By Richard Brown
Republicans are proposing the sale of up to 3.3 million acres of public lands in the next five years. That is the equivalent to 5,156 square miles, which is larger than either the states of Rhode Island or Delaware and nearly as large as Puerto Rico and Connecticut.
Here’s the rub – the 3.3 million acres is just the beginning, as more than 250 million acres would become eligible. That’s 1.45 times the size of Texas, folks! More area than any state except Alaska.
If you have ever tried to hike longer distances in the East, Midwest, Great Lakes, South, and much of the Great Plains, it is not necessarily an easy thing to do. With the exception of certain trails like the Appalachian Trail, it is quite difficult because of trespassing laws related to private property. Even mega trails like the Appalachian and North Country have to obtain easements and/or sometimes have to alter their routes.
West of the 100th meridian, numerous outdoor activities would become severely limited or completely unavailable on public land if this bill passes. These include, but are not limited to, off-roading, hunting, hiking, mountain biking, camping, rock climbing, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.
The problem with short-term thinking like this proposed public land sell-off is, once it is gone, there is little or no chance of ever getting the land back. It would be very unlikely if any of us would ever have another chance to explore sold-off land again in our lifetimes. And our children and grandchildren will be denied the opportunity to ever see some of our nation’s more precious places.
Even more infuriating is the likelihood that these lands will be sold at “giveaway” prices for the claim that it will add more land for more housing. In reality, these lands will be sold to help offset the tax breaks being proposed for billionaires. These very same public lands will likely end up being bought by billionaires and corporate interests from both inside and outside the United States.
If selling off our shared land upsets you, please contact your senators and representatives in Congress. Don’t let them inflict irreparable and unnecessary pain on our beautiful nation for badly conceived short-term political or economic reasons.
This proposal is a direct attack on our jointly held ownership of the very soul of America – its public lands.
Whatever happened to Woody Guthrie’s famous lyrics: “This land is your land, this land is my land”?
Richard Brown lives in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, and is a retired environmental and land use planner.
The post Opinion: If our public lands are sold off, we’ll never get them back appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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