Do you want to keep public lands in public hands? Do you love living here and “owning” the San Juan Forest or Canyon of the Ancients on which to camp, hike, bike, ride and wander?
Or do you follow the Cliven Bundy approach to public land management, where land should be managed “locally,” preferably on behalf of the few, preferably for a profit.
Lyle McKnight clearly said at the recent Cattlemen’s Forum that he is unequivocally in favor of wresting control of our public lands from the feds.
But how does this get paid for, if lands are “given” to state and local governments? To this, McKnight admitted that he did not know, and offered something about “maybe through user fees?”
I don’t believe that even a $25 user fee, per person, per day would pay for the fires ravaging Big Sur or Alaska or (in 2002) our own Missionary Ridge. It would not cover maintaining the roads or the trails or beetle kill mitigation.
McKnight touts one of his main assets as having been a businessman. He knows all about budgets and staying within them and meeting bottom lines. Yet to pursue something as irresponsible as taking over the management of federal land with a business plan of “We’ll pay for it through user fees” demonstrates exactly the opposite.
Want to lose our public lands? There is a candidate that can make that happen – Lyle McKnight.
Lee Lanzen
Durango
