The line in the sand

I am a landowner.

 

So is my neighbor. And my mailman. And my daughter, come to think of it.

 

And you - as an American citizen - you are a landowner too.

 

We are all owners of this vast, productive, intriguing, healing and sometimes stunningly beautiful suite of public lands. Highlands, lowlands, forested, bare, mountainous and windswept desert, lands left to us by great thinkers that came before, the ones who knew the value of land and the great gift they gave in leaving it behind for the benefit of all and not just a privileged few.

 

And we’re not just going to give them up. Not without a fight.

 

Are public lands managed perfectly? Of course not, there’s no disputing the fact that management could be more effective and efficient. It’s not that those who support public lands don’t see those problems. They are happening in our backyard. We just think there are better ways to solve them. We’re talking proverbial babies and bathwater here. Do you throw it all out? No. You work it out. Collaborate. Find common ground. It’s the American way and the way most good things get done these days. It’s the way things are getting done. Problems are being solved.

 

And let us not pretend that state lands are managed any better. In New Mexico, state lands are closed to camping and off limits to the public for much of the year. Nevada sold off all but 3,000 acres of the 2.7 million acres of state lands it citizens formerly owned. In Idaho, there is a proposal to close some state lands to the public and allow an exclusive pay-to-play hunting club use the land instead. State lands are not immune to fire or mismanagement, but they are more likely to be sold or closed to the public.

 

 

We keep hearing this sentiment - that federal lands should be transferred to the state or sold off. We’re hearing it today in two instances; once in a bill that would transfer federal lands outright (up to two million acres per state) to the states, and again in a bill that transfer in spirit but not title, giving states leeway to manage, without the headache of having to pay for things like fire. Seems too convenient, like a teenager who wants a car but doesn’t want to pay for gas or do oil changes. They just want to drive.

 

It also seems like another branding exercise. Repackage, rename and sell it another way. It’s a marketers dream. But they’re selling to the wrong people. Again and again, the public at large has said “this isn’t what we want.” Poll after poll has shown the vast majority prefers to keep our public lands in public hands. They see the value, be it economic or intrinsic.

 

Being a landowner is a right in this country. America’s public lands are my lands. They’re your lands. And I for one, am proud of that and will protect that right.

 

Consider it the line in the sand -- visionaries like Theodore Roosevelt drew the line, and we’re going to hold it for ourselves and future generations.