Thank you for your editorial “America Last” (Herald, June 3) describing among other things President Trump’s suspension of over 200 Bureau of Land Management Resource Advisory Councils.
For a decade I served our area on the BLM’s Southwest Resource Advisory Council or RAC. At different times I represented the environment and/or the area’s history and cultural resources. Only the Bureau of Land Management, not the U.S. Forest Service or the National Park Service, has such citizen councils as a result of the reorganization of the BLM and the Federal Land Management Policy Act of 1976.
The councils work. Diverse opinions and views are represented. We had meaningful dialogue on everything from off-road vehicle use, to grazing policies, recreational permits, oil and gas development and extended camping on BLM land. It is absolutely vital to have folks from different backgrounds and perspectives sit down and talk to one another.
Unfortunately, Trump wants to dictate, not to listen. I am sorry for my Republican friends that such a narrow-minded, narcissistic individual is the head of their party.
All Westerners love our public lands and we work best when we all work together.
Andrew Gulliford
Durango
