Hiking groups from Maine to Georgia have written their senators urging them to reject a provision to the budget reconcilliation bill that would allow for public lands to be sold.
The letter, sent Wednesday by groups that work with the National Park Service to maintain the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, points out that "[M]andates to dispose of federal land threaten the ability of the public to enjoy wild and natural places, particularly on the landscape scale that has been painstakingly reassembled along the A.T. over the past 100 years."
"Although the Senate text excludes 'components of the National Trails System,' that would likely only apply to miles underfoot. Most lands that contribute to the Congressionally identified values of National Scenic and Historic Trails (NSHTs) are not necessarily catalogued as such, even on the internationally beloved [Appalachian Trail]," it continues.
The original land sales proposal floated by U.S. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah has been tagged by the Senate parliamentarian for removal from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act because it didn't comply with the Byrd Rule, which requires that amendments to the reconcilliation measure be directly tied to implementing budget resolution policies. Lee has revised his measure, but it's unclear whether it will satisfy the parliamentarian.
Brendan Mysliwiec, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy's director of federal policy, said Thursday during a recording of Sunday's podcast for the National Parks Traveler said that while the initial version of the legislation exempted the actual "treadway" of national trails, there are acres on either side of the trail that might not be exempted from sale if the legislation advances.
"Even though the proposal that has been floated does not include [federal land in] A.T. states, almost every single A.T. club, from Georgia to Maine, signed onto a letter with us opposing the sale of public lands period as simply not something that is going to benefit the American people," said Mysliwiec. "Decreasing the acres in the federal state does not increase recreational opportunities for Americans from our perspective."
The letter (attached below) also urged senators to keep Land and Water Conservation Fund dollars flowing for recreational purposes.
"Diverting dollars mandated for land protection and supporting private forest conservation are counter-productive and fatally injure President Trump’s generational conservation achievement in the Great American Outdoors Act," the letter reads. "Every acre of the A.T. that has been conserved since 1968 has relied on the LWCF, whether through state-led or federal-led acquisitions. Over 3,000 individual federal transactions alone have been conducted to build this heavily used corridor spanning 14 states."
In conclusion, the letter said, "[D]ivesting our public lands, whether of needed support or of the acres themselves, are not sound investments. We urge you to reject provisions that undermine the Great American Outdoors Act and the ability of the National Park Service and USDA Forest Service to meet their land and resource management responsibilities. We will continue to serve the American people in stewarding the Appalachian National Scenic Trail and the Appalachian Landscape communities that enable it, but we cannot do this work alone."
The letter was signed by:
Appalachian Mountain Club
Appalachian Trail Conservancy
BaToNa Hiking Club
Blue Mountain Eagle Hiking Club
Carolina Mountain Club
Cumberland Valley Appalachian Trail Club
Georgia Appalachian Trail Club
Green Mountain Club
Keystone Trails Association
Maine Appalachian Trail Club
Mount Rogers Appalachian Trail Club
Mountain Club of Maryland
Nantahala Hiking Club
New York-New Jersey Trail Conference
Old Dominion Appalachian Trail Club
Outdoor Club at Virginia Tech
Piedmont Appalachian Trail Hikers
Potomac Appalachian Trail Club
Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club
Smoky Mountains Hiking Club
Susquehanna Appalachian Trail Club
Tennessee Eastman Hiking and Canoe Club
Tidewater Appalachian Trail Club
York Hiking Club
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