Replies

“The Sunday Morning Bray”, by Bray!

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10

The history of Oregon is unique in the West and captures the true Western spirit. It was originally part of the Louisiana Purchase then mapped by Lewis and Clark and was the first named as the Oregon Territory. Settlers came to Oregon traveling the Oregon Trail which was named for settlers heading to the West and the Pacific Ocean. The Oregon Territory stretched from the current California Oregon border which at that time was the border of Mexico and stretched northward up to the Alaskan border and East to the Continental divide of the Rockies on the East.

The entire territory was larger than Texas and smaller than Alaska covering over 350,000 square miles of land. It was later divided at the Canadian border in a settlement with England to avoid war over the acquisition of the area which is now British Columbia. Later in 1859 prior to the Civil War and in an attempt to receive enough votes for the Emancipation Proclamation it became a state as the rest of the Territory temporarily became the Washington and Montana Territories.

Oregon was the first Pacific Coast state to receive statehood and part of the agreement was the understanding the land would be sold to the settlers in the same manner as the rest of the states such as Ohio through an Enabling Act which enables the state to sell the land while the Federal Government maintains the forts and safety of the settlers. The Enabling Act was how all states were formed in the early forming of America and was assumed to occur with Oregon. It is how the gummit issues title and ownership of the land to allow the people’s ownership.

The Federal gummit did not allow the sales of this land due to a different agreement from the ones allowed to Eastern states. The Enabling Act was essentially put on hold. The primary reason there was no sales of over half the state was the lack of population living in the state since there really was not even the required ten thousand citizens to attain statehood. In addition the coming Civil War eliminated thousands of men moving to the newly formed state. The other factors the Feds maintained the land was the hostile countries threatening war to own the state. The British maintained a trading fort across the new border in Vancouver which is now the state of WA and had designs on Oregon. In addition the southern border was Mexico which is now California and was also hostile to America.

In addition to the hostility issues you have settler’s safety being threatened by a number of hostile Indian tribes which made building forts and bringing the Calvary to the newly formed state a priority. These factors put the selling of the land difficult if not impossible so the Feds basically held the lands before another country could settle it.

One of the reasons the state was allowed without all the required factors was to increase votes to the Emancipation Proclamation and other bills friendly to a more powerful Fed and weaker States Rights. The Civil War came a few years after statehood and all the temporary fixes to make the state a reality became laws as the war settled the power of the Federal ownership. The later Western states received similar treatment as the District of Corruption owns nearly half of all the states west of the Rockies.

These vast miles of resources have been completely mismanaged as we watch monster fires burning in the forests throughout the west. The smoke in September now stretches from Canada to Los Angeles as the dead forests are burning in infernos. There is one major factor with the fires in the west which is the fires are more frequent and severe on gummit land than on private. The Forest Service has basically stopped allowing harvests or any proper management of these valuable resources and is letting them deteriorate making them more susceptible to bugs and fire.

Oregon has lost more lumber mills than any state in the union while having some of the most valuable forests in the world surrounding them. These forests amount to around forty thousand square miles of forests and if managed properly would be sustainable for five hundred years and beyond with ten times the production there is today. The state basically has an oil field which is not being drilled and would refill every twenty years without end. The DC Beltway has no interest in making jobs for Oregonians and would rather listen to the people who believe forests are for worshiping.

The forests of Oregon are a symbol of what is wrong with gummit power and control of our valuable natural resources. In addition to the trees there are thousands of square miles of minerals and metals including land which was sold by Hillary to Russia in the Uranium One scandal. How can forests which are so fragile be controlled by a non-caring faceless entity compared to selling it for private ownership to someone who would take care of it locally. These forests would be healthier and more vibrant overnight as would the wildlife if it was sold to the locals privately from one to ten thousand acre lots. People could own their own paradise in the woods to escape the rat race completely.

What this is an example of is the major problem with gummit vs private. It is also the difference between the earth worshiping cult vs managing God’s creation.
This could become a symbiotic relationship as the forests become healthy feeding the economy of not only Oregon, but the entire building industry would grow as lumber and housing prices would be lowered due to increased supply and production. This is the highest quality lumber for building in the world and could be sold to the entire Pacific Rim lowering our deficit rather than shipping logs America could ship finished lumber.

Oregon is another example of the mismanagement of America’s resources by Moscow on the Potomac such as coal over the past couple decades. These resources are too big and too far away to be handled effectively especially in a hostile enviro-Nazi atmosphere. These eco-terrorists can shut down sales with a simple lawsuit against the BLM rather than if you had thousands of owners requiring thousands of lawsuits affecting people locally. These owners would have more latitude on their own land and could have thousands of tree farms making for a very healthy environment rather than the tinder box the forests have become.

There is a political group called Forests for Oregon.net which is taking on this issue directly who are going to petition the state to force the Fed to turn the land over to the state for sale to the public. None of the arguments of the past are valid and there are cases where this has won in the past including Hawaii. This group is in the process of writing a petition to give Oregonians to have an opportunity to vote on who should have control and access to the forests. There are four million people in the state who could own a piece of these forests and manage them properly to save them from the death and fires they have degraded into.

This petition goes to the heart of many of the issues in America. Do we want to lock up and worship our resources or do we want to be proper stewards of them?
This argument is what many of the conflicts of the West have centered around. This is the best solution to our mismanaged forests and if people want to help this group which has a new website called Forests for Oregon.net they can plug you into how to make a difference in this mission. Freeing Oregon’s forest land is what America’s freedom is all about.

Pray America Woke

Note: The above opinion is not necessarily my own, but FReeper Bray’s. If you wish to discuss this, please ping Bray.