# Public lands



## Bradonifia (Feb 12, 2019)

Did any of you read this article?
https://www.ksl.com/article/46515363/interior-boss-order-aims-to-protect-us-public-land-access

Are you in favor of protecting public land, or do you think it's fine for much of this land to be purchased by private land owners?

This could affect hunting, fishing and other forms of outdoor recreating.

Personally, I hope we can preserve land as much as possible for public access.


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

Bradonifia said:


> Did any of you read this article?
> https://www.ksl.com/article/46515363/interior-boss-order-aims-to-protect-us-public-land-access
> 
> Are you in favor of protecting public land, or do you think it's fine for much of this land to be purchased by private land owners?
> ...


Well, Zinke left under a well-deserved cloud, and Bernhardt will no doubt prove to be at least as bad given his history.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Interesting that some have been so silent now when they had been so vocal on this topic. Weird...


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## Kwalk3 (Jun 21, 2012)

I don't have much optimism for Bernhardt considering his background, but it is quite the stretch to say that the acting head of the interior prioritizing public access as a consideration when land sales pop up is indicative of anything nefarious.....

I generally think that Zinke was disappointing and disagree with much of what he said and did while he was Secretary. I also hunted an area of the Bear River Refuge that was opened as a result of one of his initiatives last fall. 


There have been some major victories recently, including the passing of the public lands package with solid bipartisan support. LWCF was permanently reauthorized(yet to be seen if it is funded fully).

I am not in favor of proposed rollbacks to the Clean Water act, and the Tabby Mtn sale locally is something to be deeply concerned about. It's not all negative, nor is it all roses, puppies, and unicorns. 

The partisan team sports talking points are still lame though. Maybe that's why all the previous threads devolved into Paddler talking to himself. 

Anyways. Off to bed. I'm headed for a long hike in the morning, and have a hot date with some whitefish on the Weber in the afternoon.


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

From the article:

_National Parks Conservation Association Vice President Kristen Brengel said the order's timing - exactly one week before Bernhardt appears in front of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee - casts doubt over the administration's purpose.

"They're paying lip service to an issue a lot of people care about," Brengel said. "When the president's budget doesn't fund the most prominent program that would guarantee this access, this is completely empty."_

It appears I'm not the only one underwhelmed. The guy is an oil and gas lobbyist, the administration believes in "Drill, Baby, Drill". Pardon my skepticism.

https://www.fastcompany.com/9032388...ing-firm-donated-almost-1-million-to-senators

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/oil-executives-recording-trump-access-812511/

https://www.outsideonline.com/2390596/david-bernhardt-scandal-tracker

https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/1/3/18165562/david-bernhardt-interior-ryan-zinke


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## High Desert Elk (Aug 21, 2012)

When you have entire states pushing against fossil fuel energy, the "drill, baby drill" fear crowd have little to be concerned about these days.

At least until complete renewables fall flat on its face anyway...


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

*Just A "Team Breakfast"*

So Bernhardt is winding his way through the confirmation process, ethics be damned. Nobody saw this coming:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/04/climate/david-bernhardt-interior-lobbying.html


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