Nick Fasciano, executive director of the Idaho Wildlife Federation, is concerned about what could happen if Idaho sells its public lands for housing.
“Idaho is a rapidly growing state. The development has to go somewhere,” Fasciano said. “But selling off our national heritage is not going to be a reasonable fix to solve the affordability housing crisis at scale.”
Fasciano responded to four claims made in favor of preserving Idaho’s public lands:
“Selling public lands for housing is a flawed plan with severe consequences:
- It sacrifices revenue, ecosystems, and public access.
- It burdens local governments with increased costs (wildlife, infrastructure).
- It harms rural economies and ranchers.
- It’s a less effective housing solution than urban zoning reform.”
Fasciano said he understands that Idaho is a growing state, but said it is also important to keep Idaho’s public lands open.
“When you just expand the amount of land that’s open for development, there is no guarantee at all this is going to be utilized for development,” Fasciano said. “There is no guarantee at all this is going to be utilized for affordable housing.”
Fasciano said propositions like this arise every handful of years and can only be held back by citizens of Idaho.
“We want the issue of public lands disposal to be one that politicians across the West just don’t want to go near,” Fasciano said. “Because it’s so clear that their constituent base want to see public lands stay in perpetuity.”
Listen to BYU-Idaho Radio’s Podcast on Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts to hear the full interview with Nick Fasciano, Executive Director of the Idaho Wildlife Federation.