, along with multiple opportunities for sell-offs to creep back in, we encourage you to continue sending messages to members of Congress and block the sale of public lands.
Click here to send a message directly to your Senators and House Representative.
Roadless Rule On The Chopping Block
On June 23, 2025, the same day as the Byrd Rule decision, we received disappointing news – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced the Trump Administration would attempt to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. To conform with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), this change can’t be made simply with a signature. The administration must go through a formal rulemaking process, and because of the clear potential for environmental impacts, this would likely require the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The EIS alone, which would require a public input period, could take multiple years, and we expect multiple lawsuits that could further delay the rulemaking process for some time. This administrative rule, which has been broadly supported and celebrated by Americans for 24 years, prohibits road construction, road reconstruction, and timber harvesting in Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs) across nearly 59 million acres of Public Lands.
Inventoried Roadless Areas receive certain protections that limit development, but not to the level of Congressionally-designated Wilderness. Per the 1999 inventory, there are 34 roadless areas in the Wasatch, totaling over 600,000 acres. Some notable areas include White Pine, Mineral Fork, Dog Lake, Elbow Fork, and the area above Nordic Valley, which would have seen major ski resort expansion without roadless protections. 73,300 roadless acres are recommended for Wilderness designation within the Wasatch, including significant portions of the proposed Central Wasatch National Conservation and Recreation Area. While roadless areas often hold value as future wilderness, they are also recognized for their present value in the face of increased development pressures. The 2003 Wasatch-Cache Forest Plan states:
“In the past, roadless areas were only looked at for their potential for wilderness recommendation. It is now recognized that roadless areas have significant ecological, as well as social values. The values of roadless are of both local and national significance. Roadless areas are often aquatic strongholds for fish; provide critical habitat and migration routes for many wildlife species, especially those requiring large home ranges and key watershed areas for communities and wildlife. The recognition of the values of roadless areas is increasing, as the population continues to grow and as the demand for outdoor recreation and other uses of the forests increases. These unroaded and undeveloped areas provide the Forest with opportunities for potential wilderness areas, non-motorized and limited motorized recreation, and other commodity and amenity uses.”
Impacts to wildfire - The announcement stated this action would allow for "fire prevention and responsible timber production”. It should be noted that 85% of wildland fires in the U.S. are estimated to be human-caused, with a majority happening along roadways, often by vehicles. In fact, 2024’s Yellow Lake Fire was caused by a logging operation in the Uinta Mountains that ignited over 33,000 acres after being sparked by a commercial logging operation on National Forest land. Save Our Canyons supports efforts to reduce wildfire risk in the Wasatch, but more roads and commercial logging operations in roadless areas are far from a solution. Instead, we encourage the administration and Congress to pursue solutions to wildfire risk while improving forest habitat through prescribed fire and mechanical fuel treatments that follow best practices. Prescribed fire, and in some cases mechanical fuel treatments can be permitted in Inventoried Roadless Areas. An example of this is the ongoing Shared Stewardship work we support with the U.S. Forest Service, Salt Lake City, and Utah Department of Natural Resources - much of this work is done within Inventoried Roadless Areas, and has seen great success.
Impacts to the proposed LCC gondola - Save Our Canyons has long made the argument that the proposed Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola, several portions of which would be built in and over Inventoried Roadless Areas, should not be exempt from the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The LCC EIS Record of Decision suggests that UDOT believes a gondola would be exempt. This is, however, not one of the claims included in our pending litigation; as unfortunate as this administrative change is, it should not impact the outcome of our lawsuit.
Like past attempts to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, this administrative change will likely result in years of court battles by groups like EarthJustice, who have already vowed to litigate. Though it is unlikely to see changes within the current presidential administration, we can advocate for tangible solutions with members of Congress like the Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2025, and the Tribal Self-Determination and Co-Management in Forestry Act of 2025. We will continue to keep you informed as attempts to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule continue.
Although Senator Lee frames the land sell-offs, and Secretary Rollins frames the rescinding of the Roadless Rule, as solutions to housing shortages and wildfire risk, we see them as a clear attempt to sell off our National Forests to the highest bidder. We need your voice now more than ever. These ongoing threats to public lands and forest protections require sustained, collective action. Contact your elected officials, share this update with your community, and continue standing with Save Our Canyons to defend the Wasatch. Together, we can stop shortsighted sell-offs and preserve these wild places for future generations.
