Public Lands Military Readiness Act of 2025

The bill would extend the withdrawal and reservation of four military training areas — the Yukon Training Area, Donnelly Training Area East and West (Fort Greely/Fort Wainwright) in Alaska, the McGregor Range at Fort Bliss in New Mexico, and Fort Irwin in California — from their current expiration dates through 2051. Withdrawal removes the land from all forms of public-land appropriation, including mining claims, homesteading, and similar uses under public-land laws, ensuring the sites remain available solely for military training purposes.

The bill would also make two technical corrections to existing law: it would update the stated acreage for the McGregor Range from 608,385 acres to approximately 605,401 acres, and would revise the Fort Irwin description by correcting its acreage from 110,000 to 117,710 acres and replacing a 2000 reference map with an updated February 28, 2025 map. The bill does not create new withdrawals or transfer land ownership.

The U.S. Army, which uses all four training areas for readiness exercises. Mining companies, prospectors, and others who could otherwise file claims on federal public lands in these areas would continue to be excluded. State governments in Alaska, New Mexico, and California are affected insofar as the lands remain under federal military control through 2051.

Without the extension, the existing withdrawals would expire and the lands would revert to the general public-land pool, potentially opening them to competing uses that could fragment or eliminate active military training ranges. Extending the withdrawals through 2051 gives the Army long-term certainty over these training sites without requiring repeated short-term renewals.

The bill works by directly amending the expiration dates in two existing statutes — striking the prior formulas and inserting fixed calendar dates — so no agency rulemaking is required. The updated Fort Irwin land description substitutes a 2025 reference map for the 2000 map, which would govern how the Bureau of Land Management administers the withdrawal boundary going forward. No new reporting requirements or grant cycles are created.