We need to start campaigning for the return of federal lands to the states and counties.
The federal government doesn’t need to be in the park business. Thats a local function. Park lands, monument lands, forest lands, BLM lands, should all be handed over to the states along with whatever staff is employed maintaining them. Its up to the state, then, what they do with them.
If it was up to me, I would then privatize BLM lands outright.
Never thought about it, BUT YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!
It would be interesting to see when the federal government got into the sticky-fingered habit of retaining title in large tracts of territory after the territory was incorporated in a new State.
What was federal land-ownership like before the Civil War: Did the feds retain control of, say, 80% of the land in Mississippi or Wisconsin after they joined the Union? When did they start doing that, and on what pretense? And more to the point, cui bono? The railroads', I'll bet.
A little scholarship would be helpful here.
Wonder what would happen if a lot of people just went in and squatted??? Kinda funny and exciting to think about, I suggest they would do nothing, as they do nothing at borders to keep illegals out, so I say go get your land.
In the Midwest, state parks are a zoo to cage and monitor the human animal.