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The Eagle County Board of Commissioners found plenty of support Tuesday for a resolution in support of keeping federal lands in public hands.

While Utah Sen. Mike Lee earlier this week pulled from that body’s version of President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful” tax and spending bill a proposal to sell federal land within 5 miles of population centers, Commissioner Matt Scherr said that move was made “for procedural reasons.” That means “the idea” of selling federal land remains, Scherr said.

Eagle County’s total land area is 1.078 million acres, or 1,685 square miles. Of that, 80%, or 1,348 square miles, is federal land.

Several people gathered in the commissioners hearing room Tuesday to speak in support of the resolution, a long document which recognizes the “inherent value of public lands to quality of life in Eagle County, the region’s heritage, ecosystems, economy, and recreational opportunities; and encouraging continued federal ownership of federal public lands with well-resourced federal land management agencies.”

The “well-resourced” portion of that resolution is already a problem.

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A presentation by Marcia Gilles, the county’s open space and natural resources director, noted that the staff of the White River National Forest has lost 43 permanent employees, 29% of its permanent workforce. In addition, there are continued job openings for the forest staff.

Lower budget, more visitors

That loss of staff concerns Ernest Saeger of the . Speaking to the commissioners as “just Ernest,” Saeger called the staff cutbacks part of an incredible series of attacks on public lands, noting that the White River National Forest budget has been cut by half over the past decade-plus. Meanwhile, he added, visitation has more than doubled, under both Democratic and Republican administrations.

While the land sale provision has been removed from the tax and spending bill, Gilles said she and other county employees still have research to do on other legislation and executive orders affecting public lands in Eagle County.

But it was the land sale provision of the bill that kept the focus of both county officials and residents.

Vail resident Mike Browning thanked the commissioners for tracking what he called the federal “big, ugly bill” and what he believes will be one of many attempts to sell off federal lands. Browning thanked the commissioners and county staff for their previous support of East Vail’s bighorn sheep herd and their support of other federal agencies.

Eagle resident Christine Elliott said she’s “glad to be part of a community that fights hard and knows what it stands for.”

Elliott noted that she was part of a 20-year effort to “save the Brush Creek Valley,” adding that her concerns are primarily fire risk and extending municipal boundaries.

Former Commissioner Kathy Chandler-Henry, who was on the board when it passed a supporting public lands, thanked the commissioners for this resolution.

“Public lands are part of who we are … something we hold in trust for future generations,” Chandler-Henry said.

Gypsum resident Tim Wolf called the land sale proposal “despicable,” thanking the commissioners and staff for trying to get, and stay, ahead of what federal officials are trying to do.

‘A constant fight’

“It’s going to be a constant fight,” Wolf said.

The feeling that public lands are under constant threat was echoed by Scherr and Commissioner Tom Boyd.

“This threat isn’t going away,” Scherr said, adding that there’s already a public process for the sale of public land, but that the Senate bill would have avoided that process.

Boyd noted that although Lee’s proposal was pulled from the recent bill, he expects the idea to return.

“Whatever comes up next (will seem) a lot better,” Boyd said. “That’s a trap.”

Boyd asked residents to stay vigilant and well-informed. But, he cautioned, it’s easy to start chasing misinformation, noting that county staff can spend time “finding out what’s actually happening.”

And county officials are already working to protect public lands from potential sales. In a June 24 meeting, County Attorney Beth Oliver noted that the majority of federal land already carries the county’s most restrictive zoning in terms of what can be built on it. That zoning can be made even more restrictive during the current rewrite of the county’s land use codes, Oliver said.

In her remarks, Commissioner Jeanne McQueeney thanked those who offered their comments about public lands.

“You all spoke from the heart,” she said.