Last night the University of Nevada-Las Vegas hosted the third and final presidential debate. While this showdown took place in the West, one issue that touches the lives of all Westerners was not discussed – public lands. The West is not just home to some of our most iconic places, such as the Grand Canyon and the Rocky Mountains, it is also home to vast tracts of public lands—places owned by all Americans—that drive local economies and shape our way of life.
Nevada, of any state in the Union, would have been the ideal location for a substantive discussion on public lands. The state is home to Cliven Bundy, the public lands rancher who led an armed confrontation with federal employees after failing to pay $1 million in grazing fees and fines owed to American taxpayers. Nevada is also home to one of America’s newest national monuments, the 704,000 acre Basin and Range, that received permanent protections from President Obama last year.
While candidates across the West have a broad range of proposals on public land management, we know that conserving and increasing access to our public lands are winning issues for Republicans and Democrats alike. A poll conducted by the Center for Western Priorities recently found that 96 percent of Nevada voters agree that the desert landscapes, mountains and valleys that make up the state’s public lands make Nevada a good place to live. Further, 89 percent, 74 percent, and 82 percent of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans, respectively, support protecting access to outdoor spaces for camping, hiking, hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation.
Across the country, and particularly in the West, outdoor recreation is booming. From mountain biking to hunting and from hiking to fishing, Americans spend billions each year on gear, trips and travel. Many of these recreation trips launch from Western cities and towns, but take place on public lands. In Nevada alone, outdoor recreation generates nearly $15 billion in consumer spending each year, supporting 148,000 direct jobs.
Protected public lands, such as national parks, monuments and wilderness areas help strengthen local economies. According to a study by Headwaters Economics, rural Western counties with more protected public lands created jobs over 4 times faster in recent decades than rural counties without protected public lands. Further, as seniors move West in record numbers seeking a healthy, outdoor lifestyle, retirees are three times more likely to move to counties with protected lands.
Unfortunately, in recent years politicians and special interest groups have tried to seize our public lands and turn them over to state control. While this may sound innocuous, states would take on the enormous costs to manage these lands and likely be forced to sell them off to balance budgets, resulting in access being closed for hunting, fishing, camping and hiking. These politicians follow directly in the ideological footsteps of the Bundy family, including the aforementioned Cliven Bundy and his sons Ammon and Ryan, who led an armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon earlier this year.
Thankfully, these efforts to seize our public lands are sputtering. Ammon and Ryan Bundy are currently on trial in Oregon, and Cliven Bundy will soon face a trial in Nevada. Further, the American Lands Council, the main interest group pushing the land seizure agenda, saw its membership decline 45 percent last year, while Western state legislatures defeated the vast majority of proposed land seizure legislation.
Going forward, balanced management of public lands will continue to be an important issue for voters in Nevada and across the West. As we wind our way to the end of this election, Westerners deserve to hear from candidates about their plans to manage public lands and conserve them for future generations.
Photo: Bob Wick, Bureau of Land Management