America’s public lands should be conserved and remain open to the public for shared uses.
Although most public lands lie west of the Mississippi River, there are several sites here in the Eastern U.S. managed by the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service. The Biden administration, however, is targeting millions of acres for permanent protection in the name of “conservation” to bolster its America the Beautiful (or 30-by-30) initiative–a dangerous rewilding plan masquerading as conservation.
Should the Biden administration get its way, two places — Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah and Big Cypress National Preserve in South Florida – will see areas closed off to most users going forward.
Bears Ears National Monument
The Bears Ears National Monument saga continues with the new Draft Management plan unveiled on March 14th, 2024. In December 2016, former President Obama created the 1.35 million acre national monument before leaving office and without consulting Utahns. During the Trump administration, former Interior Secretary and now Congressman Ryan Zinke announced a national monument review of 27 sites, including Bears Ears, citing overreach by the previous administration. It resulted in the shrinking–not elimination–of the monument down to about 200,000 acres. Then President Biden restored the monument to its original size in an October 2021 proclamation, disregarding stakeholder input again.
The nearly 700-page Draft Management Plan contains five plans. The White House favors Alternative Plan E, the most extreme plan of the five. Plan E places a strong emphasis on indigenous knowledge (IK), noting, “This alternative is meant to emphasize resource protection and the use of Traditional Indigenous Knowledge and perspectives on the stewardship of the Bears Ears landscape. This includes consideration of natural processes and seasonal cycles in the management of BENM and collaboration with Tribal Nations to incorporate those considerations into BENM day-to-day management.” Indigenous knowledge is extremely subjective and not scientific because it generally favors progressive notions. But that isn’t stopping the Biden administration from implementing it across all federal agencies.
Equally concerning with Plan E is the proposal to restrict multiple uses across these lands managed by both the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. Recreational shooting would be prohibited outright throughout the entire area. Grazing will be barred in 170,000 of 1.36M acres, while 570,000 acres would be off-limits to vehicles, and 795,000 acres would be designated as “OHV limited areas.” This isn’t the wise use of natural resources; it’s radical preservation.
Large national monument designations are questionable under Section II of the Antiquities Act of 1906, which says presidents can only protect objects of scientific, cultural, or historical significance “confined to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected.” The nearly 1.4 million acres comprising Bears Ears today hardly fit the definition of “smallest area compatible.” That’s why Congress must clarify presidential powers and prevent future abuses like this from occurring again. Reforms are long overdue to make the monument designation process democratic and reduce the influence of radical preservationist groups.
Big Cypress National Preserve
In South Florida, a portion of the 720,000 acres comprising Big Cypress National Preserve could soon be declared a wilderness area.
Wilderness areas boast the highest degree of protection, are off-limits, and quite difficult to traverse. Under the Wilderness Act of 1964, Congress created a National Wilderness Preservation System that, today, manages 800 areas to be “administered for the use and enjoyment of the American people in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness, and to provide for the protection of these areas…”
Native American tribes, hunters, and other recreationists relayed their concerns about the wilderness designation to the Miami Herald, arguing the designation, if approved, would restrict access to scientific inquiries, air boating, hunting, and vehicles. A Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund petition also warned closing off Big Cypress like this would restrict “Tribal citizens’ right to move freely about their homeland” and fail to “accommodate Tribal rights to permanent residence in those spaces.”
These stakeholder concerns prompted Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rick Scott (R-FL) to express their dismay to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
“Big Cypress is a cherished natural resource, and its proper management is crucial to preserving its ecological integrity while maintaining access opportunities for the public,” the Florida senators wrote to Haaland. “We are deeply concerned about the potential hindrance of natural resource management, especially regarding prescribed fire, invasive species control, and the maintenance of native fish and wildlife habitats.”
The letter added, “In light of these concerns, we respectfully request that you do not move forward with any proposed wilderness designation that will hinder the proper management of public access and natural resources within the Big Cypress National Preserve.”
Public lands are for all Americans to enjoy and cherish, not just the Biden administration’s preferred environmental buddies. This isn’t conservation; it’s a land grab.
This article originally appeared in Town Hall
Obama – “There is nothing that Joe can’t [mess] up.”
Bears Ears have been national-monumentalized by Obama. Blaming Joe is infantile. Could the administration use an executive order to turn it into an Indian Reservation?
Obama had his own stuff ups . He’s admitted the chaos after toppling Gadafi was a ‘surprise’
Many others called it a shit show , domestic ones were legion
At a first approximation, the Green Blob opposes anything that benefits people.
That’s what the Duck Test says.
How we started:
David Foreman, co-founder of Earth First!: “My three main goals would be to reduce human population to about 100 million worldwide, destroy the industrial infrastructure and see wilderness, with it’s full complement of species, returning throughout the world.”
David Brower, a founder of the Sierra Club: “Childbearing should be a punishable crime against society, unless the parents hold a government license. All potential parents should be required to use contraceptive chemicals, the government issuing antidotes to citizens chosen for childbearing.”
Paul Ehrlich, professor, Stanford University: “Giving society cheap, abundant energy would be the equivalent of giving an idiot child a machine gun.”
Jeremy Rifkin, Greenhouse Crisis Foundation: “The prospect of cheap fusion energy is the worst thing that could happen to the planet.”
Along the way:
“Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Coal powered plants, you know, natural gas, you name it, whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.”
-Presidential candidate Barack Obama, January 2008
And we are now arriving at the end of the line.
I guess they need more room for their dachas.
Sagebrush Rebellion.
There’s some concern about Social Security going bust in a few years, having to cut the size of payments, having to raise taxes even higher, etc. But there is a painless solution.
The govt owns a lot of real estate, developed and otherwise. Congress could designate a chunk of that to the SS system to do with as necessary, rent out buildings, sell outright, lease, whatever. Keeping in mind that the more restrictions you put on this property, the more of it you will need to sell.
That keeps the SS system going and also benefits the local economies by making more land productive and putting more land on the tax rolls.
Expect Social Security to be financed via taxes. The idea of “going bust” is a fairy tale. It will just not be self-financing. Expect taxes to go up and discretionary programs to be cut, such as Defense, HHS, Education, VA, Homeland Security, Energy, HUD, State Dept, NASA
Social Security benefits have been financed with current taxation since day one of the program. Our payroll taxes have been converted into special interest treasury notes since the beginning of the program. Treasury notes are debt instruments to the U.S. taxpayer that must repay them.
With interest rates having risen back to higher levels that problem has passed
We taxpayers PAY interest (4%) on the special issue treasury notes in the Social Security “trust” funds,” we do not earn interest. Treasury notes are debt instruments to the taxpayer and are, in fact, components of the national debt.
There is no money in the Social Security “trust” funds, there is approximately $2.7-trillion in treasury note debt in the “trust” funds. Treasury notes are not assets to us taxpayers that have to repay them, they are debt instruments upon which we pay — not earn — 4% interest. Yes, we are paying interest on our own money and the so-called assets are actually components of the national. debt.
Our payroll taxes are immediately converted to special issue treasury notes and have been since day one of the system. The conversion transfers our taxes into the general fund where they were/are “borrowed” (stolen) and spent by the congress. The congress, however, does not repay the treasury notes, we taxpayers do, with interest.
So, to be clear, the congress “borrows” (steals) and spends our taxes, then forces us taxpayers to repay the loan (theft) with current taxation and interest. Precisely the mechanics of a Ponzi Scheme.
The Social Security system is not solvent now, nor has it ever been solvent.
It was never designed to be solvent.
we have to keep those areas pristine until SMOD returns
If SMOD was on the presidential ballot this year, he/she/it would win by a landslide.
ROFL….you live in a fantasy world
SMOD??
Sweet meteor of death.
The May newsletter of the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies has an article from the AFMS president wherein he claims that the US Forest Service has closed 21,000 miles of roads in Montana alone since 1990, one-third of all USFS roads. That makes it all but impossible to get fire trucks into the closed areas to fight wildfires, and makes it difficult to extract those within the areas who might get caught by a wildfire. Closing roads basically means that the only people who can access the areas are healthy, athletic people — predominantly young — lacking any disabilities or physical impairments, such as wounded veterans commonly have. This seems to me to be discrimination towards the elderly and those with disabilities. Further, during a GOP Oversight-Access to Public Lands hearing, it was stated that the USFS is “moving away from its mandate to maintain access to lands for multiple use.”
If that weren’t bad enough, even when National Monuments allow mineral collecting or hunting, it becomes impractical to haul out 20 pounds of rock, and especially 100 pounds of a field dressed animal, along with all the necessary camping gear necessary for more than a few miles foray into the ‘road-less’ wilderness areas. Public land is being turned into a playground for the privileged few who will quickly ‘age out’ of the ability to access the areas. The only alternative is pack animals, which tends to restrict the activities to local ranchers, or the wealthy.
Too many urban cowboys thinking because they have a big wheel truck they can rip up the countryside by not sticking to the roads
I live in Gunnison County, Colorado where BLM controls 78% of the land. No “big wheel truck” can possibly traverse the USFS roads without getting hopelessly stuck, much less the off-road environment. And I’m pretty sure the folks that own “big wheel trucks” are too concerned for their vehicles to venture over such terrain unless, of course, drugs or alcohol are involved. . . 🙂
Closing roads to everyone is not a reasonable solution to the irresponsible behavior of a few. It is not unlike some teenagers tearing up their high school football field by doing ‘donuts’ on the field at night. The miscreants should be punished, and the public should not become the ‘whipping boy’ for antisocial behavior of a minority.
Its a lot more than a few. Its part of cultural changes, from people like yourself who were responsible, to the modern generation
The “Forest Circus” as some refer to the USFS has let the condition of the forest
in MT deteriorate. The enviros and their federal judicial overlords and the constant
Lawfare over the past 40+yrs has had a serious effect. Closing off the excess number
of roads has not been all bad iMO.
The FS used to have some LEO’s but they are far and few between anymore. I
know some property managers that work for some large land owners.
. They are always holstered up when out, if it’s not the grizzly bears it’s the public A**holes.
The public has become very self-entitled these days. Poachers, drugie low lifes
dope growers to name a few types. You should see some of the mess’s left
behind by the public these days. These property managers have some serious military
backgrounds and the things they encounter are disturbing. On the drainage I’m
on there are 3 unsolved murders over the past 20-30 yrs, that we know about…
There is only a couple of sawmills left for the entire state, there used to be dozens.
Pyramid Lumber announced their closure recently after 75+yrs and another that made particle board plant in Missoula is also closing. Without a workforce and infrastructure the only thing left is fire. The USFS has excellent wildfire aerial units with the VLAT’s and the helicopters.
There are camp sites in my area and they are heavily used all season. They’ve had
a large number of homeless the past few years living year ’round.
Traveling into the forest on foot or horseback with the all the dead timber from
the beetle kill that hit back in ’06 is virtually impossible. Every time a high wind
blows there is a lot of windfall, even after 20+yrs.
The article references “traditional indigenous knowledge” in managing these
lands. This video on Utube of the Director of the Department
of Interior Deb Haaland. will give some insight on that subject…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTgTKdh62Q0
The condition of the Indian Reservations and the residents is not good. Heavy drug
abuse especially with meth and fentanyl and the Mexican cartels.
t
Same thing is occurring in Colorado.
What you are describing is a separate long-term problem of an increase in antisocial and criminal behavior, often, if not usually, perpetrated by urban people who are unfamiliar with the ethics of rural living. It is not unlike the entitled behavior of someone driving 90 MPH on a road with a 65 MPH speed limit. Personally, I think that we are witnessing a general societal breakdown that is best addressed by increased police effort, rather than prohibiting the people observing the rules from having access to public lands.
I have to agree to some extent. The changes in NF started years ago when
each unit was self financed/contained and then switched to being managed
out of Washington DC. That was about when the Earth First !! ers switched from
the terrorism/arson type activities and began with the lawsuits. The original board
of Alliance For the Wild Rockies were mostly Earth First. These players
make an unknown amount of money from their lawsuits but it’s in the billions.
They just are throwing mud at the wall and when something sticks they make
big $$. First off they need to be held accountable if their lawfare fails and
say a management operation goes ahead but the value drops x$million amount
they need to pay that back. And post a bond with their lawsuits to cover
the value.
The advent of ATV’s has changed the dynamics
regarding roads. I recall walking into a hunting area that was closed to motor vehicles for 4 hrs in the dark only to encounter a group of guys that went around the road closure cully-humps dropped off a crew at the top of the basin then rode down into the bottom had a firing line at the bottom..Pissed me off.
I took photos ect and the Government
agency’s both F&G and FS just shrugged…These guys came in to some unimproved
camp sites over Labor Day and stayed till the last week of November. The max allowed is 16 days then you have to move over 40 miles away. ..It’s the rural version of what the blue citys are doing in regards to crime IMO.
Others have pointed out that when such roads are not being maintained, they quickly return to nature.
Once the roads have returned to nature, the land can be relabeled as wilderness and all access to it banned.
And, I have observed roads that were closed and therefore not maintained. There is no promise you can get your Cadillac through the road, but a good 4WD can handle it — unless planks are pulled up on a bridge, which I have encountered. The most egregious situation is where the ends of a road are closed with a bulldozer building a berm that a conventional car can’t get over. Again, a shovel and a capable 4WD can get through. However, having been declared ‘Wilderness’ before the roads were be-headed puts one at risk of a substantial penalty. The bottom line is that the USFS is actively closing roads, and in many instances they would remain usable for decades were it not for ditches or high berms making them a challenge. The last time I visited the Chanchellula Wilderness area in California there had been 4 people sign in to the register at the trail head in the last two years. Before it had been declared a wilderness area locals would take a jeep trail over the top of Chanchellula Peak to hunt deer. After it was declared a road-less wilderness, that road was made inaccessible. There are many instances where areas that were mining districts, which still have mining infrastructure in place, were declared ‘wilderness,’ despite roads, land disturbance, and extant infrastructure.
All ‘Public Lands’ should be turned over to the individual States and the Bureau of Land Management eliminated.
Word.
There’s actually more to this than meets the obvious eye. I live in the Gunnison Valley of Colorado where private property owners are being hood-winked into agreeing to “conservation easements” which will prevent further development on the property and, for ranchers, will prevent the land from being used for ranching or agriculture of any kind if the land is sold by the existing owners.
BLM already controls 78% of the land in Gunnison County, over 1.2-million acres. These “conservation easements” are nothing more than a means to effectively nationalize private property.
Modern environmentalists consider nature to be sacred and mankind the ultimate evil.
They won’t be happy until mankind is reduced to a few 10’s of millions and all of them locked into 1 or 2 high density cities.
There are more than a few so called environmentalists who won’t be happy until all humans have been eliminated.
It would appear that indigenous knowledge only applies if they agree with the administration otherwise FOFF.
Isn’t most of this land, land taken from the previous occupants? If so, shouldn’t they be consulted first?
“There is not an acre of ground on the globe that is in possession of its rightful owner, or that has not been taken away from owner after owner, cycle after cycle, by force and bloodshed.” ― Mark Twain
These stakeholder concerns prompted Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rick Scott (R-FL) to express their dismay to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
Well that’s good then. They expressed their dismay. That’ll fix it.
Or they could stop abdicating their responsibility by playing political games—the favorite pasttime, it seems, of our elected representatives—and start doing the actual legislative work we hired them to do. Don’t want the President and his manifold agencies making regulations and carving off land that the people can no longer use? Take away that power! Write a law that says changing the amount of land under federal protection, or changing policies about access to that land, or leases granted on that land, are to be approved by Congress.
We have an extraordinarily feckless legislature that seems to think their job is to pass continuing budget resolutions instead of real budgets, grant massive “handouts” to American citizens or other countries in the form of “rescue” packages for whatever the emergency of the week is, invent and fund all manner of useless new programs to enrich their party’s wealthy donors, and most importantly, keep their party in power by all means. Congress has sole legislative authority. The President has none. But we’ve come to a point where we treat the President like a king with all legislative power and Congress as just the banker to fund him. This was not the government envisioned by our Founders.