Lawmakers from several western states gathered to discuss the return to state control of "extremely valuable, oil and mineral rich lands currently under federal management,"
writes Rick Moran, citing a
Salt Lake Tribune news story. (See another
news account at the Christian Science Monitor, which also contains the map below.)
It’s time for Western states to take control of federal lands within their borders, lawmakers and county commissioners from Western states said at Utah’s Capitol on Friday.
More than 50 political leaders from nine states convened for the first time to talk about their joint goal: wresting control of oil-, timber -and mineral-rich lands away from the feds.
“It’s simply time,” said Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, who organized the Legislative Summit on the Transfer for Public Lands along with Montana state Sen. Jennifer Fielder. “The urgency is now.” [snip]
Fielder, who described herself as “just a person who lives in the woods,” said federal land management is hamstrung by bad policies, politicized science and severe federal budget cuts.
“Those of us who live in the rural areas know how to take care of lands,” Fielder said, who lives in the northwestern Montana town of Thompson Falls.
“We have to start managing these lands. It’s the right thing to do for our people, for our environment, for our economy and for our freedoms,” Fielder said.
Idaho Speaker of the House Scott Bedke said Idaho forests and rangeland managed by the state have suffered less damage and watershed degradation from wildfire than have lands managed by federal agencies.
The states with the highest federal ownership are:
- Nevada 84.5%
- Alaska 69.1%
- Utah 57.4%
- Oregon 53.1%
- Idaho 50.2%
- Arizona 48.1%
- California 45.3%
- Wyoming 42.3%
- New Mexico 41.8%
- Colorado 36.6%
Moran provides this list of "primary federal land holders" of state real estate:
- Department of the Interior
- Bureau of Land Management
- United States Fish and Wildlife Serice
- National Park Service
- Bureau of Indian Affairs
- Bureau of Reclamation
- Department of Agriculture
- United States Forest Service
- United States Department of Defense
- United States Army Corp of Engineers
- Tennessee Valley Authority
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