Utah Rep. Ken Ivory recently released a slide presentation that argued for local ownership and management of federal government lands.
More than 50% of all western U.S. land is owned and controlled by the federal government, compared to the 5% the federal government owns on the East Coast, according to Ivory's presentation. Although federally owned land is referred to as "federally protected” land, Ivory said most federal land is, in fact, “neglected.”
“It’s time to entrust our public lands to local management that knows and cares," Ivory wrote.
One of Ivory’s main points was wildfires. He said that in 11 western states, during the decades when large-scale grazing and logging were occurring, there were very few wildfires. However, since the federal government implemented the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) and Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs), the number of fires has continued to escalate, Ivory said.
Ivory said that the government has created an obstacle for states attempting to extinguish fires. According to Fire Aviation, the federal government ordered certain state firefighting helicopters grounded in 2015 because they "were not approved equipment." Steve Bullock, then Governor of Montana, was frustrated with that obstacle, saying, “I am doing my part to mobilize every available firefighting resource at my disposal, and make them available to all fire protection agencies,” the news report said.
Ivory said turning lands over to local management would reduce fires, smoke, polluted water, the death of trees and wildlife, economic depravity, and unsafe communities. It would bring about healthier land, water, wildlife, and overall “safe, vibrant communities,” he said.
Ivory quoted Supreme Court Justice George Sutherland, who said, “Man has three great rights, equally sacred from arbitrary interference: the right to his life, the right to his liberty, the right to his property The three rights are so bound together as to be essentially one right. To give a man his life but to deny him his liberty, is to take from him all that makes his life worth living. To give him his liberty but take from him the property which is the fruit and badge of his liberty is to still leave him a slave.”
