Motorcycle and OHV Industry oppose public land sale in a letter to the U.S. Senate

NOTE: Because some power equipment dealers also carry powersports vehicles including motorcycles and side-by-side vehicles, we want to share this letter in support of those industries, and the work of the Motorcycle Industry Council, the Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association and the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America.

To Our Powersports Community, 

The U.S. Senate is considering a proposal for sweeping sales of more than three million acres of public lands that we all share as Americans. 

The Motorcycle Industry Council, Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association, and the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America oppose proposals for such a massive sell-off to generate revenue for the federal government. At the same time, we recognize there may be an occasional need to sell or transfer limited patches of land to eliminate “checkerboarding” for state or local use, and those limited sales and transfers may present an opportunity to grow recreational access if properly done. 

We have reached out to Congress and asked that any targeted sale or transfer of small-scale tracts of federal lands must come with the following conditions:

• There must be no net loss of motorized recreation areas as a result of any federal land sale.
• As a condition of sale, continued recreational access must be expressly protected in language that transfers said property to the new owner.
• As a condition of sale, any federal lands that currently allow motorized recreational activity or provide trails or roadways that access motorized recreational sites must include continued indefinite motorized recreational access by the purchaser, and the net amount of recreational access must not be reduced by the purchaser.
• In very rare instances when the sale of any (small-scale) public lands cannot result in the purchaser allowing recreational access, the government or purchaser shall be required to develop, within one year, new riding/trail opportunities on nearby lands managed by the federal government or by the purchaser/transferee.

The powersports industry is a $51-billion-dollar economic powerhouse, and millions of our enthusiasts rely on public lands for recreation and related work. Without proper limits and conditions, a mass sell-off of public lands will hurt our nation and all Americans.

Call To Action

NOTE: In a separate “call to action” email to members, the MIC sent this information and urged people to get involved.

Congress is once again trying to sell off our public lands—this time through a dangerous provision in the Senate’s budget reconciliation bill that mandates the sale of up to 3.3 million acres of public lands across the West. The proposal could have a tremendously negative impact on motorized recreational activity and impede access to trails. 

Background

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) crafted a measure that mandates the sale of up to 3.3 million acres of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming to help fund the administration’s tax cut package.

Sen. Lee, who chairs the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee, crafted the measure shortly after the House of Representatives removed a much smaller, but similar, provision from its version of the One Big Beautiful Bill legislation, an amendment sponsored by GOP Reps. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.-2) and Celeste Maloy (R-Utah-2). This amendment would have allowed for the sale of public lands in four Nevada counties and one in Utah, including lands near Zion National Park. 

Thanks to YOU, we successfully pushed back against similar language in the House version of the bill. Now, we must urge the Senate to oppose this land sell-off in the final reconciliation package. 

Our public lands are not for sale, and we must ensure they remain in public hands.

Contact your Senators TODAY and urge them to oppose the Senate’s public lands sell-off and exclude Sen. Lee’s proposal from the final reconciliation package.OHV enthusiasts, reach out now to your U.S. Senators to voice your opposition to large-scale federal lands sales. You can find your Senators and their contact information here. Thank you for joining us in protecting our riding and driving access.