Utah is at the center of a well-funded, decade-long effort by elected officials, corporate interests and private individuals to transfer America’s public land into state and private ownership. These lands have been owned by all Americans since the founding of our country and are managed by the federal government under the auspices of the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management.
Despite statehood enabling acts that require states to disclaim any title to unappropriated public lands within their boundaries, states like Utah have spent millions of taxpayer dollars promoting alternative legal theories, filing lawsuits and creating marketing campaigns based on the false claim that these lands must be returned to their rightful owners — i.e., the states. This is just plain propaganda.
That propaganda has allowed pro-land transfer proponents and their unwitting allies in the U.S. House of Representatives to adopt a rules package designed to make selling off public lands easier. Under these rules, lawmakers will no longer have to consider the revenue that public lands generate when proposing legislation to transfer them to state control. And despite pro-transfer rhetoric to the contrary, federally managed public lands earn local, state and the federal government billions of dollars in revenue each year.
Because the Property Clause in the U.S. Constitution grants Congress authority over all federal land, elected officials must not fall for the lies being told about these lands. They belong to all Americans, not just those living in Utah.
Carey Dabney, Moab
