Garfield County commissioners see both opportunity and risk in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” heading to President Donald Trump’s desk for final approval after it was passed by both the Senate and House of Representatives this week — but the removal of a controversial proposal to sell off up to 3.3 million acres of public lands brought some relief.

“There’s so many things in the [One Big Beautiful Bill Act] that obviously our citizens are concerned about — the Medicaid and those kinds of issues within the bill, as well as we are as the county, of course, too. Some of that could really burden the counties,” Garfield County Commissioner Perry Will told the Post Independent on Wednesday. “We’re just watching it. There are aspects of the bill that will definitely benefit Garfield County, and there’s aspects of the bill that won’t. 

“That’s probably with about any bill they run,” he added. “But I’m really glad to see the public land thing, of course, is gone.”

Garfield County commissioners are still set to ratify a letter on July 7 opposing the sale of up to 3.3 million acres of public lands that was proposed in the Trump Administration’s budget reconciliation bill, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s budget reconciliation bill called for the disposal of a total of 2-3 million acres of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. National Forest Service across 11 states within the next five years: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Montana was excluded after the federal land sales provision faced backlash from state representatives. 

More than 250 million acres of public land would have been eligible for disposal — including over 14 million acres in Colorado — according to updated bill text released on June 14. Public land disposed of under the federal provision for the first 10 years would have only been sold for housing or similar infrastructure. 

About 62% of land in Garfield County — around 1.1 million acres — is public, according to a June 24 news release from the county. 

“Garfield County’s public lands are a cornerstone of our identity,” the county’s June 23 letter states. “They are places where we hunt, fish, camp, recreate, graze cattle, and develop our abundant natural resources, such as natural gas. In Colorado alone, these public lands support a booming outdoor recreation economy that generates over $60 billion annually in consumer spending nationwide and sustains thousands of jobs across our rural and urban communities. They are also vital to preserving clean air and water, which is critical in our arid west.”

The Senate parliamentarian on June 23 advised that the federal land sales provision be removed from the bill for violating Senate rules. The provision was reworked later that week, narrowing from the sale of between 0.5% and 0.75% of public lands to 0.25% and 0.5% — about 1.2 million acres — of BLM land. 

There are nearly 616,000 acres of BLM-managed land in Garfield County.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who spearheaded the initiative as the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair, announced via X on Saturday that the provision was withdrawn from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act entirely. 

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act on Monday narrowly passed the Senate —  without the federal land sale provision— after more than 24 hours of debate. The House of Representatives passed the bill, now on its way to Trump’s desk, on Thursday. 

Garfield County’s letter opposing the mass sale of public lands was signed by Commissioners Will and Mike Samson and will be ratified at the next regular Board of County Commissioners meeting on July 7, according to the county’s news release. 

“I’m really glad we sent that letter. I think it was well written, and I truly support that,” Samson told the Post Independent on Wednesday. “The reason I wanted it, and I think Perry shares my enthusiasm for sending that letter, was that we thought it was just way out of reason, selling millions and millions of federal land like that, I know a lot of it was proposed in Colorado.”

Samson later added that he’s not opposed to the disposal of federal lands for “various good reasons,” but that each disposal needs to be examined on a case-by-case basis. 

Commissioner Tom Jankovsky voted against sending the letter.

 “I understand how our constituents love the public lands and love to be able to use those and I understand that, but I also know that there are public lands that are isolated… an island surrounded by private land,” Jankovsky told the Post Independent on Tuesday. “There may be no use to the public, and that could be cleaned up administratively.” 

Addressed to Lee, the letter was also sent to Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and Reps. Joe Neguse, Jeff Hurd and Lauren Boebert.

“To be clear, the Garfield County Board of County Commissioners has remained a highly engaged advocate for public land issues for decades specifically defending the multiple use mandate on our public lands through FLPMA and the NMFA,” the county’s letter states. “This proposal is reckless and flies in the face of good governance, especially where there are existing tools in place to manage public land disposal.