We must care for our public lands
After reading the June 3 article titled “Bullet Holes and Trash,” I feel compelled to respond and call attention to what is at stake when it comes to public lands and the access we are granted to them by way of being a citizen of this country. Our access to public lands is in jeopardy, not only because of the vandalism and misuse of the lands highlighted in “Bullet Holes and Trash,” but also by the policy makers elected in this country.
All American people are granted access to lands held in public trust. “Public trust” means that we, the public, own all 640 million acres of public land nationwide and all 34.5 million acres of public land present in Idaho. This includes National Parks as well as all National Forest, and BLM land, and any open access to land owned by the state; the federal government just manages and maintains it on our behalf.
Access to these vast tracts of land is something uniquely American, and it is there for all of us to use in any appropriate fashion for our outdoor recreating enjoyment. This isn’t access only for hunters and fishermen, but hikers, mountain bikers, bird watchers, backpackers, ATV and snowmobile riders, horsemen and Bigfoot researchers; it belongs to us all, no matter what outdoor pursuit you have in mind. However, as pointed out in Ralph Bartholdt’s article, there isn’t a lot of money in the U.S. Forest Service budget for maintenance, and if we, the public, want to maintain our access to our public lands then we should all follow Bob Balser’s lead, and do our part to take care of and be responsible stewards of our public lands. It doesn’t mean you have to pick an area and take an almost daily responsibility like Mr. Balser and go clean up after others, but you should take responsibility for yourself when you tread on our public land.
Pack out what you pack in and don’t leave your trash or dump old appliances in the woods, dispose of it responsibly. Follow the directives posted when it comes to road and trail usage, and the points of access will remain open for use, which is the most important, and it will save YOU lots of money, both as a taxpayer and as an individual. Your tax dollars won’t have to be spent on road re-construction after somebody has decided it’s fun to rut out a mud pit, and you won’t have to spend money to repair a damaged vehicle because of those who ruin a road or trail through inappropriate use. If you are an individual who is guilty of misusing the land that belongs to us all, please reconsider your actions in the future, because Mr. Balser is right when he says that those who misuse the land are “giving us all a bad name.” It only takes a few irresponsible individuals to ruin access privileges for those of us who recognize the uniquely American position we find ourselves in and respect the land as we use it.
Now, it isn’t just irresponsible public land owners who put our access in jeopardy. Our public lands are under an ongoing assault by some of the policymakers who have been elected in this country. Following the most recent election cycle HR 621 was put forth by Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah. The House Resolution called for the sale of “certain federal lands in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming” in an effort to reduce the national debt. Upon the release of HR 621, state representatives were inundated with calls, emails and letters from sportsmen and women decrying the resolution as an attack on public lands and our culture and traditions as Americans. As a result the bill was withdrawn from consideration, but the battle rages on.
Following the failure of HR 621, Rep. Chaffetz once again posed a federal lands bill. This time he has put forth HR 622, a bill that calls for the USDA to “terminate the Forest Service Law Enforcement and Investigations unit and cease using Forest Service employees to perform law enforcement functions on federal lands” by Sept. 30, 2017. So rather than adequately fund the Forest Service so that those abusing their public land privileges are held accountable, HR 622 would eliminate the federal employees who are tasked with monitoring those lands completely, and shift that responsibility to the already spread thin local law enforcement agents. Without a division of the Forest Service dedicated to patrol and enforcement of law on public lands you can expect more poachers in your hunting and fishing grounds, more trash left at backcountry camp sites and mountain lakes, more roads made impassable by irresponsible vehicle use, and more washers, dryers and tires left by folks who are too lazy and cheap to dispose of them responsibly. Where will that get us? More than likely, back into HR 621 territory, because if people can’t use the land responsibly, or law enforcement doesn’t do a good job, then the land might as well be sold off to private interests and they can manage it however they’d like.
If you enjoy the access to public lands we all have it is likely because you were introduced to them by someone else who enjoys that access, and it is likely that one day you would like to share that enjoyment with other people, or a younger generation who would then share these wild places with the generation that follows them. So if you would like to continue to have access to those places, if you want to be able to hike, hunt, bike, fish, camp, shoot and enjoy the “sound of freedom” as Mr. Balser put it, whether that sound is gunfire or complete silence, then you need to take it upon yourself to be a responsible public land owner and respect the laws that pertain to public land use. And you need to be a vocal citizen to those individuals who are elected and make sure they know they work for us and represent our interests, not their own. While the land is held in public trust, it is not ours, it is just our turn, and it is our responsibility to ensure that those who follow us into those public lands get their turn after we are gone.
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Jens Jacobsen is a resident of Spirit Lake.