Pasayten's Methow Valley Bulletin Board

Looking at Mike Lee's response
https://www.landdesk.org/p/breaking-mik ... ges-public

YES!
https://www.eenews.net/articles/senate- ... -megabill/

Given that 80% or more of the wildfire starts are human caused in the US, the opening up of 'roadless' areas would seem to factor in even more opportunity for humans to start wildfires.
https://www.npr.org/2025/06/23/g-s1-741 ... orest-land

There are 2 meetings being held in the Valley this week regarding the sell off of public lands.
What: Community Gathering to protect public lands.
Where: Wednesday, June 25th, 5-7 pm, Mazama Public House
Thursday June 26th, 5-7 pm, Twisp River Tap House.
We’ll hear from a few local speakers with deep ties to the land, share what’s going on, and give people a chance to take action. We’ll also take time to thank Newhouse for recent efforts to protect public lands and ask him to stand strong.
Events are co-sponsored by Sierra Club, MVCC and Conservation NW.

Local:
https://www.outdooralliance.org/blog/20 ... ap/?ms=map

I posted this somewhere else, but it is something to think about.

One thing to keep in mind is that I don't think anyone has thought through the economic and financial impacts of something like this.

If we go with the BBB budget literally trillions of additional dollars of investment capital are going to be hoovered up financing what's left of the Federal Government. At the bottom of it that is the same pool of money that you'd be drawing from to buy tens of billions of dollars worth of federal land. You are also competing with investors chasing the latest AI fever dreams, which promise massively greater returns on investment if they do actually pay off. Hundreds of billions of dollars is going down that AI rabbit hole every year.

And even if 30-year treasuries don't go flying over 5 percent yields, undeveloped land like that on average yields 1 to 2 percent. And you often have to pay property taxes on it (which makes the whole play have a "negative carry", which investors avoid like toxic waste).

That on average in the last paragraph is the kicker. The people who put up money for something like this aren't typically the same damned fools that fall for a crypto grift. They will likely do their research and identify that thin slice of public land where they can flip it rapidly and make a quick (and probably large) return. That's probably a few tens of thousands of acres, mostly near urban areas in states like Nevada and Utah.
I'm not saying it isn't bad. It is kind of like their proposals to "open up" more of National Forests for logging. Even if you do that you still need sawmills and loggers which you don't have anymore.

Basically this is paradoxically a sort of "command economy" move except now they are trying to tell investors where to put their money. Which doesn't seem likely to work to me.

Update, includes text of Bill and map
https://wessiler.substack.com/p/lee-dai ... irect=true

A Simple Guide to the Public Land Heist - Wes Silver
https://wessiler.substack.com/p/a-simpl ... irect=true

State Total Acreage Available for Sale
USFS Acreage Available for Sale
BLM Acreage Available for Sale
Washington 5,371,690 5,027,438 344,252

https://wilderness.maps.arcgis.com/apps ... 18aac42310

NOW would be a good time to urge Senators Cantwell and Murray to vote no and lobby against these additions to the the senate reconciliation bill added by the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee.