I did not know this was going on. I just happened on this article tonight about how the government is quietly gaining control of Western states’ land. AND restricting access to it.
Is this true? Have I been under a rock?
This land is your land…Not so much any longer
This land is your land, this land is my land. Not so much any longer. Today Woody Guthrie would not be allowed to set foot in many areas claimed by the government. His song is a reminder of what We the People have lost to the infringement of a government that thinks it knows better how to manage our country than we do.
It appears to be taking place mostly in western states.
The federal government has vast acres of land that it claims and into which no American may enter. Some may be designated as certain use parcels, but the government controls how they are used. Most of the Western states are heavily controlled by either the federal, state or local government. For instance, Utah alone is 75%, Nevada is 88%, Idaho is 70%, Wyoming is 56%, New Mexico is 47%, Colorado is 43%, Montana is 38% and California is 50%
It appears to have been done quietly without the knowledge of most Americans.
Many lands have been set aside rather quietly and most Americans don’t realize that their country is so heavily owned and regulated by government. However, in September of 1996 the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was declared by President Bill Clinton and put under the management of the Bureau of Land Management, the first national monument to be managed by the B.L.M. The monument area is 1.9 million acres. The ceremony marking the designation was heavily covered by newspaper press and shown several times on TV.
The president at that time in 1996 used the antiquities law. Maybe there was a better reason of which I am not aware.
This designation was announced in the thick of the 1996 presidential election campaign and was controversial from the start. The ceremony was held at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona instead of the state of Utah, where the monument lies. Perhaps this was because the state governor and the Utah congressional delegation were notified only 24 hours in advance. As with most things Clinton did, this was seen to be a political ploy to gain votes in the contested state of Arizona. It paid off, as in November Clinton won Arizona by a margin of 2.2%, but lost Utah by 21.1%.
The President used the Antiquities Act for this land set-aside. The Antiquities Act of 1906 was passed by Congress, giving the president authority to restrict the use of designated public land which was owned by the federal government, by executive order. The act was meant to protect prehistoric Indian ruins and artifacts from those who were removing such objects and destroying ruins.
This could be a smear piece, it easily could. But why would people not be allowed on parts of this land. I wondered when I read this because this is happening in Florida at state level…buying up land to preserve it.
I guess we just have to hope they do preserve it.
