Mike Lee reverses course on controversial national park proposal, but conservation groups say concerns still remain

After national park advocacy groups raised alarms last week, Utah Sen. Mike Lee backtracked on a proposal that could have affected some of the nation’s most popular public lands.

Lee, a Republican, introduced an amendment last week that would have nixed a section of the Interior Department’s spending bill that affirms national parks shall remain federal land. That sparked concern and opposition from conservation groups.

Late Thursday, Lee filed a new amendment that no longer proposes to remove the section that clarifies the federal government’s responsibility to maintain national parks, but he still proposes striking some provisions that would create additional safeguards and oversight on national parks and public land agencies, according to conservation groups.

“I categorically oppose selling national parks,” Lee said in an email statement.

“Senator Mike Lee is not trying to sell Park Service lands or ‘end the Park Service as we know it,’” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said in a post on X. “Those who are claiming that should know better and need to knock it off.”

The Interior Department had flagged concerns with the section and asked for it to be removed, Lee added in his statement. The provision could permanently freeze park service boundaries and block future land exchanges that have historically been “conservation-driven” and “partner-supported,” according to a letter from the Interior Department that Lee’s office shared with The Tribune.

“That was the concern,” Lee said. “Selling national parks was never on the table.”

The Interior Department does not have authority to sell national parks, and Lee’s original amendment would not have created such an authority, said Jordan Roberts, a spokesperson for Lee.

But President Donald Trump’s budget request, released earlier this year, indicated the administration is interested in selling or exchanging some national park units to states.

“There is an urgent need to streamline staffing and transfer certain properties to State-level management to ensure the long-term health and sustainment of the National Park system,” the request said.

This is not the first time Lee has been criticized for his actions on public lands: The Utah senator previously attempted to sell off non-park service public lands earlier this year. That effort also raised opposition among recreation, environmental and hunting and angling groups, and it ultimately failed due to Senate rules.

Other proposals still on the table

Lee’s updated amendment still aims to strike three other sections of the Interior Department spending bill proposed by Maine Sen. Susan Collins earlier this year that increase congressional oversight of the Interior Department, Kate Groetzinger, communications manager for the Center for Western Priorities, told The Tribune.

“[The Interior Department ] has been so brazen in their reorganizations and their layoffs. … And a lot of these rules weren’t needed until we had an Interior secretary who was bent on destroying the agency,” Groetzinger said. “So now Congress is trying to assert a bit of control over the agency’s actions, and Mike Lee is trying to abdicate that responsibility and give more power to the agency.”

One provision Lee still seeks to cut from the bill requires federal agencies to notify the appropriations committee if it plans to reorganize or change its workforce by 10 staff members or 10% of employees.

The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks urged inclusion of this provision in a statement on Friday. “This provision would ensure that indiscriminate firings not take place without congressional oversight,” the statement said.

Layoffs have “decimated” public land agencies over the past year, Groetzinger said. “Striking this section would essentially make it easier for [Interior Secretary] Doug Burgum to fire more park rangers, which is really our main concern,” she added.

The Interior Department has laid off around 25% of its national park workforce since President Donald Trump took office, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.

Lee’s amendment would also strike a section that prevents the Interior Department from moving funds between programs to pay for salaries and benefits and block a waiver introduced by Collins that would allow the federal government to fully cover the costs of certain conservation corps projects.

Lee’s office did not immediately provide comment on why he proposes to strike those provisions from the bill.

Senators left for the holiday recess without finalizing the spending bill. They will return to it in January.