(Scott Sommerdorf | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Speaker of the House Becky Lockhart, right, and other western lawmakers speak about their private conversations on transfering federal land to the states, Friday, April 18, 2014. From left to right: House Speaker Mark Blasdel of Montana, Utah state Rep. Ken Ivory, Montana Sen. Jennifer Fielder, Idaho House Speaker Scott Bedke, and Lockhart.
Western lawmakers gather in Utah to talk federal land takeover
‘It’s time’ » Lawmakers from 9 states gather in Utah, discuss ways to take control of federal lands.
By Kristen Moulton
| The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published Apr 18 2014 03:07 pm • Last Updated Apr 18 2014 10:21 pmIt’s time for Western states to take control of federal lands within their borders, lawmakers and county commissioners from Western states said at Utah’s Capitol on Friday.
More than 50 political leaders from nine states convened for the first time to talk about their joint goal: wresting control of oil-, timber -and mineral-rich lands away from the feds.
Utah House Speaker Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, was flanked by a dozen participants, including her counterparts from Idaho and Montana, during a press conference after the daylong closed-door summit. U.S. Sen. Mike Lee addressed the group over lunch, Ivory said. New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Oregon and Washington also were represented.
The summit was in the works before this month’s tense standoff between Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and the Bureau of Land Management over cattle grazing, Lockhart said.
"What’s happened in Nevada is really just a symptom of a much larger problem," Lockhart said.
Fielder, who described herself as "just a person who lives in the woods," said federal land management is hamstrung by bad policies, politicized science and severe federal budget cuts.
"Those of us who live in the rural areas know how to take care of lands," Fielder said, who lives in the northwestern Montana town of Thompson Falls.
"We have to start managing these lands. It’s the right thing to do for our people, for our environment, for our economy and for our freedoms," Fielder said.
Idaho Speaker of the House Scott Bedke said Idaho forests and rangeland managed by the state have suffered less damage and watershed degradation from wildfire than have lands managed by federal agencies.
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Yes-take the land from the feds before they give it to the Chinese-remember the sopranos episodes when the gang loans money to pay debts for a gambler and he can never pay it back? The gang ransacks the the guys sports store-in this case the feds would give concessions to the chinese on public lands
If the states do what is proposed in the article, there will be no more Washington D.C. ecstasy parties with underage prostitutes and Israeli surveillance teams monitoring the action.
EXPECT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO VIOLATE POSSEE COMITATUS AND PLACE U.S. ARMED TROOPS ON "federal owned" LANDS IF STATES IMPLEMENT MEASURES TO TAKE LAND AWAY FROM THESE (s)elected OVERGROWN TEENAGERS CALLING THEMSELVES "government officials."