Across the Nation, People Speak Out Against Public Lands Sell-Off
The Republican Party now holds control over all branches of the U.S. government, and its platform has long included efforts to gain more control over public lands. A recent lawsuit in Utah has empowered the anti-public lands movement, and without protections in place, the current administration poses a serious threat to the future of public lands in the United States.
Across the country, people are lining up to voice their opposition to public lands sell off. Here are just a few":
Bryan Clark, writer for the Idaho Statesman: “What could be coming is a world where the outdoors are increasingly accessible only if you’re rich, and there’s a lot of money in it for whoever controls these lands, sothere will be plenty of pigs at the trough. For the rest of us, just locked gates and “no trespassing” signs. Only sustained pressure from the public can hold that world at bay.”
Motorcycle publication RideApart Editor and Utah Native Jonathon Klein: “While the campaign to control those lands pretends to put the American people first, maintaining those lands for all, Utah doesn't have the funds to do so, nor has any inclination to, as it just wants to sell it off to property developers, as well as to extractive industries, like oil, gas and mineral mining.”
Conservative Ravalli County (MT) Commissioners Reject the Suit: ““If you gave me a million dollars to take over public land I wouldn’t vote for it. I would say that there isn’t any direct benefit to Ravalli County to take over BLM lands … I’m not a hundred percent convinced that it’s going to be successful in the challenge and I don’t think it’s worth the signature on it given the consequences that may come back.”
Outside Magazine: “If they succeed, the public could lose access to millions of acres that we use to pursue our favorite outdoor activities, wildlife could lose its habitat, and the environment could suffer.”
John Ruple, law professor at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law: “There was no state land until the federal government created a state. So when we hear people talk about Utah taking back land, it doesn't make a whole lot of historical sense, because Utah didn't own that land prior to federal acquisition.”
Former Air Force missile launch officer, author, and hunter, from Colorado Springs: “Conservation derives from the Latin conservare, meaning “to keep guard.” As America’s first conservationists, hunters have a century-old tradition of protecting public lands habitat and fighting those driven by myopic greed. Although greed never sleeps, neither do we when it comes to the protection of our wild public lands, waters and wildlife.”
Chris Winter, Executive Director University of Colorado Law School’s Getches-Wilkinson Environmental Law Center: “[The lawsuit] is so in conflict with all of that history which has gone into establishing the West as we know it today. The federal government's response really calls that out, in quite stark contrast to what Utah's argued.”
Las Vegas Sun Editorial Board: "Utah’s lawsuit is not just a legal battle; it is an existential threat to America’s public lands and the values they represent. These lands are not merely commodities to be exploited by today’s residents of a single state, rather, they are vital ecosystems, cultural treasures and recreational sanctuaries that belong to all Americans."
Aaron Weiss, Deputy Director of the Center for Western Priorities: ““If the upcoming Trump administration supports Utah’s land grab lawsuit, resumes fire-sale oil and gas leasing, or touches Utah’s national monuments, it will quickly discover it’s touched a political third rail across the country and in Utah.”
Backcountry Hunters and Anglers: Throughout our history, land barons and developers have preyed upon the inattention of hardworking Americans busy with the rest of life to swipe lands right out from underneath us. Now these long-time swindlers have a growing roster of accomplices in the form of politicians who have zero shame cutting Americans out of our own public lands legacy.
Idaho Conservationist Craig Gehrke: “Utah’s lawsuit raises the question of whether the federal government can hold lands in perpetuity at all. If this effort were to succeed, you can bet the national forests would be next on the politician’s wish list.”
Click here to add your voice to these calls to keep public lands in public hands.
