Free Republic

A growing number of state organizations seek to remedy what they consider negligent policies and shoddy oversight of public land on the part of federal agencies. Under the umbrella name Transfer of Public Lands, the movement offers a solution to the problem that is simple in concept: transfer ownership and management of public lands administered by federal agencies to equivalent state agencies. These agencies, being accountable to governors, state legislators and citizens, will manage the public lands in a more conscientious, cost-effective way. ... Unlike states east of the Continental Divide, public lands in Western states such as Washington and...

Despite a long process involving collaboration between local officials the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Western Colorado, the federal land agency is proceeding with the closure of roads that have been traveled for 50 or more years. The road closures comprise a portion of the BLM’s Resource Management Plan (RMP) for Mesa County, of which, 73 percent is controlled by the federal government . ... public roads, used by off-roaders, hunters, farmers, ranchers and, during wildfire season, firefighting crews. ... Jody Green, a member of Public Lands Access Association and long-time activist working to preserve access into federally-managed lands,...

Lawyers for a San Juan County commissioner convicted of his role in a protest ride in Recapture Canyon are asking a judge to disqualify himself, citing his ties to an environmental group. ... Judge Shelby is “close friends” with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance’s legal director, Stephen Bloch, who has advocated for a stiff sentence for Lyman. Judge Shelby disclosed the relationship ... Steve Bloch, on behalf of SUWA, Steve Bloch and his wife Kara are friends of mine and have been for a long, long time. I practiced with Kara at Snow Christensen starting in 1999. My wife and...

SALT LAKE CITY — The much-awaited, much-touted public lands initiative dubbed the "Grand Bargain" is slated to be released in draft form March 27, along with a map that carves out land-use designations for a huge chunk of eastern Utah. Utah's congressional delegation announced Wednesday they are putting the final touches on the massive proposal, which involves a geographic blueprint covering 18 million acres of federal lands and 1.6 million acres of wilderness study areas in the state. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, the chief architect of the process, said the draft measure is giant in scope. "I think we will...

A group of horseback riders drew stares, honks and a few handshakes and high-fives along Redwood Road Thursday, hooves clattering on pavement in a protest ride of federal land management policies. The Utah trek of the Grass March Cowboy Express hit Salt Lake City and continued east up Parleys Canyon, with Tooele County Commission Chairman Bruce Clegg and Utah Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, riding in tandem. With them they carried a mail pouch sporting a letter demanding the resignation of a BLM field office manager who ordered grazing reductions in Battle Mountain, Nevada, and petitions from rural Utah counties...

Dozens of people rode their ATVs and motorcycles on an off-limits trail in southern Utah on Saturday in a protest against what the group calls the federal government's overreaching control of public lands. San Juan County Sheriff Rick Eldredge said from 40 to 50 people, many of them waving American flags and some carrying weapons, drove about a mile down Recapture Canyon

Militiamen and woman camping on Cliven Bundy’s cattle ranch are packing up and heading to Utah where another protest against the Bureau of Land Management will happen Saturday. Ryan Payne, a Montana resident who had been staying at the ranch for a month, said he drove eight hours to arrive in the eastern Utah town this morning. Three militia members from the ranch and a handful of people from a group called Citizens Action Network came to Utah, too, he said. ... At Recapture Canyon, federal officials aren’t planning to send armed federal agents to the Utah protest like they...

This eye-blink of a town in the state’s scenic southeastern corner bills itself as the “Gateway to Adventure.” But this weekend it promises to be more like a launchpad for civil unrest. A band of angry citizens plans to ride all-terrain vehicles onto closed-off, federally managed public land Saturday in protest against the federal Bureau of Land Management, which many say has unfairly closed off a prized area, cheating residents of outdoor recreation. The ride, organized by San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman, is a gambit to assert county sovereignty over Recapture Canyon, known for its archaeological ruins, that BLM...

The May 10 All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) ride into restricted Recapture Canyon is still moving forward, threatening a collision between local residents and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The ATV ride is planned by a group of Blanding residents in an attempt to force the BLM to make a decision on who has jurisdiction within the canyon, which is just east of Blanding. Motorized access to the trail has been in dispute since the BLM forced its closure in 2007. San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman, who has planned the ride, does not plan to back down to mounting pressure...

The plan to void 60 western Colorado energy leases.. is a looming BLM-caused disaster. Hundreds of citizens from Mesa County and other affected areas gathered May 1 in De Beque to protest a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plan to void existing contracts the government made with private individuals and companies. The meeting in De Beque, a little town dependent almost entirely on gas, oil, coal and cows, was not originally planned by the BLM. Since half of the imperiled leases are in Mesa County, the Mesa County Board of Commissioners joined with various associations and individuals to demand that...

DENVER — Behind the hoopla surrounding Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s standoff with the Bureau of Land Management is a growing resentment over the federal government’s status as the largest landowner in the West. “This is so much bigger than one rancher in Nevada,” Utah state Rep. Ken Ivory, who heads the American Lands Council, said in an April 23 online debate sponsored by The Salt Lake Tribune. How much land does the federal government own? A 2012 Congressional Research Survey said the federal government owns about 640 million acres, or 28 percent of the nation’s land mass. Roughly 90 percent...

Date: May 10, 2014 Time: 9:00 AM (possible meeting the night before, TBA) Place: Blanding, Utah – 255 North Hwy 191. Purpose: Assert local jurisdiction and challenge the overreach of federal agencies. Who is invited: This is not being formally sponsored or organized. It was deemed necessary at a town hall meeting in Blanding on February 27, 2014, and we welcome ALL supporters... On the 10th We will have some introductions, some instructions, and I will explain the topography including what trails have been “closed” by the BLM and which ones remain open. We will also have a flag ceremony...

What was initially conceived as a ride involving a handful of Blanding residents in Recapture Canyon could grow into a massive statement against the federal government. San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman has called for the May 10 ATV ride on public land in the canyon, located just east of Blanding city limits. Lyman said he has lost patience with the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which “temporarily” closed the area to vehicular traffic in 2007 and has yet to reopen it. Lyman said the ride is to make a statement regarding local jurisdiction. However, because of the timing...

The events in Nevada this week have made a number of things crystal clear: 1) Our government, at least at the upper management/executive service level, is incredibly corrupt. 2) Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate Majority Misleader, is incredibly corrupt. 3) Obama’s Executive Branch, which allowed this situation to take place in the way that it did, is incredibly corrupt. 4) The judicial branch that has consistently allowed “environmentalists” to dictate public land policy is incredibly corrupt. 5) The “environmentalists” and their co-conspirators in Congress who foisted the so-called “Endangered Species Act” and numerous other extreme laws on us, and turned...

PRIMM, Nevada – As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above approach to energy, today Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar “flipped the switch” on the Enbridge Silver State North solar project, the first large-scale solar energy facility on U.S. public lands to deliver power to American consumers. This milestone is in line with the administration’s broad commitment to expanding production of all sources of American made energy, including from renewable sources, such as wind and solar, which has doubled in the President’s first term, as well as domestic production of oil and gas resources, which have increased each year the President...

ST. GEORGE – Gov. Brian Sandoval signed Assembly Bill 227 into Nevada law Tuesday, approving the creation of the Nevada Land Management Task Force. The signing of AB 227 makes Nevada the fifth state to look into the movement initiated by Utah lawmakers that urges the federal government to transfer management of public lands over to state control. In a press release issued by the American Lands Council, Nevada Assemblyman John Ellison, the primary sponsor of AB 227, said, “Gov. Sandoval and our state legislature have taken the first step in fulfilling our responsibility to our children and for the...

Western lawmakers are crying foul over new Interior Department guidelines that resurrect the controversial Wild Lands policy that was killed by Congress in April 2011. Bureau of Land Management manuals uncovered by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) include language nearly identical to the draft proposal put forth by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in December 2010. The “Wild Lands” policy was intended to identify and manage wilderness areas while circumventing the normal — and transparent — congressional process. Pulling manuals from the BLM site on July 31, the lawmakers compared the policies and found the new language...

Feb 15,2012 - Boozman Seeks Second Amendment Protection on Corps Land Files Amendment to Senate Transportation Bill WASHINGTON D.C. - U.S. Senator John Boozman filed an amendment Monday that would prohibit the Secretary of the Army from enforcing any regulation that keeps an individual from possessing firearms on Army Corps of Engineer Water Resource Development projects or facilities. "This amendment would make gun regulations consistent across all federal recreational lands,” Boozman said. “Law abiding gun owners deserve to defend themselves on federal lands while enjoying the outdoors.” “This move will bring clarity and uniformity to firearms policy on federal recreational...

MONTROSE, CO - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum took a new jab at Newt Gingrich, saying he wants to "endanger" the former Speaker. The dig came during a campaign rally in Montrose, CO., as Santorum railed against the federal government's environmental regulations. "These are your lands! Oh but they always say we're doing it for your benefit," Santorum decried. "We'll make sure that you don't do something to scar the land or you don't do something to endanger a newt. No not that Newt, different newt. I want to endanger that Newt - that's a different story." The line drew...

Washington, DC — Senators Jim Webb (D-VA) and John Boozman (R-AR) today introduced legislation to make gun regulations consistent across all federal recreational lands by bringing Army Corps of Engineers rules in line with other federal agencies. Last Congress, legislation was signed into law allowing individuals to possess firearms in the National Park Service and National Wildlife Refuge System, provided they are not breaking state laws or otherwise prohibited from possessing the firearms. However, current regulations prohibit these same rights on many of the lands operated by the Army Corps. "Gun owners need to know that they can exercise their...