Title: Public Lands: A “Generational Vision” Original CoS Document (slug): [[https://conventionofstates.com/files/article-23-public-lands-a-generational-vision|article-23-public-lands-a-generational-vision]] Login Required to view? No Attached File: Public_Lands-_A_Generational_Vision.pdf The federal takeover of western lands is getting out of control. As Ken Ivory explains in this piece, a Convention of States can help rein in this troubling federal practice Created: 2017-07-06 07:09:03 Updated: 2021-10-19 23:00:00 Published: 2017-07-17 18:00:00 Converted: 2025-04-14T19:24:03.350809422 ---- {{:cb_mirror_public:media:files_4053_pdfto001.png?nolink&918x1188 |background image}} 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 ration 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 secure 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 wildlife; 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.  However, federal bureaucrats, more  concerned 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  catastrophic wildfires that pollute our  air, destroy water supplies and habitat,  and kill wildlife in the millions, leaving  communities depressed and unsafe,  and recreation 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 timber  industry that funded the sheriff’s  department. When she called 911,  all the operator could do was to tell  her to “call back tomorrow” because,  with only two deputies, 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  overgrown forest. Every year, millions  of her forest mates are not so lucky. 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. CONVENTION OF STATES ACTION A GENERATIONAL VISION //by Ken Ivory// //A  Generational Vision// **PUBLIC LANDS** {{:cb_mirror_public:media:files_4053_pdfto002.png?nolink&918x1188 |background image}} 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 industries, 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 federal government extracts  billions of dollars each year from  taxpayers east of the Rockies, to  subsidize western communities that  are thwarted in their ability to raise  sufficient revenues for public services  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  undermines 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  garden. 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  opportunity 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? ConventionofStates.com info@conventionofstates.com 540-441-7227 //Support the only solution that is as big as the problem.\\ //**Sign the petition at ConventionofStates.com.** //**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.**//