Analysis: Amodei amendment aims to sell off more than 500,000 acres of public land

In a late-night mark-up in the House Natural Resources Committee, Representative Amodei of Nevada proposed an amendment which, if included in the final reconciliation package, would result in the sell-off of over half a million acres of national public lands in the West. While proposed under the guise of affordable housing, many of the national public lands that would be sold are in wild and remote areas, far from communities. And the small portion of the lands that could be developed for housing could be sold to developers without any requirements or limitations of use.  

Proceeds from the sales would go directly to the U.S. Treasury to fund tax cuts for the wealthy, not toward making the public whole for its loss of public access, recreation, and conservation, or to local community benefit. Alarmingly, these lands have not been appraised or surveyed for archaeological resources or endangered species or other special values. 

It is notable that the process by which this amendment was offered and considered makes identifying an exact acreage figure difficult. The amendment was not made available for review until moments before Members were asked to vote on it, and no maps were provided for Members to consider. Maps were only received after the amendment had already been passed by Republicans on the Committee. Nearly 36 hours after the Committee had voted on the amendment, a Committee spokesperson was quoted as saying “they did not have exact figures. The amendment also references decades old BLM land management plans, not all of which have been updated or digitized, so work remains underway to identify a reliable final number of lands which may be impacted. 

This amendment identifies over 500,000 acres of public lands in Nevada for sale in Washoe, Pershing, Lyon and Clark Counties. This includes lands that were identified for disposal or potential disposal in Senator Rosen’s Truckee Meadows Public Lands Management Act (TMPLMA) and the Pershing County Economic Development and Conservation Act. However, the public lands sale provisions included in the amendment were stripped out of these bills without any of the remaining negotiated agreements that were developed over the years with the local communities including Washoe and Clark counties and stakeholders who have worked for years to find a balance between conservation and development.

The same is true for Senator Cortez Masto’s Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act. Likewise, unlike those pieces of legislation and nearly all Nevada public lands legislation to date, the amendment would direct sales proceeds to the treasury to offset tax cuts for the wealthy, rather than to fund public lands conservation needs or other local priorities.

Lyon County 

The amendment would require the BLM within 2 years to offer for sale the 12,085 acres of lands identified on the Fernley Economic Development Act map. These public lands would be sold to the City of Fernley and then developed as the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center II. 

Clark County 

It appears the amendment would require the BLM, within 2 years, to offer for sale land identified by the BLM for disposal in the 1998 Las Vegas RMP, amounting to 65,000 acres. The amendment may also include land identified on the Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act Disposal map that would additionally expand the current Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act boundary. Together these two categories total an estimated 120,400 acres, and Senator Cortez Masto’s statement said up to 200,000 acres. It does not include any of the lands for conservation purposes.  

Washoe County 

The amendment directs the sale of about 31,000 acres in Washoe County. There are nearly 16,000 acres of public land largely from TMPLMA. These public land acres were identified and included in the bill after a lengthy process that included robust public involvement finding a balance with development and conservation. The amendment does not include any of the conservation or other community and tribal needs that were in TMPLMA.  

The amendment also states that public lands within Washoe County identified in the 2001 Carson City RMP as lands for potential disposal must be offered for sale. That includes roughly an additional 25,000 acres based on maps in the Carson City RMP.  

Pershing County 

The amendment includes 335,000 acres of public lands in Pershing County within the Checkerboard Lands Resolution Area that were identified as potential for disposal in the BLM Winnemucca Resource Management Plan. These lands are located 20 miles on either side of the railroad/I-80 corridor through Pershing County. It also identifies approximately 21,000 additional acres for sale. It does not include any land for conservation.

This amendment directs the sale of nearly 11,500 acres of public lands in Utah for sale - approximately 62 acres in Beaver County and 11,376 in Washington County. These lands must be offered for sale within 180 days and again have no restrictions on use. It should be noted that it appears the provision compels the sale of 30 acres of designated wilderness (within the Red Mountain Wilderness), along with 7 parcels totaling 390 acres bordering Zion National Park and another parcel that parallels the Canaan Mountains Wilderness. 

The Washington County Land Conveyance – West Half Parcel (Parcel 7) includes the Old Spanish Trail and cuts through the Beaver Dam Wash National Conservation Area. Multiple popular recreation sites and trailheads in many of the areas identified for disposal could be significantly impacted. For example, the Lower Graveyard and Tava’atsi trails in the Santa Clara River Reserve provide access to protected open space, archaeological and natural resources, and recreational opportunities important to local communities. 

Additional Utah maps can be found here.