Key facts
- The Interior Department said it will work to decrease the size of the federal estate in a new strategic plan.
- The plan states the administration's intent to sell federal lands to states, tribes and local governments and share a portion of proceeds for conservation elsewhere.
- Interior said it will no longer use the Land and Water Conservation Fund to expand the federal government's real estate footprint.
- The congressionally mandated fund receives $900 million annually, a portion of which is required to be used for land acquisition.
- Tracy Stone-Manning of the Wilderness Society called the policy an unprecedented step that defies history.
- Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke, a former Interior secretary, was among lawmakers pushing back on the proposal, the AP reported.
The Interior Department said it will work to decrease the size of the federal estate in a new strategic plan that states for the first time a Trump administration policy endorsing federal land sales, the Salt Lake Tribune reported on November 11, 2026. The document lays out the administration's intent to sell federal lands to states, tribes and local governments, then give those governments a portion of the proceeds for conservation work elsewhere.
The plan also declared that Interior will no longer use the Land and Water Conservation Fund to expand the federal government's real estate footprint. The congressionally mandated fund receives $900 million annually, a portion of which is required to be used for land acquisition, but Interior said it will instead use the money to increase access on privately owned lands.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has referred to the country's 640 million acres of federal lands as a balance sheet and pushed for increased development on that land. The first Trump administration's strategic plan for the Interior Department made no mention of land sales, swaps or disposal.
Tracy Stone-Manning, who served as director of the Bureau of Land Management during the Biden administration and now leads the Wilderness Society, called the new policy an unprecedented step that defies history. California Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said the plan is straight out of Secretary Burgum's vulture capitalist playbook and that he looks at public lands and sees a balance sheet.
The Interior Department did not respond to a request for comment. Arthur Gailes, an economist and housing researcher at the American Enterprise Institute, said it is encouraging that they are proposing trying to sell this land and that the federal government could scale back its land holdings a tremendous amount and generate revenue. Gailes was instrumental to an AEI proposal to sell federal land to address housing shortages, which suggested 1.5 million homes could be built over 10 years on federal land with otherwise limited purpose; the administration launched a task force in early 2025 to identify land ripe for disposal and housing development, and its conclusions were never publicized.
The Associated Press reported that agency officials offered no details on what parcels could be sold, nor the scope or location of potential sales, and that the proposal drew quick pushback from some lawmakers including Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke, a former Interior secretary, showing it faces strong headwinds in Congress before Democrats assume the majority in January.