Title: Public Lands: A "Generational Vision" Original CoS Document (slug): [[https://conventionofstates.com/files/public-lands-a-generational-vision-1|public-lands-a-generational-vision-1]] Login Required to view? No Attached File: Article23-PublicLands_COSA122022.pdf Public Lands: A "Generational Vision"\rBy Ken Ivory, Utah State Representative and Director of the Free Lands Project with Federalism in Actio\\ Created: 2024-02-08 15:26:26 Updated: 2025-02-08 19:00:01 Published: 2024-02-08 03:00:00 Converted: 2025-04-14T20:16:36.743404443 ---- {{:cb_mirror_public:media:files_23725_pdfto001.png?nolink&918x1188 |background image}} **The federal government \\ loses 27 cents for every \\ dollar it spends on land \\ management, a loss to \\ taxpayers of approximately \\ $2 billion per year. ** **PUBLIC LANDS: A “GENERATIONAL VISION”** **Ken Ivory is a Utah State Representative and Director of the Free The Lands Project with Federalism in Action. \\ Updated November 2022** **AS THEY MOVED **westward, their \\ strongest men inexplicably dropped dead \\ along the trail. In a company of pioneers \\ trudging forward through harsh, early \\ winter conditions, the sudden deaths \\ caused great concern. The company \\ leader ordered an investigation. The ones still alive were all half-frozen. \\ As their supplies dwindled, their daily ra-\\ tion of food was one small, eight-ounce \\ pouch of flour. These strong men were \\ scooping much of their flour into their \\ children’s pouches so that they might \\ make it safely to their land of promise. The hardships these pioneers endured \\ paled in comparison to their vision to se-\\ cure their own piece of land and the right  to govern themselves, and to pass on to \\ their children the opportunity to prosper.\\ The movie “Monumental” depicts how \\ the pilgrims suffered intensely during \\ their first winter. Nevertheless, the sickly \\ settlers refused to give up and sail back \\ to England, having a “generational vision \\ that they could lay their lives down in this \\ wilderness and literally put their faces \\ down in the mud and have their children \\ walk on their backs to a better day.” Aren’t we all pioneers and pilgrims? \\ Don’t we all share the same “generational \\ vision” of healthier air, water and wild-\\ life; safe and vibrant communities; and \\ abundant recreation? We’ve been told for decades now that,  to achieve this promise, we have to trust \\ distant federal bureaucrats with the \\ management of our unique lands. How-\\ ever, federal bureaucrats, more con-\\ cerned with policies than promises, lock \\ up our lands like they are in a museum \\ — Hands Off, Don’t Touch! This “museum management” results in  overgrown forests and record-setting cat-\\ astrophic wildfires that pollute our air, \\ destroy water supplies and habitat, and \\ kill wildlife in the millions, leaving com-\\ munities depressed and unsafe, and rec-\\ reation areas burned up or blocked off. \\ It’s Not Working! It’s not working for the Oregon woman who \\ was raped and brutalized in her own home \\ because federal policies shut down the tim-\\ ber industry that funded the sheriff’s de-\\ partment. When she called 911, all the op-\\ erator could do was to tell her to “call back \\ tomorrow” because, with only two depu-\\ ties, the sheriff’s office could not respond. It’s not working for the little bear cub in \\ eastern Washington state who crawled \\ desperately on her little paws, burned \\ up to her elbows, to find anywhere that \\ was not an inferno. State wildlife agents \\ found her and she was nursed to health, \\ only to be released into another over-\\ grown forest. Every year, millions of her \\ forest mates are not so lucky.  //Continued on back page// {{:cb_mirror_public:media:files_23725_pdfto002.png?nolink&918x1188 |background image}} **With improved management … vast \\ ecosystems will have the opportunity \\ to recover, blue ribbon fisheries will \\ be restored, the threat of massive \\ wildfires will be reduced, and big game \\ will be able to flourish again. ** //Continued from front page// It’s not working for the lands and people \\ of Montana. Firefighters in the state put \\ out wildfires, on average, at less than 10 \\ acres. Their helicopters are equipped to \\ carry more water and drop it faster. When \\ wildfires broke out on federal lands, five \\ Montana crews were in the air. However, \\ the U.S. Forest Service grounded \\ them because the Montana helicopters \\ were “not on their approved list.” The \\ Montana crews sat there on the ground \\ watching thousands upon thousands of \\ acres burn, their air polluted for weeks, \\ and their water supplies decimated. It’s not working for Garfield County, \\ Utah, where they recently declared an \\ economic state of emergency. Inflicted \\ by a host of federal lands policies, from a \\ two million acre national monument that \\ shut down the world’s largest reserve of \\ the cleanest coal, to federal policies that \\ decimated their timber and livestock in-\\ dustries, the number one export from \\ Garfield County is now their children. It’s not working for national security or \\ energy independence. China controls \\ nearly  90% of the world market for  rare earth elements that are vital to the \\ technology that keeps our planes in the \\ air, ships on the water, and troops on \\ the field. We have rare earth elements in \\ abundance locked up from New Mexico \\ to Alaska in federally controlled lands. \\ We are dependent on foreign powers \\ that manipulate the price and supply \\ of our energy. According to the U.S. \\ GAO, there is more recoverable oil in \\ Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming than in \\ the rest of the world combined, locked \\ up in federally controlled lands. It’s not working for the nation. The fed-\\ eral government extracts billions of dol-\\ lars each year from taxpayers east of the \\ Rockies, to subsidize western communi-\\ ties that are thwarted in their ability to \\ raise sufficient revenues for public ser-\\ vices because the federal government \\ controls up to 90% of their lands. Worse \\ yet, Congress regularly holds these funds \\ to western communities hostage in a sort \\ of “two-bit protection racket,” as Sen. \\ Mike Lee calls it, to garner western votes \\ for hundreds of billions to be doled out \\ from the “dysfunctional favor bank” that \\ epitomizes D.C. politics. This under-\\ mines our system of strong, self-reliant \\ states meant to check federal overreach. So, what’s the answer? Have you ever \\ had a garden? If so, you know that a \\ healthy garden is a productive garden, \\ and a productive garden is a healthy gar-\\ den. Who better to tend the garden than \\ those who know the unique soil, climate, \\ pests, and local conditions best, and who \\ are on hand to address the unforeseen \\ circumstances that always arise? It’s time to Free the Lands for more \\ effective local care and management. \\ Who better to care for the unique lands \\ and interests of Nevada (85% federally \\ controlled) than Nevadans? Or, for the \\ unique lands of Alaska (more than 225 \\ million acres federally controlled) than \\ Alaskans? With the same “generational vision” that \\ built this nation, we can secure the op-\\ portunity for our children to prosper. A Convention of States has the power \\ to propose amendments that will rein \\ in an out-of-control federal land baron, \\ transition to more effective local care of \\ our unique lands, and unleash a national \\ economic renaissance. What’s in your flour pouch? **(540)441-7227 | CONVENTIONOFSTATES.COM | Facebook.com/ConventionOfStates | Twitter.com/COSproject **