selling off federal lands: part 2

[Guy]

I don't get it either. I posted about a rail to trail that was in danger of being lost to private landowners b/c of Eastern Washington backroom deals, and he posted in defense of that transfer.

I did not take his posts on this to be in favor of the transfer at all. He was simple saying that there may well be other legal reasons why that happened also he did not say he was in favor or opposed to that opinion.

I agree that Rand Man has us all guessing but that's not a crime & his posts are not disrespectful or flame throwing at all. To be honest I think he's getting more negative flack from some here than he deserves based on his posts.

Just my 2 cents.

[miah66]

I did not take his posts on this to be in favor of the transfer at all. He was simple saying that there may well be other legal reasons why that happened also he did not say he was in favor or opposed to that opinion.

He didn't?

Essentially, various rail-to-trail groups throughout the country are federal criminals for having ignored, for their personal gain, our Constitution: "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

I expect that if the 35 year-old lawsuit was instead pursued today, the state would either revert full control, or use eminent domain law to take the land with compensation.

Pretty strong opinion there. Either way you feel, for or against, that wasn't the point of my post anyway. I was merely stating that politicians are scheming, behind closed doors, to transfer lands out of public hands and gave this as an example. He steered the conversation into the weeds. I could ask him how those owners gained those lands, most likely taking them from Native Americans who lived on them for eons. See how that works?

I also stated that I dont mind discussion on this topic, even dissenting opinion, but I and others have had a hard time understanding what his viewpoint is (other than being a contrarian) in many of his posts.

What am I missing here?

[Webfoot]

"Last March, Zinke voted for the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreation Enhancement Act. It would allow public land agencies to build temporary roads, construct dams and log in wilderness areas. "

And some people were worried about bicycles!

[drm]

I looked up the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act at the Congressional summary site at https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-con ... -bill/2406 and it mentioned nothing about roads or logging (let alone in wilderness). It talks about things like allowing lead sinkers (exempting them from toxic substance act) and so on. I didn't spend the time to read the actual bill.

[miah66]

I didn't spend the time to read the actual bill.

Have you considered a career as a member of Congress?

[drm]

I didn't spend the time to read the actual bill.

Have you considered a career as a member of Congress?

Do they ever read the bills?

[5th]

Do they ever read the bills?

No, neither kind.

[Rand Man]

From the Wilderness Society's webpage, their press release dated Mar 3rd 2016 regarding HR2406:

" bill contained a provision that would fundamentally undermine management of the National Wilderness Preservation System by opening America’s wilderness areas to motorized vehicles, road construction, use of motorized equipment, use of mechanized vehicles, landing of aircraft and construction of structures or installations. ... Thus, The Wilderness Society opposed this bill based solely on that provision."

http://wilderness.org/press-release/wilderness-society-statement-share-act-hr-2406

[ThePortlandeer]

I just wrote Congressman Earl Blumenauer (even though he's already on our side) concerning "H.R. 621 - To direct the Secretary of the Interior to sell certain Federal lands in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming, previously identified as suitable for disposal, and for other purposes." In Oregon this includes land in and around Steens Mountain, the Deschutes, and the Rogue River according to the BLM https://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/plann ... ally0.html.

Why waste time questioning Randman? If you care about the places where we hike take 2 minutes and write in to your representative, little impact as it may have. To borrow some words I read on an Instagram post "I know there are a lot of big issues we're facing right now, but few are as irreversible - once sold, we'll never get back our public lands or the access we all enjoy as public land owners."

[miah66]

Thank you for speaking up! I'm hopeful more of the members who visit this forum will as well. I honestly don't know why this issue isn't as controversial as unleashed dogs and cairns. We're facing the prospect of losing public lands FOREVER. Thousands of miles of trails in Oregon/Washington gone. Please take a minute to sign a petition, share, call congressmen, etc.

Here's the actual bill:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-con ... 21/actions

Petition:
http://sportsmensaccess.org/state-public-lands/oregon/

List of Congress people on the Natural Resources Committee:
http://clerk.house.gov/committee_info/i ... mcode=II00

What to say:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10cm ... uA/preview