A group of armed protestors have taken control of a wildlife refuge in Oregon demanding public lands be privatized. A Colorado College poll released Monday says most voters in seven Western states don’t support their mission.
According to the survey taken by Colorado College, a liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, 59 percent of respondents in Colorado are against handing federally controlled lands to state governments, and the same amount also disapprove of selling areas such as national forests for revenue.
The poll surveyed 400 registered voters in each state: Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
“These results make clear Western communities care deeply about the public lands that embody the best of our nation’s culture, spirit and beauty,” former U.S. Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar said in a news release.
“Western voters see our outdoor heritage as integral to our economy and our way of life, and they certainly don’t want to see their public lands seized by ideologues or sold off by politicians in Washington.”
The poll was released 10 days after an armed anti-government militia took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in rural southeastern Oregon, in protest of the conviction of Dwight and Steven Hammond, two ranchers who set fire to federal land to hide illegal poaching.
The conversation has evolved as occupiers turned to championing the idea that local governments should control use of federal land. A leader of the group, Ryan Bundy, son of Cliven Bundy, who had his own stand-off with federal government in 2014, said the militia is prepared to “kill and be killed.”
“The Lord was not pleased with what was happening to the Hammonds,” Ryan’s brother, Ammon, said in a YouTube video posted Friday. “If we allowed the Hammonds to continue to be punished, there would be accountability.”
On a conference call Monday, Salazar said the group is “far out of touch with most folks living in the West.”
“In light of the recent events in Oregon, the ‘Conservation in the West’ poll gives us some much-needed prospective about how Americans think about their lands, waters and way of life,” Salazar said.
The poll also found: 84 percent of Coloradans support public officials who want to conserve land; 77 percent believe public lands help their state economy, and 80 percent agree with stricter rules limiting methane leaks on public lands.
A spokesman with the American Land Council, a leading organization seeking to privatize public lands, did not respond to a request for comment.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
Conservation in the West poll (PDF)
On the Net
To view the results from Colorado respondents, visit www.durangoherald.com. To view results from all six states, visit www.coloradocollege.edu/stateoftherockies/conservationinthewest.
