In Nevada this week, Senator Rand Paul made his position on America’s public lands very clear: “State ownership would be better, but even better would be private ownership.”
This statement echoes the fringe movement to transfer public lands to the states, which repeatedly failed to pass laws across the West this year.
If Paul is serious about understanding the West, here’s what he needs to know:
1) Private ownership of public lands is not “better”
Senator Paul claims that private and state ownership of American lands is “better.” But the question is: better for whom?
It’s certainly not better for hunters, anglers, and other people who enjoy going outdoors. That’s because national public lands are managed on behalf of all Americans, while most state lands are managed solely for revenue generation. As one Wyoming hunter told his local politicians earlier this week:
“On state lands, you’re not allowed to camp overnight…You can’t have a campfire on state lands…(State) trust lands are managed for the good of the trust, for money — sportsman, recreation, the people, are on the bottom of that list.”
State and private land ownership is also not “better” for ranchers. In fact, grazing fees on federal lands are far lower than fees on private and state land across the West:
2) Don’t cozy up with Cliven Bundy
Paul reportedly spent 45 minutes in a back-alley meeting with Cliven Bundy, the scofflaw rancher who owes taxpayers more than $1 million for grazing his cattle on public land. Previously known only for his refusal to recognize the federal government, Bundy is now famous for wondering aloud whether black people were “better off as slaves.”
Bundy also strongly endorsed violent tactics against federal law enforcement in his standoff with the Bureau of Land Management in April 2014, calling in the militia and other paramilitary groups who pointed guns at officers attempt to round up Bundy’s cattle.
As one commentator put it: “Such aggressive and rogue tactics are incompatible with the democratic values that have shaped our nation since inception.”
Paul standing with Bundy is an endorsement of violence against fellow Americans, which “is no way to address grievances in this country.”
3) Know your geography
During his forceful endorsement of selling off our public lands to private companies, Paul declared, “Initially when the west was being settled, it was a big revenue raiser. The last time we had no national debt was like 1835, and a big reason was the sale of land in the West.”
There’s just one problem with this revisionist history:
That’s the USA in 1835. The giant pink area that we call “The West” is Mexican territory. It includes all of Nevada. The yellow area in the Northwest is Oregon Country, which didn’t become a U.S. territory until 1846.
While the U.S. government did make money selling public land in the early 19th century, it certainly wasn’t from selling off the West as we know it.
For over a hundred years, the U.S. government had a policy to dispose and give away public lands for private use, ultimately transferring approximately 816 million acres to homesteaders and railroad companies. Many of those unsold lands make up the system of public lands we cherish today. But Senator Paul won’t let a little history get in the way of a good story.
(Photos: Rand Paul in Las Vegas, June 29, 2015. By Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0. Cliven Bundy in Mesa, Airzona, July 22, 2014. By Gage Skidmore, CC-BY-SA 2.0)