On Thursday, Mar. 13, the Colorado General Assembly passed a bipartisan resolution, Senate Joint Resolution 25-009, “Protection of Colorado’s Public Lands,” that opposes any federal efforts to sell, transfer or dispose of our national public lands. The House is expected to do the same today.
The resolution also supports ongoing federal public land stewardship by the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service, and encourages state officials and the Colorado Congressional delegation to mirror its advocacy.
Good thing, because the assault on federal lands is ramping up and Colorado can be a bulwark against it.
Thanks to Senators Roberts (D-Avon) and Catlin (R-Montrose), Speaker McCluskie (D-Dillon) and Rep. Taggart (R-Grand Junction) for sponsoring this resolution that reaffirms Colorado’s commitment to keeping public lands in public hands, something our president with Utah legislators as proxy, are working to wrest from us (Herald, Feb. 1).
That is 346,740,331 million Americans (and innumerable nonhuman species) that own, inhabit, visit, steward, and cherish them.
With a real estate developer as president, when taking inventory of the free market and Project 2025 ideology of the people he has brought into his inner circle, they only see dollar signs and have already proposed selling public lands as a part of the budget reconciliation process and a way to offset tax cuts for those making above $400,000 per year. That leaves out most of us. Public lands are our greatest shared asset.
Privatizing public lands is the first step to monetizing them. Buildings, too.
On Mar. 4, the U.S. General Services Administration website hosted a list of 440 federal properties (including 164 Department of Interior and 65 Bureau of Indian Affairs offices) it had identified to close or sell, abandoning local economies and tribes.
Hours later the list had shrunk to 320 properties and the next day the list was gone and the website said, “We are identifying buildings and facilities that are not core to government operations, or non-core properties, for disposal. Selling ensures that taxpayer dollars are no longer spent on vacant or underutilized federal spaces. Disposing of these assets helps eliminate costly maintenance and allows us to reinvest in high-quality work environments that support agency missions.”
In Durango, the federal government is terminating the leases of the very-much-occupied Bureau of Reclamation and Army Corps of Engineers offices prematurely (Herald, Mar. 10) in the name of cost-savings and efficiency, contradicting the administration’s ‘return to office’ dictate. More nonsense from DOGE and the administration.
No one is asking for these firings or vacancies. The administration’s not-so-subtle motivation is to cleanse federal land management agencies and their managers from the West. As Jonathan Thompson writes in “Interior Dept. may be withdrawing from the West, not moving to it,” (The Land Desk, Mar. 4), Rep. Hurd may not have a BLM Headquarters to move West (Herald, Mar. 16).
In Colorado alone, the 22 million acres under federal agency management (36% of Colorado’s total land area), supported by land management staff and facilities, are already being put to important uses and have skyrocketed in economic productivity.
Colorado’s agriculture, mining, timber, ranching, tourism and outdoor recreation industries depend upon access to public lands. According to the resolution, in 2023, our outdoor recreation industry alone contributed over $17 billion to Colorado’s economy and supported 132,500 jobs. The San Juan National Forest provides 2,590 jobs, $85 million total labor income and $148 million total GDP.
Sen. Catlin (R-Montrose), one of the resolution’s main sponsors said,” Coming from Western Colorado, I understand firsthand the critical role public lands play in our water resources, supporting our agricultural heritage through grazing access, and mitigating the effects of drought. Protecting these lands is essential for the long-term health of our watersheds and our communities.”
Rep. Taggart (R-Grand Junction) said that “Public lands fuel our rural businesses … [and] protecting them is an investment in the economic well-being of rural Colorado.”
During Rep. Hurd’s Tele-Town Hall, he committed to support keeping public lands in public hands. As the Herald’s editorial board did early last month (Herald, Feb. 1), we encourage him to join his U.S. House colleagues, Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) and Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM), in cosponsoring the Public Lands in Public Hands Act.
If only it weren’t so transparent an attempt at seizing public resources for private gain. On Monday, DOI Secretary Doug Burgum and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner took a new tack by issuing a press release that also ran in the Wall Street Journal proposing to create access to underused federal lands for housing. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) provided the HOUSES Act as a model.
Never mind Congress has the sole authority over the dispensation of federal lands, there are no affordable housing requirements, nor do many of the federal lands they describe as underutilized have infrastructure, including water.
Coloradans must fight back. Gratefully, our representatives appear to be staging to do so. And a fight it will be.
