Proposed public land sell off could hit Altadena, as the community reels from the Eaton Fire
Story by Seamus Bozeman
This story has been updated to include additional statements from The Wilderness Society, tiny grammar issues and small changes to previously messy sentences.
Utah Senator Mike Lee, has as a part of the Big Beautiful Bill’ included an amendment that would sell off a total of over 250 million acres of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land in 11 Western U.S. states, potentially including thousands of acres in the Angeles National Forest and the area surrounding Altadena, the community recently impacted by the deadly Eaton Fire.
However, more recent maps updated by the Wilderness Society on June 17 show that Altadena and much of the Angeles National Forest was excluded, after being in earlier versions of the map. Some attribute the changes on the map to shifts in the legislative text on what land is eligible, or overloaded map servers. Though, any maps that are currently published would be speculative until the final bill is signed by Trump and the language of the bill is finalized.
In a statement to The California Campus, a Wilderness Society Spokesperson said that originally grazing lands were not included in the text of the bill, but was added in the leaked version of the bill at the beginning of this week, causing available acreage eligible for sale to “skyrocket.” However, there was no clarification as to reasons why Altadena was no longer included in the maps this week.
To pass this amendment in the Big Beautiful Bill, Congress is planning on using a process called Reconciliation which bypasses input from the American public and concerned environmental groups normally allowed by The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976.
A much smaller sale of 500,000 acres in Nevada and Utah was initially proposed as a part of the House’s version of the Big Beautiful Bill, but was removed after bipartisan opposition to the sale of land. However, it was brought back in a much more robust 11 state proposal in the Senate version of the bill, by Lee.
Initially, the bill included over 120 million acres of public land, but was updated over the weekend to include a total of over 250 million acres that would be eligible for sale, and would be open to any interested buyer. This does not mean that these parcels would be sold off, it just includes what meets the criteria laid out in the senate bill. A map showing what areas would potentially be sold off is included in the published map by the Wilderness Society.
“The public lands sell-off provision masquerades as a way to provide more housing, but it lacks safeguards to ensure land is used for that purpose, and it sets up a system where lands could be sold or resold for non-housing uses after just 10 years,” the Wilderness Society said on their website.
The bill does have stipulations that land in National Parks. National Monuments are not a part of this potential land fire sale, but according to the maps published by the Wilderness Society, many of the areas up for sale are well within National Park and Monument boundaries.
“The public lands sell-off provision masquerades as a way to provide more housing, but it lacks safeguards to ensure land is used for that purpose, and it sets up a system where lands could be sold or resold for non-housing uses after just 10 years,” The Wilderness Society said. “Research suggests that very little of the land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is actually suitable for housing.”
According to a study by Headwaters Economics less than two percent of BLM land is suitable for housing development, and limited by factors such as wildfires, and isolation from current densely populated areas. It is not known how much of USFS land could be used for housing, but like BLM land the land is rural, is in heavily forested areas and are well within high wildfire risk boundaries.
It would mandate a minimum of two million acres be sold and up to a maximum of three million acres of land to be sold in the next five years. In total, The U.S. government owns over 438 million acres throughout both lands managed by the U.S. Forest and Bureau of Land Management, which include national monuments, national parks, and millions of acres of recreational land used for outdoor activities by millions.
“The bill directs what is likely the largest single sale of national public lands in modern history to help cut taxes for the richest people in the country. It trades ordinary Americans’ access to outdoor recreation for a short-term payoff that disproportionately benefits the privileged and well-connected,” The Wilderness Society said. “National monument lands may also be at risk from this proposal.
As a part of this proposal, thousands of acres would be available to private investors in multiple areas surrounding Altadena, which in October 2024 between community pressure and Polytechnic High School realizing it was too expensive, halted a proposed sports complex bordering the Angeles National Forest.
This comes at a time for Altadena where hundreds of burnt lots have been sold off to corporations and other outside buyers, adding additional concerns that the community may be facing more than just recovery from a fire that destroyed over 9,000 structures.
Much of the land now razed by the Eaton Fire is included in the proposed sales, including vital local habitats, the Chaney Trail Corridor and several well known and communally loved Altadena trails.
The Organization Chaney Trail Corridor Project provided a statement, but they cited it as coming from the National Forest Homeowners (NFH), who are a coalition who own cabins across the country on U.S. Forest Service lands, including in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains above Altadena and Sierra Madre.
“Maps are circulating. We know from our NFH lobbyist that there is no map included in this bill,” the NFH said. “A map would not be finalized until the language in the bill is signed by the President. However, sale of any public land is a threat”
If this bill passes it would potentially be the biggest single action sale of public lands in American history, far surpassing any past sales of public lands in any part of the country.
“Sales could include lands that are vital to hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation, particularly in rural areas. Hunting, fishing, camping, hiking and other outdoor recreation pursuits are deeply ingrained in our cultural heritage and provide a significant driver for rural economies,” a statement from 44 different wildlife, fishing and conservation groups to Senate leaders said. “The outdoor recreation industry has demonstrated a $1.2 trillion economic output nationally. Loss of access to valuable public land could impact hunters, anglers, and other recreationists who rely on public lands for their traditions, and could adversely affect outdoor businesses, guides and outfitters, local retailers, lodging companies and many others who rely on outdoor recreation for their livelihoods.”
This comes at a time when DOGE, aka Elon Musk’s baby, has sledgehammered the budgets of the Environmental Protection Agency and other regulatory bodies pushing hard to eliminate wildland pollution protections, water quality standards, and other regulations and protections that have been in place for decades.
In addition to the actions by DOGE, The Justice Department recently ruled that National Monuments do not have the same protections they once did, opening additional avenues for resource extraction and the desecration of the great outdoors across the country. As a part of this resource extraction, Trump in March signed an executive order calling for more logging on public lands, further expanding encroaching efforts by the logging industry onto public lands.
According to multiple reports, the Senate plans to vote on this amendment to the Big Beautiful Bill later this week.