Feds Hide $25 MILLION In Payments To Enviro-Lawyers
Groups concealed by the federal government have gained no less than $25 million dollars in Americans tax dollars through lawsuits under three environmental laws since 2009.
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Offical ALC Press Release
You've likely seen the outrageous "fraud" allegation in the Salt Lake Tribune Headline yesterday. Now you can hear both sides from the Trib Talk interview today.
Read moreReps. Stewart and Bishop Launch New Federal Land Action Group
We want to make you aware of an effort by Utah Reps. Stewart and Bishop to help further the Transfer of Public Lands. We will keep you informed as to the progress of this group and their efforts.
Read moreIn The News, April 22, 2015
Today's Headlines:
State Officials Upset with U.S. Forest Service Cuts Want Wisconsin to Manage the Forests; Forest Service is Mismanaging our Public Lands; Land Transfer Resolution Passes through Nevada Senate.
Read moreIn the News, April 16, 2015
Today's Headlines:
States Should Take Control of our Outmoded Public Land System; Like Strangers in Their Own Country; Criticism of Federal-to-State Land Transfer Idea is a Sign of Traction; Beware "trickery" behind Fed Land Access Talk.
Read more3 Minute Message - 04/15/2015
The fourth article in our Breitbart series stems around the economic realities of our nation and how the Transfer of Public Lands is the only solution big enough to restore economic security, as well as state sovereignty in these uncertain times.
Read moreIn The News, April 9, 2015
Today's Headlines:
Alaska House Passes Bill Demanding Transfer of Federally-held Land; Sen. Murkowski Amendment Ensures Smart, Well-Balanced Public Lands Policy; Guest Opinion: Priest Lake Presents A Great State vs. Federal Basis for a Public Lands Study; Rural Counties to Lose the Most From Defunded Lands Programs.
Read more3 Minute Message - 04/09/2015
In the battle to transfer the public lands to all willing western states, there are many battles to be fought and sometimes it can feel like an uphill battle in the pouring rain. But this week, there is good news to be had and a list of elected officials who deserve our thanks!
Read moreIn The News, April 6, 2015
Today's Headlines:
The U.S. Department of Land-Hogging; Rep. Rob Bishop Plans Public Lands Hearings on Federal Ownership; Visiting State Rep. Speaks at GOP Dinner; Amodei Introduces Large-Scale Land Transfer Bill; Letter: Stewards of Our Forests; Public Lands Debate Marred by Camouflaged Activists; Nevadans Should Have Say on Land Management Policy; Letter: Forest Service Missteps Erode Confidence in Organization;
Read more3 Minute Message - 04/01/2015
Not many people nowadays remember the name of Democratic Senator Thomas Hart Benton, but he is the very reason why the eastern states now own the large majority of their public lands. Senator Benton of Missouri, whose state at the time was 90% federally controlled for decades, spent 10 years working to get the federal government to honor the promises made to those eastern states (at the time they were considered "western states") and was finally successful in getting the ownership of public lands transferred to the respective states.
Read moreIn The News, March 31, 2015
Today's Headlines:
Public Lands Debate Marred by Camouflaged Activists; Nevadans Should Have a Say on Land Management Policy; Federal Land Management Not a Good Deal for Americans; Idaho House OKs Interstate Federal Lands Transfer Compact; Forest Service to Hold Open House On Off-Highway Vehicle Use for Lake Tahoe; Federal Public Land Transfers Get a Congressional Boost; County Joins Lands Council; Despite Dems' Misdirection, House Approves Entry Into Federal Lands Group.
Read moreThe South Carolina Resolution for the Transfer of Federal Lands
The South Carolina Resolution for the Transfer of Federal Lands
By Ken Ivory
"We in the East are tired of paying billions of dollars for the federal government to mismanage federally controlled lands in the West," says South Carolina State Representative Alan Clemmons.
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Missouri: Transfer of Public Lands Champion
By Ken Ivory
Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia
"[T]he federal government...became the monopolizer of vacant lands in the West: and this monopoly, like all monopolies, resulted in hardships to those upon whom it acted."
Which famous U.S. senator successfully made this argument to compel the federal government to transfer title to the vast stretches of federally controlled land in the west? Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah whose state is 65 percent federally controlled? Or, maybe Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona whose state is nearly 50 percent federally controlled? Maybe it's a trick question. Could it be Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas whose state has about 1 percent federally controlled land? Give up?
Read moreIllinois Won the First Sagebrush Rebellion
By Ken Ivory
Nevada currently holds the unenviable record for the highest percentage of federally controlled lands within its borders - more than 80%!
But this is not just a Nevada problem; the federal government controls about half of all the lands within the western states. In contrast, States east of Colorado have, on average, less than 5% federally controlled lands.
But Nevada doesn't even come close to the all-time record holder for federally controlled lands within a state. This remarkable record was held by that great "western state" of Illinois. During the 19th century, the federal government controlled more than 95% of all lands within the State of Illinois for decades! But, it wasn't just Illinois. The federal government also controlled for decades as much as 90% of all lands between Indiana and Florida.
Read moreNorth Dakota - More Equal Than Other States?
By Ken Ivory
In the five minutes it will take you to read this article, the national debt of the United States will increase by about $9.5 million. There are no easy answers to this monumental problem, but there are simple ones.
Read more3 Minute Message - 03/25/2015
Just this week, a critic of the Transfer of Public Lands tried to claim that the federal government never owned the majority of the lands in the east. This Breitbart article, second in a series submitted by ALC President, Ken Ivory, shows just how wrong they are:
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In The News, March 17, 2015
Today's Headlines:
Op-Ed: Recreation on Public Lands Drives Grand County Economy; Senate Committee Approves Proposals to Transfer Arizona's Federal Lands to State by 2020; Senators Try to Open Sportsmen's Access to Public Lands; Lincoln Day Dinner Presents Ken Ivory.
Read more3 Minute Message - 03/11/2015
The message of the Transfer of Public Lands has been sweeping across the nation as people become educated about how these lands affect all states, not just those in the west.
Read moreIn the News, March 4, 2014
Today's Headlines:
How the Forest Service is Shortchanging Local Schools, Townships; Legislators to Host Local Meeting; Senator Slams Management of US Forest Service System; Satellites Give Scientists Unprecedented Views of Insects Outbreaks in Forests; Proposed State Control of Federal Public Lands Divides Nevada Interests; House OKs Bill to Expand Forest Fire Damage Assessments; Your lands, Your Treasure: Get Involved; Lands Transfer Study Advances in Wyoming House; The Top States at Risk for Wildfire Damage: Report.
Read moreFederal Land Ownership Robs Idaho of its Autonomy
By Commissioner Jim Chmelik
Idaho County, Idaho
Saying Idaho Deputy Attorney General Steve Strack has the final word on the legality of disposing public lands is like saying Stephen Douglas had the final words in his defense of slavery during his presidential debates against Abraham Lincoln.
Read moreMy View: Public Lands in the East and West - Why the Difference?
By Ken Ivory
You have likely seen the red and white map - the federal government controls more than 50 percent of all land in the western states, but less than 5 percent of lands in states east of Colorado. Why the difference?
Several have asserted it is because western lands are arid; therefore, the federal government keeps them forever. Oregon, Washington, and Alaska are the states with the most precipitation, and yet they have 53 percent, 45 percent, and 62 percent federally controlled lands respectively. So much for "arid."
Read moreIn The News, January 28, 2015
Today's Headlines:
The South Carolina Resolution for the Transfer of Federal Lands; New Mexico Lawmaker: State, Not Feds, Should Manage its Land; Studying Public Land Transfer Next Step for Montana; Editorial: Nevada Representatives Propose Anti-Babbitt Bill; Federal Land Ownership Not Supported by Constitution; This Federal Government Land Grab Would Permanently Lock Up Millions of Alaska Acres with Energy Potential.
Read moreWhy Utah’s Federal Lands Fight Matters in Oklahoma [and all points East] - Part 5 of 5
This is the fifth in five-part series about federal lands by Trent England of the Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs - www.OCPAThink.org.
Legislation adopted in Utah calls on the federal government to transfer certain of these lands to the state. It set a deadline of December 31, 2014.
Just 1.6% of the land that comprises Oklahoma is owned by the federal government. In Utah, where state officials are leading an effort to reduce federal land ownership, that number is 66.5%. Yet there are good reasons why Oklahomans and all Americans should support Utah’s legal and political challenge to Washington, D.C.’s power.
States Can Manage Public Lands - Part 4 of 5
This is the fourth in five-part series about federal lands by Trent England of the Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs - www.OCPAThink.org.
Legislation adopted in Utah calls on the federal government to transfer certain of these lands to the state. It set a deadline of December 31, 2014.
A division cuts across the continental United States. In the 11 western states, the federal government owns nearly half the land (47.3%). In the 37 states to their east, just 4% of the land is federal. In five states, including New York, the federal government owns less than 1% of the land.
Given these numbers, Utah’s insistence that the federal government turn over resource lands in that state is hardly radical. All Utah wants is to be treated like every other state east of Colorado.
This East-West division is the result of a history of federal foot-dragging and eventual reneging on a policy of treating states as equals by giving them control over their own lands (other than those retained by the federal government for a constitutionally enumerated purpose; more on the history is in parts two and three of this series).
The Neo-Colonialism of Federal Planners and Urban Elites - Part 3 of 5
This is the third in a five-part series about federal lands by Trent England of the Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs - www.OCPAThink.org.
Legislation adopted in Utah calls on the federal government to transfer certain of these lands to the state. It set a deadline of December 31, 2014.
Colonialism is “control by one power over a dependent area or people.” This definition applies to many western communities surrounded by federal land.
Most federal lands were originally open to use by local people and industries. Yet in classic colonial fashion, distant politicians and bureaucrats now routinely dictate restrictive policies that degrade or destroy local communities. Just one example, the Northwest Forest Plan devised in 1994 reduced logging by 80% for lands originally set aside for that very purpose. Based on bad science about the spotted owl, the plan devastated communities (as the USFS’s own report shows, corresponding with what this writer has seen in these same communities) and increased the intensity of wildfires.
Even some liberal politicians in the West have cried foul as outside interests have worked to shut down the use of lands for the very purposes they were originally preserved.
The Romance And Reality Of Federal Lands - Part 2 of 5
This is the second in a five-part series about federal lands by Trent England of the Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs - www.OCPAThink.org.
Legislation adopted in Utah calls on the federal government to transfer certain of these lands to the state. It set a deadline of December 31, 2014.
Before Horace Greeley and Lewis and Clark there was George Washington. As a teenager employed as a surveyor by Virginia’s powerful Fairfax family, Washington spent three years exploring the colony’s western lands. His very first investment, when he was 18 years old, was to purchase 453 acres of this land at this western fringe. While he lived in what is today an eastern state, Washington was a westerner at heart.
Like Washington, many patriots saw America’s future in the West. One of the causes of the American Revolution was Britain’s insistence on stifling westward expansion. Following ratification of the Constitution by the original 13 states, three new states entered the union during the Washington and Adams administrations. Ohio became a state in 1803, the same year Thomas Jefferson’s administration doubled the nation’s land area with the Louisiana Purchase. By 1850, the union consisted of 31 states.
RNC – Resolution Supporting the Transfer of Public Lands
The Republican National Committee Resolution supporting the Transfer of Public Lands in the Western United
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In the News, October 29th 2014
Today's Headlines: Sen. Reid quietly moves to block development of 800,000 acres in central Nevada; Ranchers talk transferring fed's land to states; State Sovereignty at Its Most Basic: Control of Land; Feeling pushed by lands ‘poll’? Sutherland Soapbox, 10/21/14
Read moreState Sovereignty is, at its Most Basic, The Control of Land
by Karla Jones
State sovereignty at its most basic is the ability of a state to control its own land. Earlier this month, 95 state and locally elected officials joined a variety of experts from 14 states in Salt Lake City to draft and ratify a statement calling for land currently held by the federal government to be transferred to the states. Officials at the summit included Alaska’s Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell; Utah Speaker of the House Becky Lockhart and state Senator Jennifer Fielder of Montana.
Read moreOct 2014 Press Conference
This 34 minute Press Conference answers many of the questions people have about the Transfer of Public Lands. Share this with your friends, family colleagues and elected officials and help dispel the myths.
