Opinion: Public lands linked to our liberty should not be for sale to corporations

Holy Cross Wilderness near Vail (John Fielder photo).

America is exceptional in many regards. One of the most notable of our ideals encompasses 640 million acres: our system of public lands and waters, equally owned by every citizen.

“We the people own these mountains and forests, rivers, and plains. Nothing could be more American,” former Backcountry Hunters & Anglers North American Board Chair Ryan Busse said.

In the words of Hal Herring, host of BHA’s Podcast & Blast, “The future of the American public lands is as important to our nation as the Bill of Rights or the Constitution itself.”

Hence, America’s public lands are not something to be sold off for a quick buck, as some propose. They are, in the words of writer and novelist Wallace Stegner, “The best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.”

People have been trying to steal our great public lands estate since Theodore Roosevelt (and others) set it aside. However, those efforts have shifted into high gear recently. In a Dec. 26 Wall Street Journal op-ed advocating for selling off public lands, a Hoover Institution senior fellow said, “The idea of selling huge amounts of government-owned land is not new … The prospect of largescale land sales was considered during the Reagan administration, but the political opposition was too strong.”

“The amount of land owned by the National Park Service alone is larger than Italy,” the senior fellow added, and then went on to list the holdings (disposable, in his misguided opinion) of the Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management.

He concluded by restating his myopic intent: “The federal government owns a little more than one-fourth of the total land area of the United States. The time is long overdue to consider whether that is the best economic arrangement.”

Not surprisingly, he conveniently overlooked the priceless economic (and many other) benefits of public lands and outdoor recreation. For example, the outdoor recreation industry is a growing economic force in Colorado and generated $13.9 billion for the state in 2022, supporting nearly 130,000 workers who earned $6.9 billion. The outdoor recreation industry is now valued at $1.2 trillion nationwide, accounting for 2.3% of the U.S. economy and 5 million jobs. The 3.6% year-over-year growth exceeded the U.S. economy as a whole, which grew at 2.9% in 2023.

In a November blog post BHA President and CEO Patrick Berry explained that throughout our history land barons and developers have endeavored to swipe public lands right out from underneath us.

“Now these long-time swindlers have a growing roster of accomplices in the form of politicians who have zero shame cutting Americans out of our own public lands legacy,” he wrote.

As I wrote in a 2002 Whitetales story (“Hunting, Wilderness & Democracy”), “I believe that wilderness and liberty are one in the same. I don’t think you can tear the two apart without losing both, for American liberty and our American wilderness have always been intertwined. They are the oldest, most deeply ingrained elements of the American experience.”

“This is a lose-lose situation for states and all Americans for which these lands are held in the public trust,” said Joel Webster, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership chief conservation officer. “There have been several efforts over the past four decades to sell or transfer federal lands. None have been successful, and all have been unpopular. States simply do not have the resources to manage the vast acres that make up federal lands.”

“I can say that public lands belong in public hands, and that they are one of the country’s great equalizers,” former Bureau of Land Management director Tracy Stone-Manning said. “It doesn’t matter the size of your checkbook, you have equal access to them. We need to hold on to that.”

During the 2021 BHA North American Rendezvous at Fort Missoula, in Montana, one of the highlights was Herring. He inspired and reminded us, via a cautionary tale, about what we’ve gained and could very well lose without the vigilance of public landowners/patriots across the country and continent.

Edward Abbey, the godfather of environmental activism, was quoted in a September 2024 TED talk saying, “Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul.” Although we are on the cusp of some potentially epic, if not desperate, public lands battles, we run toward challenges, not away from them. We don’t back down, we double down!

It’s now or never.

Editor’s note 1: David A. Lien of Colorado Springs is a former Air Force missile launch officer, author, and hunter. In 2014 he was recognized by Field & Stream as a “Hero of Conservation.” This commentary is his personal opinion and not that of any other group or organization.

Editor’s note 2: This opinion column first appeared on Colorado Newsline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com.