In 2012, Utah passed a law demanding that the U.S. government relinquish its title to much of the National Forest and BLM public land in Utah. This is the latest round in an old struggle for political control of the economic benefits to be derived from western public lands. Participants in this struggle should review the historical impacts of the various extractive activities that have shaped the west since the 1820s. Historical amnesia will likely produce future regrets.
Wallace Stegner reflected on the earlier rounds of this political struggle in his 1969 volume of essays, "The Sound of Mountain Water." "To give the public lands to the states, as the raiders periodically have suggested and will suggest again — their word is "restore," which is untruthful and unhistorical — could have only one of three effects. The states would go bankrupt trying to manage and maintain them; they would let them deteriorate according to precedents well known west of the 100th meridian; or they would turn them over to private or corporate hands to be gutted."
Considering that Utah's House Bill 148 specifically contemplates the sale of public lands into private hands, Stegner's historical perspective and 1969 foresight merit careful consideration.
David Rasmussen
Salt Lake City
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What gripes me is that the legislature is wasting scarce and precious taxpayer dollars--my dollars--tilting at this windmill, when the money could go toward something useful, like education. Specifically, education of the legislators on the folly of More..
The idea that the state of Utah should be handed the keys to lands they didn't win or own, and let Utah only profit from these sales, shows a real lack of understanding of the history of the Utah Territories... and the ensuing path to statehood. More..
Stegner was a visionary who understood the consequences of too many people living in a desert, and taking more from the land than the land can give. Utah has a pathetic record as a steward of our state lands. God forbid they should get their hands on More..