Trump admin opens land bordering Joshua Tree

The claim circulating online is directionally rooted in a real federal policy change, but the public record available on May 22 does not show a newly announced oil-and-gas lease sale specifically for land next to Joshua Tree National Park. The Bureau of Land Management’s California lease-sale page does not list a current 2026 California sale notice, and BLM’s general leasing guidance says parcels only move forward after nomination, review, public comment and a sale notice. The policy shift behind the post came from the Department of the Interior on May 13, 2025. Interior said a new BLM instruction was meant to expedite leasing, shorten reviews to about six months and expand the availability of onshore federal land for lease sales. ### So did the administration “open” land bordering Joshua Tree? The clearest answer is that Interior changed the rules for how BLM reviews and advances federal land for leasing, including land governed by existing resource plans, but that is not the same thing as publishing a final Joshua Tree-area drilling auction. (blm.gov) Interior said the policy would “increase the lands offered for onshore oil and gas lease sales,” and the memo says existing land-use-plan decisions remain in effect until they are formally amended or revised. (doi.gov) The practical effect is that BLM can keep moving parcels toward lease sales without waiting for a broader planning update to finish. The memo says BLM “will not defer leasing pending the completion of an RMP amendment or revision,” referring to resource management plans. ### What has BLM actually said about California right now? BLM’s California oil-and-gas lease-sale page says California conducts lease sales under federal law when parcels are eligible and available, and that parcels are drawn from lands already determined to be available through land-use planning. (doi.gov) That page, as currently posted, does not show a fresh 2026 California notice of competitive lease sale tied to Joshua Tree. (doi.gov) BLM’s national lease-sale guidance says state offices publish a sale notice, usually 45 days before an auction, and those notices are posted in the National Fluids Lease Sale System. That means “opened” can mean land is now eligible to be reviewed or nominated, not that drilling can start immediately. ### Why does Joshua Tree keep coming up in these warnings? Joshua Tree National Park borders BLM-managed land in several areas, and federal agencies have long treated adjacent land as a live management issue. (blm.gov) The National Park Service has documented concern about development “within and adjacent to the park,” and earlier Interior and NPS planning around the Eagle Mountain area described BLM land next to the park as important enough to study for added protection. (blm.gov) That history helps explain why conservation groups and social posts treat broader leasing policy changes as relevant to Joshua Tree even before a parcel-specific sale notice appears. That connection is an inference from the park’s geography and past land-planning fights, not a new BLM announcement naming Joshua Tree parcels this week. ### What would count as confirmation that Joshua Tree-adjacent parcels are really moving? (nps.gov) A sale notice, parcel map, scoping notice or environmental review naming California parcels near Joshua Tree would be the clearest confirmation. BLM says lease sales proceed through scoping, comment, protest and notice stages, with parcel details posted through the state office and the National Fluids Lease Sale System. As of May 22, the verifiable record supports this narrower formulation: the Trump administration changed leasing policy in a way that could make more BLM land available for faster oil-and-gas review, including land near sensitive areas, but I could not verify a new Joshua Tree-bordering California lease sale notice from BLM itself. (parkplanning.nps.gov) I found the Interior policy memo and BLM leasing rules, but not a current California parcel posting or sale notice naming Joshua Tree-adjacent land. (doi.gov) (blm.gov)