Free Republic

The Biden administration has continued the modern Democrat tradition of perverse federal land use policy. It comes as a surprise to most Americans that the federal government owns nearly one-third of the nation’s land mass, in excess of 640 million acres. (It also owns 1.7 billion acres of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), but that is another story.) Most know of the National Park Service in the Department of the Interior and its 80 million acres of parks, preserves, reserves, monuments, memorials, historic sites, battlefields, and recreation areas, in every state. Many Americans may be familiar with the 141 national...

With a stroke of the pen President Obama has unilaterally declared vast swaths of land in Utah and Nevada as two new national monuments, thus putting them under control of the federal government.

Reference: Obama Celebrates His Newest Monuments by Tweeting out Pictures of the Wrong National Park http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/29/obama-celebrates-his-newest-monuments-by-tweeting-out-pictures-of-the-wrong-national-park/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=tds-fb SCL Comment: National parks or monuments are an unconstitutional federal land-grab from the states, regardless of how benign or benevolent such act may seem at the time. The only valid federal ownership of state land is described in Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 of the U.S. Constitution which says: “[Congress shall have Power…] to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals,...

I went to our yearly HOA meeting last night. Some consultant with GBM Associates in Bryant, AR said that he is proposing a "Neighborhood mitigation bank" where we buy "credits" for letting the Corps of Engineers (COE) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) get deeded our "wetlands", which are really 2 creeks, and dry tributaries. The consultant was honest. He said, no federal law dictates it, just a 1983 guidance. NO promises of making money, no guarantees that COE/EPA will do anything. Fines are possibe, like if my kid catches crawfish, or throws rocks in the lake/stream. Anyways, my wife and...

Interior Secretary Calls for 'major course correction' in conservation. Video of Secretary's speech: https://www.doi.gov/video/next-100-years-conservation And weep!

Obama to designate the Mojave Trails, Sand to Snow and Castle Mountains monuments under the 1906 Antiquities Act, which authorizes presidents to create national monuments on federal land to protect "objects of historic and scientific interest." With his second term winding down, Obama has now protected more than 265 million acres of land and water, more than any other administration. A year ago, Obama designated much of the Angeles National Forest as the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. The designations, which do not include funding, were supported by groups including the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Assn., the Sierra Club, Defenders...

President Obama designated three new national monuments in the California desert Thursday, expanding federal protection to 1.8 million acres of landscapes that have retained their natural beauty despite decades of heavy mining, cattle ranching and off-roading.

Four days after taking the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, Oregon, LaVoy Finicum, a 55-year-old Arizona rancher told NBC News that he'd rather die than spend his days in prison. "There are things more important than your life and freedom is one of them," he said in early January as he sat huddled in a blue tarp outside of the wildlife refuge keeping watch with his gun in his lap. "I'm prepared to defend freedom." Finicum told NBC that night that he was staying outside to ensure that the FBI could find him if they came to arrest him....

Representative Derek Kilmer (D-WA) called on Congressional leaders to reauthorize a program that provides key support to rural communities. Representatives Kilmer, Chris Stewart (R-UT), Jared Huffman (D-CA), and Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) led a letter urging the swift renewal of Secure Rural Schools (SRS) to help counties with national forests. Since national forest land cannot be taxed by counties or states, for more than 100 years the Forest Service has shared revenues from timber harvests on federal lands with the nearby communities. In the letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi the members pointed out that SRS...

Transfer of Public Lands Act’ demands Washington relinquish 31.2 million acres by Dec. 31. In three weeks, Utah intends to seize control of 31.2 million acres of its own land now under the control of the federal government. At least, that’s the plan. In an unprecedented challenge to federal dominance of Western state lands, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert in 2012 signed the “Transfer of Public Lands Act,” which demands that Washington relinquish its hold on the land, which represents more than half of the state’s 54.3 million acres, by Dec. 31. ... With the 2012 law, Utah placed itself on...

The federal government has 31.2 million acres of Utah's land, and Utah wants it back. According to the Washington Times on Wednesday, in three weeks, Utah plans to seize control of its own land now under the control of the federal government. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, in an unprecedented challenge to federal dominance of Western state lands, in 2012 signed the “Transfer of Public Lands Act,” which demands that Washington relinquish its hold on the land. The land being held represents more than half of the state’s 54.3 million acres, by Dec. 31. State Rep. Ken Ivory, who sponsored the...

When Kit Laney answered a knock on his door Saturday, law enforcement officers from the U.S. Forest Service handed him a piece of paper announcing his Diamond Bar Ranch in southwest New Mexico would be shut down Wednesday and his 300 head of cattle grazing there would be removed – one way or the other. Other Forest Service officials were busy nailing similar notices on fence posts along the highway and informing neighbors that after Feb. 11, they should not attempt to enter the Diamond Bar property. Laney was not surprised. He knew someday there would be an on-the-ground confrontation...

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell says she will recommend that President Obama act alone if necessary to create new national monuments and sidestep a gridlocked Congress that has failed to address dozens of public lands bills. Jewell said the logjam on Capitol Hill has created a conservation backlog, and she warned that the Obama administration would not "hold its breath forever" waiting for lawmakers to act. "The president will not hesitate," Jewell said in an interview in San Francisco last week. "I can tell you that there are places that are ripe for setting aside, with a tremendous groundswell of public...

The Obama administration is spending $35 million to buy 30,000 acres of private property across the U.S. this year to make permanent homes for mice, fairy shrimp, mussels, prairie bushes and beetles. Those are just some of the 70 critters and plants to benefit from the land purchases in a dozen states as part of the government’s habitat conservation plans for endangered species. “The federal government already owns more land than Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and Poland combined,” said Rob Gordon, senior adviser for strategic outreach at The Heritage Foundation....The federal government owns more than 600 million...

President Barack Obama launched a new initiative Friday to conserve cherished land and encourage more Americans to enjoy the outdoors. The president said the "America's Great Outdoors" program will involve a series of listening sessions throughout the nation to solicit an array of ideas. *snip* Obama is to receive a report by Nov. 15 outlining an action plan to both reconnect Americans to nature and enhance conservation efforts. Eight departments and the White House Office of Management and Budget are to work with the initiative to "identify existing resources," and to align policies to meet the initiative's goals.

Congress is gearing up to vote on a very dangerous bill. The National Heritage Areas Act (HR 2388), sponsored by liberal Republican Rep. Joel Hefley (Colo.) and liberal Democrat Rep. Nick Rahall (W.Va.), would do for land grabs what the assembly line did for automobiles. It would speed up the process to a point where private property would be the equivalent of the horse and buggy. The Heritage Areas Act proposes to extend federal control over local land use in exchange for federal grant money going to local communities. Politicians see it as a pork-barrel spending program to benefit their...