Relax, Everything is Going to be Okay!

[BrentD]

If it was easy this Public Lands Forum wouldn't be needed and HT would be a grip and grin site where we just argue about people asking for help and posting unit numbers.

I disagree. It is not the public, by and large. It is the politicians that threatened our public land, along with a few other special groups like miners and and a few elite ranchers. Politicians caving to very vocal minorities with lots of money are the problem.

 

[SAJ-99]

I disagree. It is not the public by and large. It is the politicians, That threatened our public land. How long with a few other special enters groups like miners and and a few elite ranchers. Politicians caving to very vocal minorities with lots of money are the problem.

Good point. I'm not sure politicians are listening to the people anymore. And if they make the mistake once they sure won't do it again.

Baumgartner faces angry, disruptive town hall following two months of Trump's presidency

U.S. Rep. Michael Baumgartner was confronted by a disruptive, angry crowd that demanded answers for the freshman Republican congressman’s voting record and recent actions in President Donald Trump’s White House – and regularly interrupted each answer during a town hall Monday evening at...

www.spokesman.com

 

[jimh406]

Veterans against Musk.

 

[Irrelevant]

I disagree. It is not the public by and large. It is the politicians, That threatened our public land. How long with a few other special enters groups like miners and and a few elite ranchers. Politicians caving to very vocal minorities with lots of money are the problem.

I'm not sure. I think there is a factually based and compelling case for both. I sure know a lot of people that don't value public lands over development. I tend to see them as the same people they buy on credit, they are pre-dispositioned to be short-sighted in their ability to assess life. But once you walk them through it, you can often get them to see the logic behind retaining and supporting public lands.

 

[TOGIE]

I disagree. It is not the public by and large. It is the politicians, That threatened our public land. How long with a few other special enters groups like miners and and a few elite ranchers. Politicians caving to very vocal minorities with lots of money are the problem.

It is largely the politicians and vocal minorities and they get away with it because the overwhelming majority of americans have no understanding of, connection to, or even fleeting thoughts of federal public land. If they do it's in regards to a National Park that they maybe visited once and they might raise their voice in defense of Parks after that experience.

I grew up in a western state, hiking, backpacking, camping, fishing, climbing, and mt biking and that recreation took part in its majority on federal public land. I started hunting when I was like 26 or whatever and i can tell you that hunting is the only thing that opened my eyes to the true vastness of and the near ethereal experience of recreating on the vast and largely unknown to the masses chunks of public land. Nothing opened my eyes to how valuable so many places are that very few people ever visit.

Take your average coloradan and you will probably have a hard time convincing them of the intangible values of the vast BLM acreage in the northwest corner of the state that they have not and will never spend time on. Then insert any other random location of public land that isn't a developed campground and they will likely struggle the same to see why anyone would place such an intangible and large amount of value on it. Heck chances are this person doesn't even camp.

Now remember that like 80% of the US population lives east of the 100th meridian. The majority them don't give a shit. They just don't.

Thinking about all that is why if, hypothetically, Colorado could gain ownership of all of our federal public land and I could be guaranteed it would be retained in its entirety as public land for all the uses the public enjoys on public land, well.... I'd take that deal in a heartbeat given current trajectories.

 

[WildWill]

It is largely the politicians and vocal minorities and they get away with it because the overwhelming majority of americans have no understanding of, connection to, or even fleeting thoughts of federal public land. If they do it's in regards to a National Park that they maybe visited once and they might raise their voice in defense of Parks after that experience.

I grew up in a western state, hiking, backpacking, camping, fishing, climbing, and mt biking and that recreation took part in its majority on federal public land. I started hunting when I was like 26 or whatever and i can tell you that hunting is the only thing that opened my eyes to the true vastness of and the near ethereal experience of recreating on the vast and largely unknown to the masses chunks of public land. Nothing opened my eyes to how valuable so many places are that very few people ever visit.

Take your average coloradan and you will probably have a hard time convincing them of the intangible values of the vast BLM acreage in the northwest corner of the state that they have not and will never spend time on. Then insert any other random location of public land that isn't a developed campground and they will likely struggle the same to see why anyone would place such an intangible and large amount of value on it. Heck chances are this person doesn't even camp.

Now remember that like 80% of the US population lives east of the 100th meridian. The majority them don't give a shit. They just don't.

Thinking about all that is why if, hypothetically, Colorado could gain ownership of all of our federal public land and I could be guaranteed it would be retained in its entirety as public land for all the uses the public enjoys on public land, well.... I'd take that deal in a heartbeat given current trajectories.

Nailed it. For most of the people I know public lands aren't even on their radar.

 

[Gulf of America]

I just found out the feds aren't signing any PE (preliminary engineering) mods for grant-funded projects, which is a huge blow to project development within the Department of Transportation. These projects have to meet tight deadlines and engineering is typically scoped in phases, and this means every project is stuck in the current phase. For one project, the feds refused to grant a SOW amendment with no cost or schedule impact, just cleaning up project limits, so that project is also grinding to a halt. This is tens, maybe hundreds, of millions of taxpayer dollars (in Montana alone) being held up and it's going to mean more road and bridge closures. That's bad for everyone.