Western Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke recently discussed his stance on public land protection in an interview with Jon Wertheim of CBS’s “60 Minutes.” The conversation focused on Zinke’s role in removing a provision from the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ that would have allowed for the sale of more than 450,000 acres of public land. He also worked with Senate colleagues to remove a similar provision from their version of the bill.
Zinke, who grew up in Whitefish and previously served as Secretary of the Interior during President Trump’s first term, now represents Montana’s 1st district in Congress. He called the proposal to sell federal lands his “San Juan Hill,” referencing Teddy Roosevelt. According to Zinke, this meant he was strongly opposed to such sales.
“Public lands is not, to me, on a balance sheet. Public lands is our inheritance- of this great nation. And we’re blessed with it. There is no other country on the face of the planet that has the public land experience that we do,” Zinke said during the interview.
While Zinke indicated he is open to reconsidering specific uses for public lands within existing laws, he made clear his opposition to selling large portions outright: “You could sell the entirety of the federal estate, it’s not gonna get you out of debt.”
He further explained: “If you have a hotel, and the hotel is being mismanaged, you don’t sell the hotel. You get new management. And then if you sell the public land, you sell it all, right? Have you changed why you’re in debt? No, you’ve just sold your assets.”
Addressing arguments about using federal land for affordable housing development, Zinke responded: “If we wanna discuss, you know, reality– you know, selling all our public land for housing one it doesn’t– won’t solve the housing crisis. And secondly– you know, public land itself… if it’s managed well, you should be able to bring timber off of it. You should be able to graze. Energy– oil, coal, gas, all– a lot of that comes from our public lands.”
Zinke played a key part in blocking provisions related to land sales both in House and Senate versions of recent legislation. Senator Mike Lee had proposed exempting Montana from such sales but did not gain support from Montana’s congressional delegation.
In response to questions about party unity and going against Republican positions on this issue, Zinke stated: “It’s a red, white, and blue issue. It’s not a Democrat or Republican issue. This is an American issue. And once you sell land, you’re not gonna get it back.”
Senator Lee commented separately that “the federal government controls more land than it can manage,” suggesting concerns over growth and prosperity tied to federal holdings.
Montana’s delegation was instrumental in stopping these proposals amid expectations that similar efforts may return in future congressional sessions.
Ryan Zinke has represented Montana’s 1st district since 2023 after succeeding Steve Daines and previously served in both Congress and the Montana Senate between 2009 and 2013 (https://www.zinke.house.gov/about). Born in Bozeman in 1961 and currently residing in Whitefish (https://www.zinke.house.gov/about), Zinke holds degrees from University of Oregon (1984) and National University (1991).
