Interior Secretary Restricts BLM Land Acquisitions

Specifically, the order limits the scope of public land acquisitions by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), sidelining the agency from using LWCF money unless it provides public access to an otherwise inaccessible parcel. In lieu of BLM usage, the order calls for new acquisitions to prioritize the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Park Service (NPS) instead.

While the order is effective immediately, it’s unclear what impact it will have on BLM acquisitions that are already in the works. In Fiscal Year 2025, which runs through the end of this September, the BLM requested funding for nine acquisition projects totaling 33,764 acres and $39.9 million. That includes a 7,500-acre wildlife corridor in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, 30 acres of mule deer winter range in the Boise, Idaho, foothills, and 5,600 acres for recreational use in Montana’s Blackfoot River Watershed near Missoula.

Most of those nine projects are pieces of multi-year acquisitions that have added public land in small chunks using LWCF money. In the Blackfoot Watershed project, for instance, the BLM has been working with the Nature Conservancy and a private timber company for nearly 27 years to slowly transfer over 37,000 acres of land. The proposed 2025 acquisition is just the latest puzzle piece—one built on years of groundwork already completed by a half-dozen agencies and nonprofit partners in the area.

The Blackfoot project’s fate, along with that of others on the list, has been drawn into question following Burgum’s order. The process of transferring land can sometimes take years to complete, pushing the timeline for projects funded in Fiscal Year 2025 well into 2026 or beyond, leaving their outcomes uncertain.

On the flip side, however, the step back from BLM projects could increase the ability of the NPS and the FWS to expand access, the latter of which manages the hunter-friendly National Wildlife Refuge network. Together, new acquisitions from both agencies could add up to a substantial amount of public land. In Fiscal Year 2025, for instance, the FWS requested funding for 30 projects totaling 28,019 acres and $64.8 million, and the NPS sought approval for 9 projects totaling 2,448 acres and $57.8 million.

Those initiatives are expected to continue, but with one additional stipulation: they must now receive written support from both the relevant state governor and local county leadership. Previously, neither were explicitly required. The additional hurdle has the potential to be insurmountable in states like Utah, where much of the leadership opposes federal land ownership (though none of the current FWS or NPS projects are in Utah).

On top of the federal-level changes, the secretarial order also alters the complementary state-level LWCF program, which provides a pool of money that state agencies can dip into for habitat and recreation enhancement projects. The most impactful change is a clause mandating that the state acquisition of “federal surplus property” may now be supported by LWCF money. “Surplus property” is not defined in the order.

In response, some conservation groups have raised the alarm, painting it as another step toward the privatization of federal land. But that reaction may be jumping the gun.

“Any time federal land is transferred to states, it raises red flags, as those lands are often privatized or sold,” Devin O’Dea, the Western Policy & Conservation Manager for BHA, told MeatEater. “But with LWCF acquisitions, there are a few more hoops to jump through before those lands could actually be sold. So right now, it’s just something that we are keeping a close eye on, particularly considering all the cuts to federal agency staff and capacity.”

Overall, the secretarial order isn’t as bad as some sportsmen’s groups, including BHA, were anticipating. Over the last few months, there were concerns circulating that it could have siphoned away some of the $900 million appropriated annually to the LWCF by Trump’s 2020 Great American Outdoors Act. Fortunately, that never materialized.

But as always, nothing is off the table for good. “We’re still tracking potential roadblocks, and we want to stay vigilant against any future attempts to siphon away LWCF money or to erode the legacy of the Great American Outdoors Act,” O’Dea said. “We want to give credit where credit’s due with the first Trump administration, and make sure that we can continue this movement in a bipartisan way. Let’s double down on that and keep using this money to expand public access to public lands.”

That expansion may be in different areas, geographically, than it’s been in the past, but the silver lining is that the LWCF money is still available. The impact of the new order will likely take several years to pan out, but it’ll be a mixed bag for hunters, anglers, and public-land users alike.