U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum joined Bureau of Land Management Director Steve Pearce in Grand Junction Wednesday for a roundtable focused on linking public land access to improved physical activity and public health outcomes.

The officials promoted new initiatives including GetActive.gov, a website aimed at encouraging outdoor activity. Kennedy emphasized connecting children to nature.

“We need to get kids outdoors,” Kennedy said. “Particularly, we need to connect them to the wilderness. The wilderness is a seminal experience for American kids and has been since our nation was founded.”

Burgum highlighted efforts to expand access through the Great American Outdoors Act reauthorization and “Vitamin N” concepts for prescribing nature-based health benefits.

Burgum then addressed questions about potential public land sales during a press event after the roundtable. He responded to questions about his prior support for disposing of millions of acres of BLM and Forest Service land, framing it as compatible with access goals.

“You can do two things at the same time,” Burgum said, noting the parcels represent a small portion of the approximately 525 million acres managed by the Forest Service, BLM and National Park Service.

The Center for Western Priorities criticized the comments in a June 11 statement.

“It’s shocking that Secretary Burgum is still defending Mike Lee’s failed public land sell-off attempt,” Kate Groetzinger, communications director at the Center for Western Priorities, said in the statement. “The entire country — including hunters, anglers, and conservative lawmakers — adamantly rejected Lee’s attempt to sell off national public lands last year.”

She added that Burgum’s office helped Lee write talking points for the mandatory sale plan

“Clearly Doug Burgum still wants to sell off our public lands,” she said.

The 2025 proposal by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, which sought mandatory disposal of millions of acres nationally — including eligible lands in Colorado — was withdrawn in late June 2025 amid widespread bipartisan opposition from recreation groups, local officials and Western lawmakers.

The administration has distanced itself from broad mandatory sales, with officials emphasizing routine, targeted actions involving small, isolated or hard-to-manage parcels under existing Bureau of Land Management authority.

A 2025 transfer of a 31-acre parcel with limited public access near Clifton to Mesa County for development illustrates the process.

BLM Grand Junction Field Manager Stacey Colón said the land was identified for disposal because it is difficult to manage.

Disposing of such federal property is a cumbersome process, Mesa County Commissioner Cody Davis said in a KREX News 5 report on the land transfer. “This is something wonderful for Mesa County to have this economic development.”

Another example is a proposed transfer of 2 acres in Moffat County that’s home to historic Browns Park School buildings that were built on public land in 1945 after a title issue was discovered in 1994.

Routine BLM disposals and exchanges continue across Colorado to consolidate ownership, while large-scale proposals remain off the table following the 2025 withdrawal.