This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Sept. 24 is National Public Lands Day and National Hunting and Fishing Day.
The threat of losing our public lands in Utah and across the West looms. And on this national day of recognition, consider something scary: A Beehive State, and an America, without public lands.
Recently, that threat has grown, passing like wildfire through halls of Congress and state capitols, spreading its ugly rhetoric in our communities. More than 50 bills have been introduced or passed in state legislatures to remove public lands from public hands.
People with soft hands and expensive suits tell us, "It's just transfer. It's not like we're selling them." It is not just transfer. And it is a big deal.
Historically, "transferring" public lands to the states equates to selling them. Consider this: Since its entry into the Union in 1896, Utah has sold 55 percent of its state trust lands to private interests; Idaho, 33 percent; Colorado, 38 percent; Oregon 77 percent; and Nevada has sold a whopping 99 percent of their state lands.
The state of Utah is a great partner to Trout Unlimited, and our work to clean up abandoned mines in places such as American Fork Canyon, restore rivers like Mill Creek near Salt Lake and maintain sufficient water flows in places like the Upper Bear River to keep the state's nearly $500 million recreational fishery healthy. But Utah, like most Western states, manages, and sells, state trust lands to pay for public schools, hospitals and other social services.
Unlike state trust lands, federal public lands are managed for multiple use and held by us. We the people. Anglers, hunters, hikers, energy producers, campers, backpackers, mountain climbers, berry pickers, ranchers, timber and mining companies, horse packers, birders, ATVers, snowmobilers, mountain bikers.
Public lands are our birthright as American citizens. And we will not give them up.
The proponents of transferring our public lands will often refer to faceless and nameless bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., who are insensitive to local needs. Don't buy it. Public land managers are your neighbors and a part of the community.
More than 60 percent of hunters and anglers oppose the sale of public lands. More than 70 percent of hunters use public lands in the West. Nearly 70 percent of the best remaining native trout habitat is on public lands. Public lands create strongholds of important fish and wildlife habitat. They provide important sources of clean water for tens of millions of people, and are some of the last pristine places in the country.
The bottom line is that these are our lands. Yours. Mine. Ours.
Public lands are part of what define us as Americans. They are what remain of the great westward migration of the nation. They are the crucible upon which the character of the nation was formed. Our forebears left these lands to us, not so we could sell them to the highest bidder but so we pass down from one generation to the next. They are our legacy, a precious heirloom to be passed intact to the next generation.
Whether you call it sale or transfer, allowing public lands to fall from public ownership would represent a betrayal of our American birthright. We — you and me, all of us who own these lands by virtue of our citizenship — can make sure that never happens.
We are public lands. And we are not willing sellers.
Chris Wood is CEO of Trout Unlimited.