H.R. 718 would prohibit the Interior and Agriculture Departments from selling or transferring federal land to private parties or other non-federal entities if the land is publicly accessible or directly borders publicly accessible federal land or publicly accessible state and local lands. The bill creates narrow exceptions for small land parcels (under 300 acres, or under 5 acres if accessible by water) and for transfers already authorized by existing laws, including the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act, Alaska Statehood Act, Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and several other historical land transfer statutes. The bill prevents the agencies from artificially subdividing land to avoid the acreage limits. Overall, the legislation aims to keep publicly accessible federal lands in government hands rather than allowing them to be privatized, affecting millions of acres managed by the Departments of Interior and Agriculture nationwide.
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