Hey, it’s a beautiful day; let’s go for a ride in the public forest. Great idea; let’s go drive that old logging road that is so pretty this time of year! Hey, why is it blocked and closed? This is public lands; it belongs to all of us; this is wrong!
We hear the rhetoric about “these are public lands; come out and enjoy your public lands.” If they are public lands, then the public owns them and controls them, right? Not if the public does not hold title and have the keys.
But wait, just who is the public? Who holds title to the land? The “public” constitutes all citizens of the United States. That is the little kid in the barrios who will never leave his six-block world, much less see Pike’s Peak. It is the mill working striving 40-plus hours the week hoping the factory he works in is able to get enough raw product to keep it going so he can take a vacation someday. It is the prima donna in the “Big Apple” pouting because her private jet could not land in the snowstorm at Aspen. It is the rancher and farmer hoping there will be enough water for crops and forage to enable them to feed the prima donna, the mill worker and the little kid!
Do these people hold title to the land? No, the federal government holds title, not the people. So why is it said, “Come enjoy your public lands?” It is to continue the charade to cover the fact that the federal government is not supposed to hold title to the “public lands”! Title 1, Sect. 8 of the U.S. Constitution specifies that. Leading up to, during and following the Civil War, western states that were formed out of the territories all had much of the land withheld from state ownership, with the promise that they would be sold for revenue to the federal government and the lands then transferred fully under state ownership and control. This was all due to political issues at the time used to ignore and violate the Constitution and keep the land and resources in federal title.
The federal government reneged on the promise and kept the lands The dilemma then was how to manage and use them. The “public” thought the lands belonged to them so wanted the lands managed for their pleasure. In Colorado, 26 percent of the entire state is in federal title, who which “public gets what they want? Some want the lands and resources to produce wealth and economy now in the future. Some, who already have wealth, want the lands to be left for them to romance over of a time that never really existed except in pulp fiction. Then you have those between who don’t know and don’t care.
Simply put, the “public” that is politically and financially in control in Washington gets what they want? That is a small segment at any one time.
For example, in Colorado, the federal government holds title to more than 23.5 million acres; of that, 26 percent or 3.7 million acres are restricted access and used as “wilderness.”
Studies show that only 2 to 4 percent of people will access a wilderness area in their lives. So, 16 percent of the land is set aside for 2 to 4 percent of the public? Ninety-eight percent of the public does not get what they might like from those lands. How does this happen? Declaring that the decision should be done “democratically,” public meetings are held, input is asked for and received from even the “public” in Chicago or New York. There is obviously no consensus arrived at with such diverse interests. Since a democracy is simply government or management by mob power, the title holder simply decides on what the power brokers in Washington want.
We were set up as a republic, not a democracy, but have descended to that level on most issues today. The lands are not and cannot be owned and controlled by the public. One segment of public with the political power will always overrule the others. There can only be one owners and entity in control, even if it is held in trust for the masses, such as state trust lands.
The land and resources are the foundation for any people to exist and exercise the liberty afforded them by their Creator. The people must be in control of their own land and resources to thrive. The founders of this country understood that very well and structured the Constitution accordingly, specifying land for the people and the states, not a federal government, which is not a “people.”
The obvious solution is for the federal government to own up to its promises and comply with the Constitution and transfer title to all federal lands in Colorado back to the state, except for those legally authorized such as military bases and post offices, and federal office buildings authorized by the state Legislature. The various counties, as entities of the state, can then exercise control and ensure proper resource management over those lands for the benefit of the people of the counties and the state as a whole.
Dexter Gill, of Lewis, is a retired tribal and private forester.