Interior's Five-Year Plan Calls for Selling Federal Land to States and Localities

The Department of the Interior released a five-year strategic plan on Tuesday that says it "will work to decrease the size of the federal estate by offering to states, localities and Tribes the opportunity to purchase federal lands," Outdoor Life reports. The 28-page plan covers fiscal years 2026 through 2030.

According to the plan, proceeds from selling lands that are not "nationally significant" would go toward acquiring land for conservation and recreation elsewhere, "while at the same time decreasing the federal taxpayer's financial responsibility to manage federal lands." Outdoor Life's account of the plan does not identify specific parcels or the criteria for sale. It also says the department "will consolidate its workforce," adds staff only in law enforcement and public safety, and folds Interior's wildland fire programs into the new U.S. Wildland Fire Service.

"From a hunting and angling perspective, we love the places that are not of national significance," Ryan Callaghan, president of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, told Outdoor Life. "I'd need to see the criteria for disposal, but at first blush this flies in the face of overwhelming positive appreciation and sentiment for America's public lands." He noted that state trust lands generally carry tighter rules on camping, driving and shooting than federal land.

In a letter introducing the plan, Secretary Doug Burgum writes that "for the first time in human history, we can turn electricity into intelligence." Outdoor Life has reported that the administration is weighing at least a dozen data center proposals on public land covering at least 17,600 acres in the West. Kate Groetzinger of the Center for Western Priorities called the plan an effort "to pillage our public lands in order to power AI data centers."

Separately, the Senate voted 73-25 on Monday, November 9, to begin debate on the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA), a permitting bill. The Center for Western Priorities says provisions in it would bar agencies from revoking most permits in effect on or after November 6, 2026, limit judges to ordering a new environmental review rather than halting a project, and let developers seek compensation if a future administration deliberately slows permits. The center, which opposes the bill, lists Bears Ears, the Tongass, the Boundary Waters and California's Mojave Desert among places it considers at risk. Debate in the Senate continues.