Another day, another state trying to reduce your access to the great outdoors.
And better yet, it's coming from my current home state of Utah where the state's attorney general is suing the federal government for control of 18.5 million acres of federally owned public land. You know, the land we all use to fish, hike, hunt, ride, drive, and recreate on? The land that's open to the entirety of the public?
Yeah, that land. The land we all enjoy already.
Why then, would a state like Utah, one known for its abundance of public land, one that advertises as a destination to enjoy the great outdoors, be fighting over that land? Again, the land that we all already enjoy and it rakes in countless billions on from recreation and travel, be suing the feds for control over said land?
I'll give you a few guesses and they rhyme with smoil, sminerals, smas, and smevelopment. OK, that last one didn't quite work out, but you get the idea. Yeah, this is incredibly dumb and, unfortunately, the state actually has a chance at winning. Which would be a massive loss to your public land, your rights, and protected land throughout the country.
There's a long history of states attempting to seize control of public lands going back to the time when public lands first were enshrined. But few do so with such wanton disregard to the people's right to public land as Utah. Between the countless BS development projects the state has tried to push through the legislature and onto the public, to land seizures and sell-offs, and more. This all occurs in the background while the state touts its awesome public lands so everyone comes and visits.
Utah probably has the most two-faced relationship with its public lands out of all the Western states.
The latest is a lawsuit aimed straight at the United States Supreme Court, where it's suing the federal government—specifically the Bureau of Land Management—for control of over 18.5 million acres of federally protected public land. It's the latest in a long string of attempts by the state to enact control over its borders, which doesn't sound all too unreasonable until you look at the history of how it used this before and then immediately sold those lands off to oil and gas companies, developers, and other extractive industries to the detriment of the public. Public to private in all about ten seconds flat.
However, it gets worse.
This case has the potential of essentially dismantling the entirety of BLM-protected land, as it targets the category of "unappropriated" public land. According to Utah's lawsuit, that means it serves no purpose. Except, we're talking about the federal government and its bureaucracy. No purpose doesn't mean it's not used. The feds just haven't gotten around to properly classifying it yet, which could take hundreds of years given the paperwork involved and how Congress can't seem to get their shit in order.
But this land, along with "unappropriated" land across the United States, is used. It's used by fishermen, hunters, hikers, dirt bikers, ATV and UTV riders, snowmobilers, and more. It's used by the public and for public uses. It's our land, the American people's land, not the state of Utah's. Yet, if Utah succeeds, and with the court being far more favorable toward state rights and extractive industries, states across the country could seize federal public land and you're likely to lose your favorite hunting, fishing, or dirt biking spot.
It's also costing Utah taxpayers an estimated $14 million for this frivolous lawsuit.
Speaking out against the State's claims, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers president Patrick Berry said, "BHA was founded on the premise that our public lands are far too valuable to be privatized, compromised, or leveraged in political games. This latest threat by the State of Utah contains all three toxins – a recipe fatal to the integrity of public ownership. And the stakes are incredibly high, not just for conservation-minded hunters and anglers, but for any American who values the natural, cultural, and historic heritage intrinsic to these shared resources."
Likewise, my friend Wes Siler from Outside Online spoke with the congressional candidate for Utah Caroline Gleich, who stated, "The state of Utah’s push for control of public lands is a deceptive ploy to privatize and exploit our cherished landscapes. [The state is] hiding behind false promises of local management while lining the pockets of special interests at the expense of Utahn’s right to access and enjoy these lands.”
What's truly insidious about this whole lawsuit is that, as Ms. Gleich states, the state is pretending it's for the good of the people. It's for more affordable housing, more control over their land, and better for all Utahans. But it's a facade. Nothing more than a mask to hide that the state's powerbrokers just want to sell it all to the highest bidder and take away your public land to make a buck or two.
Just look at Utah's proposed HOUSES Act, as well as how it's dealt with prior land grabs. Have any of you enjoyed those? No, because they're all in private hands now.
And again, if the Supreme Court sides with the state's AG, this risks "unappropriated" land throughout the entirety of the United States. So it's not just a Utah issue, it's an everywhere issue. It's also worth noting that this ideology lines up real well with the Project 2025 folks, who absolutely hate public land.
So what can we all do? First and foremost, vote. Vote these lying, scheming, underhanded folks out of office. I don't know if you've heard, but there's an election coming up and, despite what the media says, the downstream ballots are far more consequential than the presidential one. That's not to say you shouldn't cast your presidential vote, but just know local politics usually have a national scale too.
Second to that, we can write in and, en masse, tell these same politicians that their future is likely tied to them dropping this case. As always, if you screw with someone's cash flow, they're more likely to listen.
Backcountry Hunters and Anglers already built a petition action campaign where you can tell Utah's leadership to stop the lawsuit. It's essentially an email directed to the parties involved, including the AG himself. I've embedded it above.
And you can also donate to the group as they continue their fight against it, as well as countless other groups which are standing up to these land grabs.
And if you haven't guessed, this isn't a left or right issue. We all benefit from public lands. Land doesn't care if you're Republican or Democrat, or if you're using it with an ATV, UTV, to hike, fish, or hunt. It's there to be enjoyed, revered, and protected using good stewardship.
So fight like hell and save this land so our children will grow up with something to breathe in and be stunned by.
