Vasquez and Zinke launch bipartisan Public Lands Caucus

As some Republicans float the idea of selling federal public lands to pay for tax cuts, Rep. Gabe Vasquez and former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will launch a new bipartisan caucus focused on public lands Wednesday.

A new budget proposal from President Donald Trump would cut the budget for national parks, monuments, historic sites and trails by close to 25% and proposes transferring some smaller sites to state management.

In March, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner also announced a Joint Task Force on using underutilized federal land to increase the housing supply.

Vasquez, D-N.M., and Zinke, R-Mont., already partnered on a bill to make it more difficult for the federal government to sell or transfer public lands, the Public Lands in Public Hands Act, introduced in January. But the new Public Lands Caucus is meant to create space for bipartisan discussion on issues like improving public land access and how to better regulate multi-use for public lands.

“Amidst the partisan fights that are happening in Washington, public lands is a place where we can still work across the aisle, and where we saw an opportunity to bring some of our colleagues on board for the protection and conservation of our federal lands, and in particular, to stop the sale and transfer of federal lands,” Vasquez said.

The legislation Vasquez and Zinke collaborated on sets the tone for the caucus, Vasquez said, although not every member has signed on to it. The caucus’ mission centers on the idea that public lands are “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people,” as inscribed on the Roosevelt Arch that welcomes visitors to Yellowstone.

There are more fences in Montana than there used to be, Zinke said, and with large-scale fires and an increased pull on resources like water, managing public lands has become more challenging.

“I think it’s time to look at and have a bipartisan discussion about how to better manage our great inheritance, so we can defend it and those generations that follow us can enjoy it as we did,” Zinke said.

He thinks the caucus can play a role in finding better management practices amidst the many conflicts that arise around public lands. Things like decisions on permits for oil and gas drilling, mining or prescribed burns should not travel through so many layers of bureaucracy, according to Zinke.

“I think it’s unconscionable for a permit to be for years and years in a final disposition. Do yes or no. Make the decision sooner,” Zinke said.

Zinke and Vasquez are both skeptical of the idea that selling federal public lands on a large scale could alleviate the country’s affordable housing crisis.

“Affordability of housing has little to do with public lands,” Zinke said. “Forty percent of housing costs are permitting. Then you have building materials. Land is at the very end of it.”

The process for acquiring public lands for municipal projects, like building affordable apartments, already happens through federal, state and local land swaps, Vasquez said.

“I think blanket policies that say that we are going to sell off X-amount of acres to build housing at the federal level really infringes on the opportunities for local communities to have input on where they want that housing to begin with,” Vasquez said.