BOISE (Capital Sun of Idaho) The state of Idaho would not be allowed to sell any future public lands that are awarded or acquired from the federal government, according to a Republican state senator from Nampa who announced he would file a proposed amendment to the Idaho Constitution.
The proposed constitutional amendment will be introduced by Sen. Ben Adams, R-Nampa, at the start of the Idaho Legislature’s 2026 session, which starts in January.
In the general election scheduled for November 2026, he expects the amendment will be put to a vote.
In a Friday morning phone conversation, Adams stated, “I really didn’t like the idea of selling public land.” My small children and I enjoy hiking and fishing, and there are a ton of fantastic spots to do all of those things on Idaho’s public lands. I simply don’t see selling it as an option.
After U.S. Senator Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, submitted an unsuccessful proposal in Congress that would have allowed millions of acres of public property, including in Idaho, to be sold to the highest bidder, access to public lands became a contentious issue this year.
U.S. Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, as well as U.S. Representative Mike Simpson, both of whom are Republicans from Idaho, opposed Lee’s public lands sell-off idea in an earlier version of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill.
How would the proposed public lands amendment in Idaho work?
According to Adams, if the amendment is approved, a new land trust would be established, and all upcoming public lands that are given by or purchased from the federal government will be included in it.
According to Adams, the amendment would not affect Idaho’s approximately 2.5 million acres of existing state endowment land. Existing state endowment lands may be sold in accordance with the Idaho Constitution, which mandates that they be managed to provide the state and recipients with the highest possible long-term financial return. That isn’t going to change.
Rather, any new and future public lands that are transferred into a new trust established by the amendment would be covered by the new amendment. It was impossible to sell that land.
“There is no provision for maximum financial return in this new land trust,” Adams stated.
Rather, those new lands would be maintained to support grazing, timber harvesting, and recreation, among other purposes. According to Adams, rural schools in areas with a lower property tax base and public lands surrounding them would benefit from the money generated by grazing and timber production.
Adams said he will reveal the proposed constitutional amendment’s text at a free public kickoff event on August 15 at noon at the Pine Cafe in the small mountain town of Pine, which is situated along the South Fork of the Boise River in Elmore County.
Pine is surrounded by public lands, which guests will drive through and experience on their approach to the inaugural event, and Adams chose the location because he likes fishing there.
Idahoans like public lands for a variety of reasons, according to Adams, a retired U.S. Marine Corps sergeant who served two combat tours in Afghanistan.
When I returned from deployment overseas, that’s where I recovered, Adams said. It’s open and you can be by yourself. The only location in the world where you may act like a king is on public grounds. The reason is that it is yours and ours together.
What is the process for amending Idaho s constitution?
A two-thirds supermajority of votes in both the Idaho Senate and the Idaho House of Representatives are required for the proposed amendment to the Idaho Constitution to pass.
In that case, the amendment would be put to a vote in the general election scheduled for November 2026, when it would need to be approved by a simple majority vote.
Adams stated that support for public land transcends partisan boundaries and that he is certain the amendment would obtain the two-thirds support in both chambers of the Idaho Legislature, despite the high hurdle for modifying the Idaho Constitution.
Given the times we live in, it’s a big problem, and it’s good to fight for something that we can all agree on, Adams added.
Public lands have near universal public support in Idaho
Including land owned by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, public land makes up over 60% of Idaho’s total land area.
Voters in Idaho are huge fans of public lands where residents and tourists can hunt, hike, fish, camp, snowmobile, observe birds and wildlife, climb, ski, and more.
According to a survey conducted by Conservation Voters for Idaho in the wake of this year’s proposed sale of public lands, 96% of all Idaho voters who are registered to vote think that public lands should remain in the public domain, as previously reported by the Idaho Capital Sun.
Adams told the Sun that at the conclusion of this year’s legislative session, he started working on his proposed amendment.
This idea had legs at that point, but Sen. Lee’s proposal to sell off millions of acres of public lands gave it wings, and I realized it was time to release it, Adams said.
