BUSH BLOG - For Sale: Our Public Lands

"Like President Theodore Roosevelt who created the National Wildlife Refuge System 100 years ago, President Bush is committed to protecting our valuable wildlife heritage now and for future generations."

"The coordinated and decades-long effort to privatize the public lands of the United States, nearly a third of the nation, is now bearing fruit. The Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1970s that sought to transfer power to states and local units, and that provided the Reagan Administration with James Watt as Interior Secretary, morphed into the Wise Use Movement that sprinkled antigovernment grassroots organizations across the nation. Wise Use, in turn, has given rise to so-called "free- market environmentalism" that consists largely of a network of corporations and conservative foundations and think tanks intent on gaining control of the public domain," according to this story from the web site, Liberal Slant.

When it comes to public lands administration,

Bush likes the approach of using problems rather than solving them.

The administration used the occasion of last summer's forest fires to advance policies to reduce environmental review and citizen participation and to increase logging on national forests. This would lead to removing fire resistant [i.e. older and therefore more desirable/marketable] trees vs. reducing brush and removing small trees. All in order to help the bottom line of timber companies. The end result is that Bush's policies would actually worsen fire risk rather than make it better.

How about an example? Giant Sequoia National Monument contains 38 of 75 groves of Giant Sequoias. Established in 2000, the Monument prohibits commercial logging with tree removal allowed only for ecological restoration or public safety. The US Forest Service has selected the most destructive of six management alternatives and proposes extensive logging of trees up to 30" in diameter saying this would reduce the risk of fire. More information here and here.

The real solutions have been known for many years. First: Help private landowners in carefully thinning their property; fire hazards are greater on private land than on intensively-managed public land. Fund grants to rural communities to develop fire plans, buy fire-fighting equipment, replace combustible structures and clear "defensible space" around buildings. Control development at the "urban-rural interface." Finally, do something to seriously and meaningfully address climate change.

Instead, we have the Bush Plan which rewards campaign donors from the timber industry while conveniently perpetuating the anti-environmental climate in rural western communities. As Bush does with terrorism [Let too many citizens ask impertinent questions and the government sends out another warning about imminent attacks], the President promotes public fears about forest fire to advance policies that improve industry access to our forests.

In the "good old days" all we needed to worry about on our public lands was keeping the free-market capitalists from cutting all the trees, damming all the rivers, grazing all the grass and extracting all the mineral wealth of America in exchange for minuscule licensing fees. For instance, the Bureau of Land Management charges ranchers $1.65/animal/month to graze on our land. They would have to pay ten times that amount to graze their animals on private land.

This is why the west has long been known as the "Land of the Free, Home of the Subsidy."

By the time you factor in road construction, permit fees, etc., timbering on federal land actually costs more than the trees are worth. The same for grazing. And mineral extraction makes money for the miners but the US taxpayer must pay millions to clean up the toxic waste left behind.

The "good old days" are long gone. To concerns of environmental destruction by resource extractors there is a new force. A force that not only wants to wrest control of the public lands from the public, but which wants to assess fees on us for the honor and privilege.

For someone who expresses a great love of America and its wide open spaces, George Bush sure works hard to turn our public lands over to private corporations for development. And with development comes crowds, pollution and user fees. Development includes building resorts in our National Parks and Forests. Building roads through our National Forests. Charging fees for hikers and skiers to recreate on public land and then "borrowing" this revenue to cover shortfalls in other budgetary items. Much of the development on public lands by private, corporate "sponsors" is called a "Public-Private Partnership." What happens is this: We, the public pay for it with our taxes. They, the private charge us, the public to use it.

More information on this dangerous trend is located here. Meanwhile, here are some current links to keep you posted on the Brave New World of public lands management. Bush must pay for his tax cuts to his wealthy cronies, campaign contributors and sycophant friends. He must also pay for his wars. First he cuts budgets which lead to program cuts. Land managers must then seek funding via "Public-Private Partnerships. These then charge fees to the public to use the public's land. These "success stories" mean that Bush gets the go-ahead to sell off the public lands or give them away.

Faced with the worst fiscal crisis in a generation, city and state officials across the nation are increasing hundreds of fees rather than raising taxes, a tactic that places a disproportionate burden on poor and working-class Americans says Michael Powell of the Washington Post on 4/8/03. Ah, screw them! Give me a tax cut!

Congress has no money with which to fund the maintenance of decaying public recreation facilities, or so we are told. But apparently Congress can still find money with which to fund new Industrial Tourism projects aimed at commodifying the wilds. Look here to learn about how "Memberships" in a hut system across Alaska are being funded, in part by Congress. Read about it here.

"Loyalty to my country; always.

Loyalty to my government; only when it deserves it."

- Mark Twain