UPDATED, see good news down below.
Sunnyside Trail, Government Trail, Hay Park, Crown Royale, Lorax, all of New Castle north of town, Red Hill / Mushroom … and so many more trails on BLM and WRNF land that we’ve all enjoyed over so many years, and that we expect to enjoy for many years to come!
Trails on public lands in our region provide countless benefits to the health and wellness of residents and visitors, and they play a significant role in the local tourism economy. To view a map that contemplates the sale of nearly all of the public lands that RFMBA and many others work so diligently to steward, for public benefit, is an absolute insult to the American citizenry. No one voted for our elected officials in Congress to contemplate this wildly extensive public lands sale. This overly broad and fully baseless proposal to dispose of millions of acres of our shared public lands must be ceased immediately. Attempting to sneak this type of proposal into a massive budget spending bill is shameless. Our federal public lands are a shared legacy for current and future generations, putting a price on them today misses the much longer term value that we must maintain into the future.
Check out the Map, zoom in to the Roaring Fork Valley to see that many of the places places where you ride are included: https://wilderness.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/basic/index.html?appid=821970f0212d46d7aa854718aac42310
LEARN MORE, and Take a small step of action here (This action form is now out of date):
https://www.outdooralliance.org/blog/2025/6/16/33millionacres-publicland-selloffs-map?ms=grasstops&utm_source=grasstops
We’ll update this page as this evolves. More links of interest below.
Elected Officials Contacts
Representative Jeff Hurd
Senator Michael Bennett
Senator John Hickenlooper
References
Map of Potential Public Lands for sale and information
Fact Sheet from Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
University of Colorado Rapid Assessment of the Senate’s Proposal to Sell Off Public Lands
Representative Ryan Zinke
Breaking news from our friends at the Outdoor Alliance, as of 6/24/2025:
Senator Mike Lee’s proposal to sell off up to 3.3 million acres of public lands appears to have been removed from the Senate’s budget reconciliation bill.
Over the past two weeks, hundreds of thousands of outdoor enthusiasts—alongside hunters, anglers, motorized users, and conservationists—spoke up to defend public lands. Late yesterday evening, the land sales were removed on a technicality by the Senate parliamentarian, meaning that this dangerous proposal is out of the budget bill for now.
Lawmakers heard you, and the proposal to sell off millions of acres was already facing strong headwinds and was on the cusp of being scaled back or removed prior to this ruling.
This is a big win—for a few important reasons:
- Those 3.3 million acres will remain public, for now, accessible to the 175 million Americans who recreate each year.
- The outdoor community showed up in force. In just days, more than half a million letters poured into Congress—a volume we’ve never seen before.
- Lawmakers responded. In the past week, multiple Senators publicly opposed the sell-off proposal, sending a clear signal that these ideas aren’t welcome.
Thank you for raising your voice. This community continues to show that when public lands are under threat, we are ready to fight for them.
That said, we’re not out of the woods yet. Senator Mike Lee has already indicated he plans to revise his proposal and push again for public land sell-offs—this time with narrower language that he hopes will pass.
