From camping in pristine northern Michigan forests to canoeing on shimmering national park waters, I have been fortunate to have had incredible experiences in the wilderness. Without government-owned land, though, I would not have been able to create these memories in these remarkable places.
For anyone from hunters to hikers, the outdoors provide a place for the activities they love. The vast majority of places for these activities are government-owned as part of parks and other wilderness areas. These areas are not just great areas for recreation, though. They are also crucial for the conservation and management of natural resources. Fortunately for those who cherish these parks, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) just purchased nearly 9,000 acres of land to expand Pigeon River Country State Forest. The tract of land was part of a private hunting club, so it has been almost entirely undeveloped. It will now become a part of the park.
As someone who routinely relies on places like this to enjoy outdoor activities, I see this as a great move by the DNR. It will give more park space for people to enjoy while conserving a large piece of forested land. This is also extremely rare. There have been a few relatively recent smaller land acquisitions, but the largest of these purchases was 80 acres. This acquisition is over 100 times larger. With only so much land available to be absorbed into parks and only some of that land being desirable to the DNR, there are very few expansion opportunities. When land like this goes up for sale, it’s an extremely rare opportunity, and I applaud the DNR for capitalizing on it.
On the other hand, though, if the government sells land like this, it will probably never be able to get it back. Conservation and recreation accessibility suffer if land that should be kept is sold, both of which go against the missions of the state and federal agencies that manage this land. The government must keep and protect the land it owns.
However, last year, when the Republican-led One Big Beautiful Bill Act was being contested in the Senate, Mike Lee, a Republican senator, added a provision that would have sold over two million acres of federally owned land. Again, here in Michigan, state land purchases are typically less than 80 acres each. The recent 8,800-acre purchase is considered massive, so the fact that some of the politicians running our country would be willing to part with two million acres of federally owned land is very concerning.
There are legitimate reasons to sell state and federal land in certain situations. At both of these levels of government, land can be sold if it doesn’t help the agency that manages it further its goals of conservation and natural resource management. Land can also be exchanged for different tracts that align more with these goals. However, when land is sold, it is a complicated process, and it must be deemed to be in the public interest.
Senator Lee claimed that the sale would help ease the housing crisis, but much of the land that could be sold is in locations that would not likely be viable for enough housing to actually make an impact. Also, whether or not the land would actually be made into affordable housing has been called into question by many, including senators, environmental groups and even the National Low Income Housing Coalition. While the proposed federal land sale provision was deemed to violate the rules of the Senate and removed by the Senate parliamentarian, the issue was not immediately dropped. It was not until after another push for an altered provision that it was finally withdrawn.
Even as recently as a few months ago, Senator Lee made an attempt to remove protections from national park land. While he removed the specific amendment that would mean National Parks are no longer required to be federally owned, he left in the removal of some provisions that would create more protections and oversight for National Parks.
While many of the most recent federal land sales and park protection removals have been unsuccessful, if anything like them is passed, it could cause lasting damage to one of the things that makes our country and our world so special. Instead of allowing these places to be destroyed, we must follow the lead of the Michigan DNR. These places must be kept and conserved so everyone and everything who values and relies on this land can use it for years to come.
