Trump's Interior Plan Would Let States, Tribes and Towns Buy Federal Land, Reviving an Old Western Fight

For most of a century, the map of the American West has been painted in federal colors. In Nevada, Washington controls almost 80 percent of the land, according to the Associated Press ^[1]. Now the Trump administration has put in writing that it wants that map to change.

The Interior Department's new strategic plan says the department "will work to decrease the size of the federal estate" by offering states, localities and tribes the opportunity to purchase federal lands, The Hill reported ^[4]. Bloomberg reported that the administration has now formally said it plans to sell public lands as part of that effort ^[5]. The plan covers 2026 through 2030 and replaces one last updated under President Biden, the AP reported ^[1].

The document does not name a single parcel. Officials offered no details on which lands could be sold, the AP reported ^[1]. But the direction is clear, and it has reopened one of the oldest arguments in Western politics: who should own the land outside your town?

What the plan says

The plan sets four broad goals, and the land-sale language falls under the one about working with states, tribes and communities, Outdoor Life reported ^[3]. According to the plan's text as quoted by Outdoor Life, selling some lands would let the department focus on its primary federal responsibilities and on nationally significant federal lands ^[3]. The plan does not define which lands count as nationally significant, the AP reported ^[1].

The AP reported that part of the proceeds from any sale would go back to the buyer for conservation work elsewhere ^[1]. Other accounts describe the mechanics somewhat differently, and the plan leaves many questions open ^[2][3].

The plan also changes how Interior uses the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which receives $900 million a year. The department says it will no longer use the fund to expand the federal estate and will instead use it to increase public access on private land, the Washington Sun reported ^[2].

Beyond land sales, the plan calls for land transfers and exchanges that support energy production, the AP reported ^[1]. It lists mining, oil and gas, grazing, geothermal energy, hydropower, timber, hunting and fishing among the uses of public land the department will promote, according to Outdoor Life ^[3]. Interior has also announced plans in the past month to expand grazing across federal lands and wildlife refuges, the Washington Sun reported ^[2].

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum's letter introducing the plan leans into the energy boom. "For the first time in human history, we can turn electricity into intelligence," he wrote, according to Outdoor Life ^[3]. The magazine reported that at least a dozen data center proposals are under consideration on public land in the West, covering at least 17,600 acres ^[3].

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The plan also says Interior will consolidate its workforce, adding staff only in law enforcement and public safety, and it would merge wildland fire programs into a single U.S. Wildland Fire Service, Outdoor Life reported ^[3].

The case for local control

Supporters say the West has waited a long time for this. Washington has treated millions of acres as a permanent federal possession while the towns surrounded by them struggle to grow.

Housing is a big part of the argument. Burgum and Housing Secretary Scott Turner proposed last year to use "underutilized" federal land for affordable homes, and Turner has said the country needs about 7 million more homes, the AP reported ^[1]. An American Enterprise Institute proposal estimated that federal land could support 1.5 million homes over 10 years, the Washington Sun reported, and AEI economist Arthur Gailes welcomed the sale proposal, saying Washington could scale back its holdings and raise revenue ^[2].

Western Republicans, led by Utah Sen. Mike Lee, have long argued that sales could bring revenue and growth to states where the federal government is the biggest landowner, the AP reported ^[1].

There is a constitutional instinct at work here too. The Founders built a union of sovereign states, not a federal landlord with the states as tenants. When a single department in Washington controls most of a state's territory, decisions about roads, homes, grazing and energy in places like Elko or Moab are made by people who will never live with the results. Letting states, counties and tribes own more of their own ground is a return to self-government, not a giveaway.

The case for caution, from both parties

The pushback came fast, and not only from the left.

Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana, who served as Interior secretary in President Trump's first term, said he firmly opposes sales or transfers of public land and will vote against such legislation, the AP reported ^[1]. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, the Democrat set to lead the Senate's energy and natural resources panel next Congress, vowed to fight any sales, and Rep. Jared Huffman of California, poised to lead the House Natural Resources Committee, called the plan a "vulture capitalist playbook," the Washington Sun reported ^[2].

Hunters and anglers, many of them conservative, are watching closely. Backcountry Hunters and Anglers chief executive Ryan Callaghan told Outdoor Life his group wants clear criteria for which lands could be sold and warned that state land often comes with tighter limits on public access ^[3]. The Center for Western Priorities accused the department of putting extraction first, Outdoor Life reported ^[3]. Tracy Stone-Manning, who ran the Bureau of Land Management under President Biden and now leads the Wilderness Society, called the policy unprecedented, the Washington Sun reported ^[2].

Those concerns deserve a serious answer. For millions of working families in the West, a weekend of elk hunting or trout fishing on public land is a birthright, not a luxury. Any sale program that quietly closes off those places will lose the very rural voters who should be its strongest supporters.

Lessons from last year's fight

This is not the first attempt. In 2025, Lee proposed selling more than 2 million acres to states and other buyers as part of the budget reconciliation bill, with backing from Utah and Nevada Republicans, the AP reported ^[1]. The effort failed amid bipartisan opposition ^[1]. Heinrich and several Montana Republicans helped keep the sales out of the final law, the Washington Sun reported ^[2].

The administration's first-term strategic plan made no mention of land sales, swaps or disposal, according to the Washington Sun, which said the new language breaks with five decades of precedent ^[2].

The law stands in the way

Even with a plan in hand, Interior cannot simply put land up for sale. Under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, the Bureau of Land Management can sell land only after a resource management plan identifies it for disposal, according to the Center for Western Priorities as cited by Outdoor Life ^[3]. University of Colorado law professor Mark Squillace told the AP that protected land cannot be sold and that any sale must meet legal criteria, such as land that is uneconomic to manage or that would serve important public objectives ^[1].

The strategic plan is not binding on future administrations, and Burgum cannot reach its goals without Congress, the AP reported ^[1]. That matters, because Democrats take control of both the House and the Senate in January ^[1].

Separately, the BLM has proposed a rule that would overhaul how resource management plans are written, including dropping a 90-day public comment period for major plans; comments on that proposal are open through January 11, Outdoor Life reported ^[3].

What comes next

Expect three fights. The first is over the list: which acres, near which towns, for which purposes. The second is over access, and whether hunters and anglers keep the right to walk onto land that passes to a state or county. The third is in Congress, where incoming Democratic committee leaders have already promised resistance ^[2].

For Westerners who have watched distant officials decide their future for generations, the plan is a welcome signal that Washington might finally loosen its grip. To succeed, the administration will have to show it can return land to local hands without locking out the families who have always used it. That is a test of trust, and the details will decide it.

Interior did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Sun ^[2].