Senator Risch Stood up for Public Lands in Hearing for BLM Nominee “Sell Off” Steve Pearce, Now He Must Vote “No”
For Immediate Release:
February 25, 2026
Contact:
Alexis Pickering, Executive Director, Conservation Voters for Idaho
Greg McReynolds, Executive Director, Idaho Rivers United
Steve Pearce at his nomination hearing to head the BLM. Photo credit: Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
Boise, ID - Senator Jim Risch took a strong stand for public lands Wednesday, yet still must vote in the coming days on the future of the Bureau of Land Management. Risch, along with the other members of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, questioned BLM Nominee Steve Pearce at Wednesday’s Committee Hearing in D.C.
Steve Pearce, the nominee to lead the BLM, is on the record supporting public land sales.
We are heartened by Risch being a leader on this committee, and acting as a true representative of the Mountain West. Idaho values were on display in Risch’s line of questioning, with him saying,
“I am a one-issue guy on your appointment…This is a 98% issue in Idaho, in all my decades of serving the state, I have never received such passionately unified messages as I have on this particular topic. Idahoans do not want their public lands sold. Period, full stop. Public lands are really a part of us, they are really sacred to us, so any hit that could happen raises the ire of the Idaho people. It’s personal to me.”
Despite Risch’s pointed line of questioning, Steve Pearce evaded questions about his past, and admitted he has not changed his stance on public lands, saying, “I’m not so sure that I’ve changed.”
Pearce stated that he looks forward to working with the committee, which is chaired by Utah Senator Mike Lee, who in 2025 attempted to sell off more than 21 million acres of land in Idaho that is currently managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Last year Senator Risch stood up to Senator Lee’s attempts at selling public lands, stating “After reviewing the Senate Energy and Natural Resources reconciliation language, I do not support the proposed provision to sell public lands.” Senator Risch and Crapo will have another opportunity to oppose these attempts in the vote for the nomination of Steve Pearce.
Alexis Pickering, Executive Director for Conservation Voters for Idaho said, “Risch will be making a fateful vote that would change the landscape of our public lands forever. We call on all Idahoans to join us in telling Senators Risch and Crapo to vote “No” on the nomination of Steve Pearce.
Greg McReynolds, Executive Director for Idaho Rivers United, said “Pearce is antithetical to the very concept of public lands. We appreciate the senator’s comments in support of public lands, but Pearce is incompatible with the management of the BLM.”
Risch also talked about Boise Cascade lands that were sold to the Wilkes brothers and resulted in lost access for Idahoans:
“Those blocks of land changed hands and went into the private sector of people outside the state. We wound up with gates, fences, and no trespassing signs, and I’ll tell you this is incredibly upsetting to people that have used a piece of land for opening day of elk season for generations, they've set up camp and now they couldn’t. Now again, it was not widespread, but it gave us a glimpse as to what could happen and, very possibly, would happen, if these lands were sold off.”
BLM lands are a key part of our Idaho economy and critical to our way of life. Our lands, and our friends and neighbors, who work diligently fighting fires and stewarding our lands, deserve a better leader than Steve Pearce. Senator Risch took a strong stand for public lands across the West. The next step is to vote “No” on the nomination.
Important Facts and Other Info
96% of Idaho voters believe public lands should stay in public hands.
72% of Idaho voters disagree with Steve Pearce’s views on public lands, which he has supported selling off to private interests.
87% are concerned about impacts to grazing, hunting, and fishing access.
77% think Steve Pearce’s personal ties to the oil and gas industry would create an inappropriate conflict of interest.
69% of Idaho voters would have a more favorable opinion of Idaho’s U.S. Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch if they vote against Steve Pearce’s nomination, including 72% of Idaho Republicans.
He has said that he would work to “reverse this trend of public ownership of lands.” In Congress, he supported efforts to transfer and sell America’s public lands, fighting against safeguards to prevent a sell-off – like that pushed by Senator Lee from Utah – to the highest bidder
He has complained about the very existence of public lands in the west, criticizing Teddy Roosevelt’s “big ideas of big forests and big national parks.”
###
Conservation Voters for Idaho’s mission is to create the political environment to protect the natural environment by safeguarding our democracy, clean air and water, and natural places.
Idaho Rivers United is dedicated to protecting and restoring the rivers and fisheries of Idaho, and is the only statewide conservation organization focused exclusively on the health and safeguarding of its river resources.
