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A plan to put millions of acres of SoCal public lands up for sale could be scrapped — for now
The San Gorgonio Wilderness Area would not be affected by the current Senate bill, but hundreds of thousands of acres beyond those bounds would be.
(
Daniel Torok
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U.S. Forest Service
)
Topline:
A plan to sell millions of acres of public land in California and across the West may be off the table — for now.
The background: The budget reconciliation bill from Sen. Mike Lee of Utah allowed the sale of more than 250 million acres of federal land over the next five years in 11 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
The local impact: More than 10 million acres were eligible in California, including swathes of land near Yosemite and in our local national forests, such as around Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead.
What happened? Late Monday night, the advisor to the U.S. Senate said the plan would violate chamber rules.
How are officials responding? In a social media post, Lee promised to revive the plan with less land up for sale. “We’re winning the fight to stop the sale of our public lands, but it’s not over yet,” California Sen. Alex Padilla said in a statement.
What’s next? Senate Republicans set a deadline of July 4 for a vote on the bill.
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