When the Trump administration unveiled a plan this week to sell federal public lands to state, local and tribal governments, it drew varying responses from Wyoming's top office-holders.
Gov.-elect Eric Barlow opposed the sale plan and urged close coordination with Wyoming for any change in federal land status within its borders.
"The proposal to sell federal public lands outlined in the Department of the Interior's new strategic plan is not what Wyoming wants regarding its federal lands," said Barlow in a Friday statement to Cowboy State Daily.
He said if the federal government advances any plans to sell or change access to public lands, it must coordinate with Wyoming directly first.
“On the campaign trail, we heard over and over how important public lands are to the people of Wyoming,” said Barlow. “At every stop, hunters, anglers and families spoke about what these places mean to them and the outdoor recreation opportunities they want to preserve for future generations.”
The federal government holds roughly half of Wyoming’s surface estate.
The U.S. Department of Interior's 2026-2030 land-management plan explained its intent to diminish the federal estate this way:
“Through these sales, the Department will be able to focus its resources on primary federal responsibilities and nationally significant federal lands.”
Part of the sale price will return to the selling governmental entities to use on conservation elsewhere in their jurisdictions, it adds.
The plan says that will lead “to improved recreation access for American citizens, while at the same time decreasing the federal taxpayer’s financial responsibility to manage federal lands.”
DOI manages more than 500 million acres of land, 700 million acres of subsurface and more than three billion acres of offshore resources. The U.S. Forest Service lands are separate, as the service falls under the Department of Agriculture rather than Interior.
The Delegation Plus Chuck Gray
Wyoming has three Republican delegates to U.S. Congress: Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, and Rep. Harriet Hageman.
Lummis is retiring from her seat.
In January, Hageman will take Lummis’ place, and Rep.-elect Chuck Gray will take Hageman’s place, as both won election earlier this month.
The three sitting delegates called for responsible land transfers.
Hageman called local input and expertise "critical to land management decisions."
"And the federal government has a responsibility to be a good neighbor,” she said. “I have consistently advocated for the ‘multiple use and sustained yield’ approach to land management, prioritizing access, responsible development, and effective conservation.”
Lummis emphasized that the Federal Land Policy Management Act (FLPMA) and Recreation and Public Purposes Act both dictate processes for selling federal land.
The Recreation and Public Purposes act lets the federal government sell to state and local governments “for public purposes,” noted Lummis.
“I welcome the Department’s interest in using its authorities under the law and look forward to working with (Interior) Secretary (Doug) Burgum and the state of Wyoming to ensure our state and local governments have access to the lands they need within their boundaries.”
Lummis’ point harkens to a long-running concern in Wyoming: That some pieces of federal land are trapped in checkerboard formation and inaccessible.
Barrasso spokeswoman Laura Mengelkamp said he supports federal land transfers when they benefit states, local communities and the public.
“Transfers must be carefully considered and supported by local governments and the people who live there. Wyoming has benefitted from countless land transfers over the years, and Senator Barrasso expects that longstanding practice to continue under current law,” said Mengelkamp.
Gray sent Cowboy State Daily a sentence echoing one of his most recurring statements from the campaign trail:
“I have been very clear on this: I will continue to be focused on keeping public lands in public hands — period.”
That One Lacks The Steam
As a widespread policy, that plan isn’t likely to gain traction, former Assistant Interior Secretary Rob Wallace told Cowboy State Daily in a Friday phone interview.
“I think something this embattled is going to require congressional authorization, and it’s certainly not going to happen during the lame-duck (session),” said Wallace, who served in President Donald Trump's first administration.
The Republican Congress will only be in control until Jan. 3, after Democrats won both the Senate and House in the general election.
Wallace said the plan is even less likely to gain traction under the Democratic Congress.
He recalled the unpopular 2025 proposal by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to sell swaths of public lands across the American West, with the exception of Montana. The plan wasn’t well-explained, and it brought swifter ire than other political movements in memory, said Wallace.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen so many people come together so fast to oppose a proposal,” he said. “And I haven’t seen anything that suggests that disapproval of that idea has changed.”
He pointed to the success of candidates who campaigned on keeping public lands intact, including Barlow.
The federal government has enacted past measures, such as the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act, aimed at targeted transfers in needed areas.
Wallace said that law could serve as a model to help communities constrained from needed growth by surrounding public lands.
In Wyoming, residents have had long-running concerns about public lands being locked in inaccessible checkerboard formations.
But faced with Lee's proposal, Wyomingites galvanized across party lines to oppose it.
Four Years Ago
Former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s land management plan from four years ago didn’t call for diminishing the estate, but rather putting wind farms and other renewable energy structures on it.
Her proposal mentioned “wind” 10 times and “climate change” 33 times.
Burgum's plan mentions neither.
Haaland’s Biden-era plan said the department was working with others “to coordinate and prioritize reviews for clean energy projects located on Federal public lands. Together, Federal agencies will prioritize and expedite reviews by establishing interagency coordination teams to facilitate preparation of environmental reviews and accelerate renewable energy decision-making.”
She said this would support the Biden administration’s goals of “a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035.”
The Trump administration, conversely, has favored the traditional energy sector. Burgum's plan calls for unleashing domestic energy in the form of clean coal, oil, gas, hydroelectric, geothermal and advanced nuclear technologies.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
