Last week, the House Natural Resources Committee released draft language for a sweeping budget reconciliation bill—and it could have serious consequences for public lands and the climbing areas we all love. While the bill is framed as a cost-saving measure aligned with broader federal priorities to develop America's energy resources, it takes aim at long-standing protections and public input processes that are foundational to how our public lands are managed.
Why This Matters to Climbers
Nearly 60% of climbing in the U.S. is located on federal public lands. These places aren't just dots on a map—they’re where we go to push our limits, find community, and connect with the land. This bill introduces a series of procedural changes that, while technical on the surface, could fundamentally shift how our lands are managed—and who gets a say.
A Troubling Push for Public Lands Sell-Offs
One of the most concerning proposals in the bill is the sale of over 500,000 acres of public land in Utah and Nevada. While established climbing areas are largely unaffected (we’re still verifying a few specific parcels in Utah and Nevada), the real threat lies in the precedent: bypassing environmental review and public input to sell off public land behind closed doors.
For decades, land sales have been limited to small, isolated parcels for community use—think cemeteries and schools. This bill would allow the government to sell off much larger tracts, including land adjacent to protected areas like Zion National Park. These sales would permanently strip access and environmental protections and cut out the public entirely from decisions about places we all share.
Environmental Protections on the Chopping Block
It doesn’t stop with land sales. The bill also takes direct aim at the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)—a cornerstone of public land management since 1970. NEPA gives communities, climbers, and conservationists a voice in how public lands are managed, developed and even sold. But under this proposal, private developers could pay to fast-track abbreviated environmental reviews, sidelining public input in a pay-to-play system.
For climbers, that’s a red flag. NEPA is often the only avenue we have to speak up when climbing areas are at risk from inappropriate development or extraction. Weakening this process threatens not only environmental oversight—but also our ability to protect access.
A Fast Track for Drilling and Extraction—Even Near National Parks
The bill also includes provisions to fast-track oil, gas, mining, and logging projects. It would require lease sales on a quarterly basis, including near more than 60 national parks and countless recreation areas. Access Fund is not opposed to appropriate energy development, logging and mining, but these leases would be exempt from judicial review, stripping away accountability and ignoring the impact on local recreation economies—like the $1.3 trillion outdoor recreation industry that so many climbers, guides, and businesses depend on.
Rolling Back Conservation
In addition to what it adds, the bill also cuts. Billions of dollars set aside for conservation, restoration, and climate resilience would be rescinded. That means less funding for repairing trails, building sustainable infrastructure, and addressing overuse—all priorities for Access Fund’s Conservation Teams, who are out there every season restoring climbing areas across the country.
What Comes Next
The future of this bill is still up in the air. It will go through debate and votes in both the U.S. House and Senate in the coming weeks. Access Fund is working closely with partner organizations and congressional offices to stop these rollbacks—but we need the climbing community to raise their voices, too.
We’ve fought back against attacks on public lands before—and won. But it takes all of us. Let’s make sure our elected officials hear loud and clear that climbers stand for public lands, fair environmental review, and the right to have a say in the future of our climbing areas.
Stay informed. Protect what you love.