Residents Weigh in on Public Lands Sale Proposal

Bend locals gathered at Drake Park June 21 to march in protest against the proposed sale of millions of acres public lands in several Western states, including Oregon. The proposal was introduced in early June as an amendment to a Republican budget bill called colloquially the “big beautiful bill.”

According to reporting from The New York Times, the proposal would require the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service to identify and sell between 2.2 million and 3.3 million acres of public lands across 11 Western states.

Eligible states for this proposal would include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Utah Senator Mike Lee, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee chairman, said on social media that the move will help promote more housing development by “unlocking underutilized lands.”

On social media platform X, Lee said the bill “does not authorize the sale of national parks, monuments or wilderness.” Instead, he said, it “identifies unused, garden-variety federal parcels for potential disposal.” The goal, he says on social media, is to help American families afford a home.

Participants of the “Not for Sale,” protest aimed to demonstrate to elected officials that they are not in support of this bill.

Amelia DuBose, a member of the Deschutes Youth Climate Coalition was in attendance to help promote policy change.

“I really care about public lands, and I really don’t like the big, beautiful bill, and so this addition to it is very dangerous,” DuBose told the Source. “I think this is a really good show of community support for public lands. I also am excited to see where things like this go, because protesting is great, but I’m really excited to see how we can make policy change and other change to protect what we already have.”

Another resident, Gwen Baker Yuill, pointed to the importance of public lands, particularly for those in Central Oregon.

“Public lands are so much a part of the fabric of our lives and the lives of the community, and the idea that they could be auctioned off to the highest bidder… the fact that they’re being stolen and potentially put up for sale is unacceptable,” she told the Source on Saturday. “Silence is approval. It seems very natural that our community will come out.”

Local elected officials, including Oregon’s U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, have also spoken about the draft legislation, condemning the proposal.

“Our public lands — which contribute to the spirit and economies of communities throughout Oregon and the country — belong to all of us. Republicans’ attempt to sell off our public lands, kick millions off of their health insurance, and make it harder for families to put food on the table — all to fund tax giveaways for billionaires — is a betrayal to families and communities across this country,” Merkley wrote in a June 16 statement.

“As I told Secretary Burgum last month: our public lands are not for sale. As Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee and Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, I will fight like hell against any Republican attempts to rip away public lands from public use.”

One attendee on Saturday came to Central Oregon from Nampa, Idaho for the upcoming Gambler 500 event in Madras – a rally-like meetup focused on off-roading and environmental stewardship, where participants enjoy an off-roading adventure while participating in trail cleanup. He heard about the protest from the group and decided to attend.

“[The bill] is a dangerous precedent. I’ve always told people that ‘you can’t sell public land because it doesn’t belong to the government, it belongs to the people.’ It affects all of us,” he said.

“There’s people here that are on different sides on different issues, but we all believe public land belongs to all of us, so we all need to work together and it’s very important people for to understand how dangerous this is and to get out and make their voices heard.”

This article appears in Source Weekly June 19, 2025.