Who Should Manage our Public Lands?

Recent events in our nation’s legislature have raised the question of who should manage our public lands. Should the federal government continue to manage and dictate what can happen on land across the continent from Washington D.C.? In my opinion they should hand over management of public lands to the state governments.

An analysis by the Property and Environment Research Center in Montana, shows that “on average, states generate more revenue per dollar spent than the federal government on a variety of land management activities, including timber, grazing, minerals and recreation.” I realize that in our personal lives economics isn’t always our first concern when making decisions, but when we are dealing with government, spending and revenue is important and should be considered. The numbers in this study are compelling especially when federal management is losing money every year which adds to the federal deficit, and the state management of the same activities is profitable by a margin of about $14 gained for every dollar spent. To me this shows a lack of good choices by officials who make these decisions. If the forest service sells timber below cost, how can they hope to keep their revenues in the black and in turn give relief to the tax payers?

You may think that the states won’t treat the land as it was intended. The mission statement of the Bureau of Land Management is “to manage and conserve the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations under our mandate of multiple-use and sustained yield.” I agree that this is how the land should be used and preserved. However, if this agency is losing money every year it won’t be sustainable. There is one thing that both sides of the argument can agree on and that is tourism as a way to sustain the profitability and even the conservation of these areas. If the states don’t continue to fund conservation by allocation funds to other budget areas, it would be detrimental to the land as well as the tourism. The more people that come and experience the beauty of the West, the greater the desire to preserve it will become. In many of these areas tourism drives the economy. The states with their fiduciary responsibility will take an active part in making sure the lands are cared for and maintained in a way that will benefit visitors and residents for generations to come.

According to the BLM, most of the land under their management is located in 12 western states, including Alaska. They should each be able to control the management of these lands that are held within their own borders, instead of legislators from thirty-eight other states deciding what is best for land they may have never visited. This is not new territory for these states. They each have state trust lands that they manage.

I would hope that the government would only give the states access to acquire the lands and not open any of it for private sales. Losing or restricting access to our pristine areas would be a loss for our children of the future.

I wouldn’t take all the land management from the federal government. I think that they should retain the National Parks and Monuments while giving the Wilderness areas and forests to the states. Recreational activities as well as hunting and fishing can continue as the land is renewed and cared for. Who should manage our public lands? I think the states should be able to manage the public lands within their borders.

Reference List

Coggin, Will. “Public Lands Debate Marred by Camouflaged Activists.” http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865625394/Public-lands-debate-marred-by-camouflaged-activists.html

DeMille, David. “Feds, State Leaders Agree on Public Lands Tourism.” http://www.thespectrum.com/story/news/local/2014/06/09/feds-state-leaders-agree-public-lands-tourism/10256507/

Fretwell, Holly; Regan, Shawn. “Divided Lands: State vs. Federal Management in the West.”                           http://perc.org/articles/divided-lands-state-vs-federal-management-west

Regan, Shawn. “The U.S. Department of Land-Hogging.”                                          http://perc.org/articles/us-department-land-hogging

Rogers, Will. “Our Land, Up for Grabs.”                                      http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/02/opinion/our-land-up-for-grabs.html?_r=0

U.S. Department of the Interior. “Mission statement of the Bureau of Land Management.” http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2014/october/nr_10_02_2014.html