Podcast - Utah Wants Your Public Lands

[Big Fin]

In this podcast I have David Willms of the National Wildlife Federation (and the Your Mountain Podcast) to talk about Utah's effort to lay claim to 18.5 millions acres of BLM lands. A lot of this has been discussed on the threads here on Hunt Talk. This podcast goes into a deep dive of the effort, other efforts to divest public lands, a history of this continued effort, and efforts we can expect in the future.

Link below to listen/download. Or, get wherever you get your podcast apps.


Link here - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podca...our-public-lands/id1012713381?i=1000672049357

 

[SAJ-99]

Just listened. I wish I could say it made me optimistic, but I can't find much other than the willingness to keep fighting this crazy stuff. I know there was a call to try to change the mind of the politicians and I am in full support for contacting those representatives and letting them know how you feel. Unfortunately, in this case, Utah went straight to the top.This isn't proposed federal legislation to dispose of lands, so I suspect your congressperson will say there is not much they can do.

And has been pointed out in other threads, it isn't just Utah. I would at least look for amicus briefs from other states like ID, WY, MT.
Below is from the Washington State Republic Party Platform 2024. I would like to say that the Republican party's inability to read the room is laughable, but it worked on another issue so it looks more like standard operating procedure.

 

[nrpate05]

This will be next on the list for me. David is a serious wealth of knowledge. Thanks Randy!

 

[Benn74]

I’m from Utah! And it really frustrates me to no end that our state is at the forefront of this issue! I’m not sure what a person can do to iron out the problem here! We are a republican state and it seems like all of our voting people favor this lawsuit of sorts and I don’t understand why! I’m ready to fight for our public lands! I’m not sure where to go and fight! I am just a simple construction worker but I’m willing to do whatever it takes to open the eyes of everyone in this state I just don’t know how or the money to do so! Does anyone have any ideas on what the heck a guy can do to get the message out????

 

[SAJ-99]

Ammon Bundy might have some ideas on effective protesting.

 

[Wildabeest]

I’m from Utah! And it really frustrates me to no end that our state is at the forefront of this issue! I’m not sure what a person can do to iron out the problem here! We are a republican state and it seems like all of our voting people favor this lawsuit of sorts and I don’t understand why! I’m ready to fight for our public lands! I’m not sure where to go and fight! I am just a simple construction worker but I’m willing to do whatever it takes to open the eyes of everyone in this state I just don’t know how or the money to do so! Does anyone have any ideas on what the heck a guy can do to get the message out????

It’s probably all of the billboards and other deceptive advertising the state is doing (with your tax dollars!) to make people believe that state control will lead to better protection of public lands. Most non-hunters I talk to don’t understand the issue and simply believe what they are hearing from the very loud and dishonest proponents.

 

[Wildabeest]

How fun would this get if a receptive Congress eliminated PILT payments to all states supporting this?

 

[Big Fin]

A companion video that touches on the Utah land grab and also expands to discuss the hypocrisy of so many groups raising hell that the Administration has the stupid idea to prohibit shooting on 1.3 million acres of Bears Ear National Monument, a good reason to raise hell when we lose that ground to shooting.

The hypocrisy comes when the politicians will do nothing to change the rules about recreational shooting on state lands in CO, AZ, and NM. There we are talking about 20 million acres off limits. Yet, these same groups raising hell over 1.3 million acres in UT won't lift a finger to improve shooting on those 20 million acres. And I know why - politics.

And then we have the same groups unwilling to call out the effort to sell/transfer public lands to western states, where we'd lose over 100 million acres to recreational shooting (and many other activities). Again, complete silence, when these groups have connections that could bury the dumb ideas coming from the Utah "think tanks."

 

[Forkyfinder]

A companion video that touches on the Utah land grab and also expands to discuss the hypocrisy of so many groups raising hell that the Administration has the stupid idea to prohibit shooting on 1.3 million acres of Bears Ear National Monument, a good reason to raise hell when we lose that ground to shooting.

The hypocrisy comes when the politicians will do nothing to change the rules about recreational shooting on state lands in CO, AZ, and NM. There we are talking about 20 million acres off limits. Yet, these same groups raising hell over 1.3 million acres in UT won't lift a finger to improve shooting on those 20 million acres. And I know why - politics.

And then we have the same groups unwilling to call out the effort to sell/transfer public lands to western states, where we'd lose over 100 million acres to recreational shooting (and many other activities). Again, complete silence, when these groups have connections that could bury the dumb ideas coming from the Utah "think tanks."

The march of dumbassery on public land policy takes left and right feet.

Thanks for saying the quiet parts of it outloud.

 

[ismith]

Is there a reason Federal land can't have a conservation easement placed on it for perpetual recreational use?

 

[bucdoego]

As Big Fin mentioned Rank Choice voting and the Montana Ballot Initiative (as well as his need to further investigate for pros/cons ahead of voting), I'm posting an article at RealClearPolitics for reference. It mentions both Alaska and Maine as examples. Maine's two Senators are King (Independent that caucuses with Democrats) and Collins (Republican). Alaska Senators Sullivan and Murkowski are both republicans. Murkowski is not without controversy (do your own research).

Other states, including Oregon, have initiatives too. So, it isn't just Montana that is considering it. Lots of rumors as to who and what is driving these initiatives. There are also initiatives to repeal Rank Choice - Alaska comes to mind, though none have succeeded, that I know of.

Like Randy, I encourage you all to vote. I also second his idea to be informed when you do it. Thanks for all you do, Randy. Always thoughtful and passionate!

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2024/10/07/liberal_reformers_are_monkey-wrenching_democracy__151737.html

 

[SAJ-99]

I'm posting an article at RealClearPolitics for reference.

In the interest of full disclosure, you should also point out the author might be a wack job.

 

[bucdoego]

In the interest of full disclosure, you should also point out the author might be a wack job.

Thanks for posting a reply. I'm sure it will be interesting to some here at HT.

Still, 'Wiki' is hardly unbiased. In my experience, it can be a useful or inflammatory source, based upon the author of the specific profile.

Anyway, I posted the RCP article as they are generally fair and often present multiple perspectives on a given topic. I'm sure there are other authors and viewpoints that would be of interest on this subject, if one is ready to dismiss the ideas and views expressed in this post because of a Wiki profile.

I encourage everyone to do their own research (search engines make it easy). There has been quite a bit of discourse on the topic of Rank Choice Voting in recent years. So, there are lots of other authors and web postings to explore.

 

[SAJ-99]

Anyway, I posted the RCP article as they are generally fair and often present multiple perspectives on a given topic.

Shoot. Sorry I completely missed that link to the other perspective. I agree that Fair and Balanced is the best approach.

 

[CPAjeff]

A great podcast - definitely worth a listen!

 

[Nameless Range]

Finally got around to listening to this one. Great episode.

I went googling afterward to see what some of the players have to say about their misguided mission. If anyone tells you the states could manage em better, that they’d still be there for hunting and fishing, etc - their getting honeydicked.

The folks pushing for this don’t even hide their plans to just sell em off.