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The Interior department released a draft strategic plan that does not include controversial public lands sell-off language that was found in a leaked internal version in April. However, it still envisions opening up national public lands to housing development, grazing, logging, and mining.
The leaked draft strategic plan included a bulleted outline of provisions that caused widespread backlash among the public, including transferring heritage lands and sites to states, re-examining national monument boundaries, and selling off national public lands to build housing. It also proposed tracking the removal of species from Endangered Species Act protections as a key metric of success.
The public draft strategic plan, which was recently distributed to Tribal nations ahead of virtual consultations later this month, no longer contains this language. Still, the draft plan references the department's interest in using national public lands for housing, and while it no longer describes delistings as a potential metric of success, it notes that Interior will work to “delist endangered species once recovered.”
It also refers to national public lands as "assets" on America's "balance sheet," which is something Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has repeatedly said.
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As a father, I want to be able to tell my kids that we fought for the common lands and waters that make our home—and our country—the place that it is. Selling these lands may narrow the budget deficit today, but what will we lose in the process? Will our kids and grandkids have the same opportunities as us?”
