Sunset on Temblors by Bill Bouton. Photo courtesy of Los Padres ForestWatch.
CENTRAL COAST — Last week, the Trump administration announced plans to auction nearly 36,000 acres of federal public land and mineral estate in four California counties to oil companies. The parcels cover thousands of acres adjacent to Carrizo Plain National Monument in San Luis Obispo and western Kern counties.
A public comment period on the proposal closes on August 1.
The lands targeted in the lease sale include nearly 13,000 acres of federal land and mineral estate in the Temblor Range along the boundary of the Carrizo Plain National Monument. The Carrizo Plain National Monument—often called California’s Serengeti—is a 250,000- acre expanse of golden grasslands and stark ridges adjacent to Los Padres National Forest representing one of the last undeveloped remnants of the southern San Joaquin Valley ecosystem. It is also home to one of the largest concentrations of endangered and rare plants and animals in California, including San Joaquin kit foxes, blunt-nosed leopard lizards, giant kangaroo rats, burrowing owls, and California jewelflowers.
The announcement—issued by the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management—included a coarse-scale map and a listing of parcel numbers, acreage, and property ownership. ForestWatch has requested the GIS shapefiles of the boundaries to perform a more detailed mapping analysis of the affected lands, but as of today has not received a response.
Many of the properties included in the lease sale are federally owned land, but some “split- state” parcels include federally owned mineral rights underlying private property. It is unknown whether the Bureau has notified affected landowners of the sale The announcement came just days after Trump’s Bureau of Land Management proposed sweeping changes to regulations governing fossil fuel development on public lands across the country. The proposed changes would make it easier for oil companies to lease public ands, reduce public input in the leasing process, and leave taxpayers to foot the bill for cleanup costs.
Lease sales are competitive auctions where the winning bidder receives the right to drill for oil. Parcels often are leased for $2.00 per acre, which is the minimum bid amount under federal law.
“This is the Trump administration’s public lands agenda in plain view: give oil companies cheap access to public resources, slash the safeguards meant to protect taxpayers from cleanup costs, and throw up roadblocks for renewable energy while forcing more drilling on California against the state’s will,” said Benjamin Pitterle. “It’s a shame to see our public lands mismanaged this way.
”The BLM expects the lease sale to take place in December. If it proceeds, it would be the first lease sale in California since 2020 and the largest in the state since at least 2009.
About Los Padres ForestWatch
Los Padres ForestWatch is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that protects wildlife, water, wilderness, and sustainable access throughout Los Padres National Forest and Carrizo Plain National Monument through advocacy, education, and community engagement. Follow ForestWatch on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Bluesky. Learn more at forestwatch.org