If you've been paying attention to RideApart over the last year, you'll already know that I'm a big proponent of public lands. As conservationist Randy Newberg loves to say, "They're the greatest form of distributed wealth in history" and I wholeheartedly agree.
But not everyone believes what Randy, myself, Doug Duren, and countless others who use public lands to recreate, fish, and hunt do. Not everyone believes that public lands should stay public. Not everyone believes public lands are good for the public or how they help maintain countless species and both clean water and air. There are those who'd rather sell them off, deny you access, and ruin pristine ecosystems just so they could make a buck.
Utah, however, is not alone. And despite the state's recent defeat in the Supreme Court, other states who signed onto Utah's frivolous and downright un-American lawsuit are still attempting to seize your public lands. Thankfully, the latest salvo by a group of Wyoming state representatives failed to even make it out of congressional halls of power.
Good.
The vote, which never made it out of Wyoming's legislature, was a resolution titled "resolution demanding equal footing," which sought to demand the federal government to give Wyoming nearly every inch of federally-owned public lands within its borders, apart from Yellowstone. Mid-way through, the group of legislators behind the push also made caveats for Grand Teton National Park and national forests, too.
Neither, however, was enough for the motion to move forward, as the votes came down to a tie of 15-15, which essentially killed the measure.
Wyofile, which has been doing a lot of great work on public land measures out of the state in recent months, told the story thusly, "In a tie vote, the Wyoming Senate defeated a resolution demanding Congress turn over all federal land in the state but Yellowstone, even after senators amended the measure to exclude Grand Teton National Park and national forests. The 15-15 vote on Senate Joint Resolution 2, 'Resolution demanding equal footing,' came with Sen. Stephan Pappas, R-Cheyenne, absent and excused. To ensure permanent defeat, Sen. Cale Case, who voted against the demand for a land transfer, immediately moved for reconsideration. Senators then voted 16-14 against reconsideration. Legislative rules allow only one reconsideration vote. The debate on the Senate floor on the final reading of the bill lasted 53 minutes before lawmakers killed it."
So yeah, that resolution is dead-dead. And good. Public lands belong to the public, not some greedy-ass politicians who'll sell it off to extractive industries or would-be housing oligarchs who'll pretend it's for affordable housing, but we all know it's a lie.
This latest salvo is only likely to get worse over the coming weeks and months, as certain groups have found the new administration's priority on oil, gas, and energy extraction as a means of more likely succeeding in stripping the public of these lands where they've previously failed. That, in addition to new Congressional rules that've made it easier for Congress to sell off public lands, further embolden these actors to test the waters with resolutions like the above.
It's our job, as the rightful owners of these lands, to stand up for and stand up with those fighting to preserve them. Groups like Backcountry Anglers and Fishermen—a group I recently talked with and will be the subject of a future story coming soon—as well as RMEF and others, need our voices and support to ensure our children still have access for decades to come, and aren't strip-mined for a few to enrich themselves at the detriment of all others.
