Is The Trump Administration Preparing To Sell Off Public Lands In Secret?

As plans remain undisclosed, fears grow that about large-scale reduction in protections for public lands, possible mass sell-off

Over a week after a deadline passed for a list of, “steps that will be taken to suspend, revise, or rescind,” public land protections at the Department of the Interior, no such document has been made available to lawmakers or the public. A letter from congressional Democrats states, “This delay suggests an attempt to evade Congressional oversight, public scrutiny, and accountability, fueling concerns that the Administration is moving to undermine public land protections and sell our natural resources to the highest bidders in secret.”

To recap, a raft of “day one” executive orders from the new President ordered that energy and mineral extraction take priority in management decisions on public lands. Then, on February 3rd, new Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum issued orders of his own, expanding extraction lease sales, and ordering a review of existing protections or all public lands under DOI management, including national monuments.

Worryingly, Burgum makes no mention of “national monuments,” in his order requesting a review of their potential to serve as sites for mineral and energy extraction. Instead, he refers only to the U.S Code number for the Antiquities Act.

Burgum asked that his monument review be completed and submitted to him no later than two weeks from February 3rd.

Burgum also ordered that his monument review be conducted by his department’s assistant secretaries. But candidates for those positions must pass Senate confirmation, and no confirmation hearings for DOI assistant secretaries have yet been held.

What recommendations were submitted to the interior secretary and by who? More than a week after those should have been filed, there remain no answers. That secrecy is the topic of a letter from the ranking members of the House Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, reproduced below:

Dear Secretary Burgum:

On February 3, 2025, you issued Secretarial Order 3418 (S.O.) to implement provisions in President Trump’s Executive Order “Unleashing American Energy” (E.O. 14154). That E.O. directed all relevant agencies to prioritize energy development on public lands and waters above all other uses. It ordered a wholesale roll-back of policies, plans, and protections for public lands. These protections were put into place after years of public process, science-based analysis, and deliberation to protect sacred sites, land, waters, people, our heritage, and American taxpayers.

The S.O. directs assistant secretaries within the Department to review agency policies, including administrative withdrawals and national monuments, and within 15 days provide an ‘action plan’ to effectuate President Trump’s energy and public lands policy priorities and describe the “steps that, as appropriate, will be taken to suspend, revise, or rescind” a laundry list of rules and orders, including withdrawals protecting communities, lands and waters from oil and gas extraction or hardrock mining, and all national monuments.

One week after that deadline, that action plan remains undisclosed to the public and Congress. This delay suggests an attempt to evade Congressional oversight, public scrutiny, and accountability, fueling concerns that the Administration is moving to undermine public land protections and sell our natural resources to the highest bidders in secret. This directly contradicts the Secretarial Order’s own policy direction that includes “guaranteeing that all executive departments and agencies provide opportunity for public comment and rigorous, peer-reviewed scientific analysis.”

As the ranking minority members on the committees of jurisdiction for these topics, we have a responsibility to conduct oversight on the Department’s activities. Congress has both the authority and the duty to ensure that executive agencies faithfully execute the laws and operate in a manner consistent with congressional intent and the public interest. Congressional oversight includes reviewing, monitoring, and supervising federal agencies, programs, activities, and policy implementation. To that end, please provide us with copies of all reports, memoranda, or other documents produced in response to S.O. 3418 or E.O. 14154.

In addition, because there are no Senate-confirmed assistant secretaries in the Department at this time, we must insist on full disclosure of the names and titles of the officials conducting this review, as well as the names and titles of those responsible for final decisions regarding which conservation protections to eliminate.

The American people deserve a full accounting of these sweeping policy changes and we have an obligation to ensure that this issue is brought to light. We look forward to hearing from you on this critical matter.

In the meantime, the only answers we have about which areas may be targeted, and in what ways come from actions taken during the first Trump administration, and analysis of ongoing priorities and statements. Let’s make a list of those, and link out to each for more.

• The Wilderness Society produced the map pictured above, which can be found in interactive form through this link.

• The Center for American Progress speculates that a mass sell off of public lands may be used to seed the sovereign wealth fund Trump has been talking about creating.

• The CEO of Patagonia wrote an op-ed for Time magazine warning of a mass sell-off of public lands.

• The Chief of the Forest Service (which is managed by the USDA, not DOI), just resigned, and warned of “unsettling” times in a letter announcing his departure.

• The Center for American Progress reports that energy production is already at an all-time high, and that oil companies have no plans to expand production further, even if they’re offered or buy additional leases. Instead, they’ll artificially cap production in order to keep gas prices high.

I’ll be reporting out updates as this story continues to develop.

Wes Siler is your guide to leading a more exciting life outdoors. Upgrading to a paid subscription supports independent journalism and gives you personal access to his expertise and network, which he’ll use to help you plan trips, purchase gear, and solve problems. You can read more about what he’s doing on Substack through this link.