It’s no longer a question: The White House is now officially offering public lands for sale.
The Interior Department’s strategic plan for the next four years was released Tuesday, and it explicitly lays out plans for selling federal lands. The Trump administration has been suggesting such sales for the last year and a half. But this is the first time that the sale of public lands has become an official plan for the Interior Department, which manages all federal lands, and related agencies, including the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management.
“The [Interior] Department will work to decrease the size of the federal estate by offering to states, localities and Tribes the opportunity to purchase federal lands,” according to the strategic plan published on Tuesday. “Through these sales, the Department will focus its resources on primary federal responsibilities and nationally significant federal lands. A portion of the proceeds will go back to the purchasing entities to use for conservation purposes elsewhere in the state, locality or Tribal land, leading to improved recreation access for American citizens, while at the same time decreasing the federal taxpayer’s financial responsibility to manage federal lands.”
Moreover, the Interior’s new plan also calls for “consolidating the workforce.” That could mean even more layoffs of federal employees after the massive firings of government employees that occurred last year through the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The Interior Department didn’t immediately respond to GearJunkie requests for comment on Thursday. However, Tuesday’s announcement coincides with a Senate bill this week that would fast-track development projects on public lands.
What’s The Big Deal?
To many observers, selling federal land to other public entities like states or local governments may not sound like a major problem. But the plan is more complex than it seems at first.
For starters, states often lack the funding and resources to manage large swaths of public land. Moreover, states and local governments could resell the land to a private developer. There’s nothing in the Interior Department’s strategic plan to require that the land’s new owners maintain it for public use.
The Interior’s plan also arrives a day after the Senate advanced a bill on Monday that makes it easier for private developers, especially AI data centers, to build on public land. That bill, Bipartisan Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA), will get a full vote next week.
Environmental watchdogs like The Center for Western Priorities immediately blasted the strategic plan and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s leadership.
“This plan makes it clear Burgum will continue offering our public lands up to oil CEOs and tech companies on a silver platter,” said the group’s communications director Kate Groetzinger. “This is exactly the opposite of what Western voters want. Passing the Senate permitting bill right now would give this administration nearly unfettered ability to enact Burgum’s agenda. Combined with BAAJA, this plan is a death sentence for public lands.”
Burgum’s Goals
The Interior Department’s strategic plan for 2026-2030 opens with a letter from Burgum about his vision for the future. That vision, he makes clear, is about balancing public lands as “national treasures” with extracting resources aimed at “expanding domestic energy production and securing our critical minerals supply chain.”
“Timber, grazing, geothermal energy, hydropower, outdoor recreation, hunting and fishing, mining, oil and gas, and more contribute mightily to every facet of American life,” Burgum writes. “As President Theodore Roosevelt, who helped shape and define our department, explained: ‘Conservation means development as much as it does protection.’ We can and must do both.”
That includes building AI data centers, which Burgum described as an “arms race” with China during his confirmation hearing in 2025. But last week, nonprofit newsroom ProPublica reported that Burgum could also benefit personally from an AI expansion. He has invested between $18.1 million and $64.4 million in AI companies through Arthur Ventures, a firm he co-founded.
Asked on Wednesday about ProPublica’s reporting by Utah outlet KSL, Burgum denied any suggestion that he stands to profit from the expansion of AI companies. In fact, he said his AI investments are unlikely to be profitable for him.
“None of them are building data centers. None of them are, you know, hyperscalers,” Burgum told KSL. “These are small, privately held, entrepreneurial startup companies.”
