At least three million acres of public land in 11 states, a good chunk of which is available for recreational off-roading or desert racing, could be up for sale.

Mike Lee, the Republican Senator from Utah, introduced a proposal on Wednesday that if approved would be included in the “Big Beautiful Bill”. The BBB is a GOP-created budget reconciliation bill that would make substantial cuts to federal spending.

The plan would require the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service to sell off “underused” public lands until they reach a certain quota (between 0.5% to 0.75%). Whoever bought the land, officially stated to be local and state governments, would use it “solely for the development of housing or to address associated community needs as defined by the Secretary concerned.” It is not the first time Congress deliberated on the topic, with the House of Representatives’ take on the BBB briefly considering doing the same—albeit at a smaller clip of 500,000 acres in Nevada and Utah—before being shot down in late May.

While ostensibly to build more housing and infrastructure, many suspect the sales would actually be to help pay for tax cuts on the wealthy. Cities and states are claimed to have priority in buying federal land, byt those without the funding could easily lose a bidding war to private enterprises. Once that property is in non-public hands, there are no guarantees that the new owner would actually use it for the intended purpose.

A map compiled by The Wilderness Society, using source data from agencies like the BLM and USFS, found that over 250 million acres are eligible for sale across Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Parks and recreational areas are included, which also drags off-road trails and desert areas used for races into the mix.

For example, most of the area surrounding Big Bear Lake is home to some of California’s most popular 4×4 trails, but falls under USFS land and can be sold if the proposal passes. In Nevada, 33.5 million acres of its 48M acres of public land would be up for sale; the BLM frequently coordinates with desert series in the state like Best In The Desert and Legacy Racing to set aside the land for competition.

On Twitter, Lee insisted the “specifically exempts National Parks, National Monuments, Wilderness Areas, National Recreation Areas, and eleven other categories of federally protected land from sales to build much-needed housing for American families.” His tweet received a Community Note clarifying that such areas are indeed for sale, pointing to the map.

The plan has been widely denounced by both sides of the political aisle. Even the off-road community, which generally skews conservative, has been harshly critical of taking away land that’s accessible to all and putting it in the hands of corporations. Opponents note that most of the land in question would not be suitable for housing.