“That was the problem they were facing, that they had no authority to codify into law practices that were important to their life,” Gardner said. “And when laws were passed by England, they were adverse to the local community, in that they caused more resource problems than they solved.”
Gardner's sentiment — that the U.S. federal government is causing more problems than it solves — is popular throughout the West. It’s also a very old idea and previous attempts to transfer land to the states, or local communities have often failed.
But a new effort to wrestle the lands back is gaining steam in western states, particularly among Republican state lawmakers.
If the U.S. government ceded its lands to states or counties, it could potentially have a massive effect on the 52 percent of Oregon owned by the federal government.
Shortly after Cliven Bundy’s militia took up arms against the federal government in 2014, a group of conservatives from nine Western states met in Salt Lake City.
This group, like Bundy’s self-described militia, demanded that federal lands be returned to states, so locals could decide how areas are mined, ranched or farmed.
Like Bundy’s supporters on the ground, some of these conservative lawmakers had deep ties to so-called militia groups, like the Oath Keepers. Other groups advocated that local sheriffs should ignore certain federal laws they find objectionable.
Yet, the lawmakers don’t describe themselves as a militia group. These were state legislators who share much of the same worldview as those on the Bundy Ranch. They make the same historical and legal arguments as the Bundys, but they also made one more point the Bundys don’t: The belief money is ready to flow like water in a wash during a desert monsoon.
In April 2015, the Oregon House Committee on Rural Communities, Land Use, and Water heard testimony on Wilson’s bill. The Grants Pass Republican pinned the economic woes in Josephine County on federal ownership of land in his home county.
“Sixty-eight percent of our land is owned by the federal government,” Wilson told the committee. “We’re land poor. We have a small tax base. Wouldn’t it be a beautiful situation if Oregonians were in charge? We would find our situation would begin to improve.”
A spokesman for the Association of Counties told the house committee the group supported the bill and cited ALC research.
Still, conservationists and environmentalists see a transfer not as a cash cow, but as a money pit.
“How will the state have the money to manage those lands?” asked Rhett Lawrence, conservation director of the Sierra Club's Oregon chapter, before citing a study on the same law sponsored in Idaho. “The cost of managing the lands in Idaho is going to exceed the potential revenue they get off it."
Wilson’s bill stalled in the Democratic-controlled committee.
The Federal Government owns some 630 million acres in 11 Western states.
The question of who will pay to maintain transferred lands is one of the big unknowns in this debate. And it’s an unknown that would undoubtedly shape how the West looks, functions and grows.
Environmentalists say privatization would almost certainly be employed to manage transferred lands.
Kaiser said land transfer advocates see their cause as a panacea that would generate massive revenue. If that were the case, Kaiser said, the federal government would have already looked for ways to generate that revenue.
“They have no idea what to do with these lands once the states take them under their control,” Kaiser said.
Kaiser’s point is seen in the Elliott State Forest near Coos Bay, Oregon, which has proven costly for the state to manage. Last year, the state land board approved selling the 84,000-acre forest to private land owners.
“The federal government isn’t perfect, no, but this land-seizure movement we’re seeing permeate in state legislatures across the West is absolutely crazy-town,” Kaiser said. “There’s just no way to make it work without selling these lands off, restricting access for Americans.
“It just doesn’t make any sense,” he said.
Amanda Peacher
/Ryan Bundy told OPB that he and the other armed men occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters will leave if Harney County residents want them to. The self-proclaimed militiamen have been occupying the buildings since Saturday, Jan. 2.
Rick Bowmer
/Utah state Rep. Ken Ivory, in 2015. The Republican has fought for the transfer of federal land back to the states.
Copyright 2016 Oregon Public Broadcasting
