I'm not really sure what side you are for, you seem to be pretty in the middle on the subject. This state does have a lot of public land.... And it's great. If their wasn't so much public land our state officials would have sold it, developed it, or destroyed it for greedy interests. Utah is good at economic development sure, but they are terrible at conservation. They are terrible at seeing anything but greed. Our politicians can only find dollar signs in our amazing resources in this state, to me they mean more than that. I realize it isn't a full Democratic or Republican thing, but no democrats support it and very few republicans oppose it, this issue lies largely along party lines, there's exceptions sure.
I don't care what Utah HAS done, I care about what they are doing and plan on doing. Just because they've done good on some issues does not mean they get a pass on spending tens of millions of dollars to steal public lands from 320 million Americans that are equal owners. Public lands are doomed if greedy politicians get to call the shots and it's a cold dead hands issue for me. Look at the Wasatch front, all land has is economic value. Hundreds of thousands of acres of vital wildlife habitat winter range have been bulldozed over and lost forever. Homes have been built higher than they ever should have. Thank god the forest service line is saving some of what's left. I get we are going to grow, but we can find ways to grow while preserving our wildlife habitat, wild places, and important natural resources our state has.
A big problem is as a society we have become to set apart from these issues. The majority of our public cares about our mountains, our wetlands, our wildlife and wild places, but they don't understand the issues they face, the complications we create, and are disconnected from those resources. I'm not an environmentalist by any means but I am a conservationist and a hunter. I understand these places and am much closer connected to these lands than the politicians pushing forward an agenda to sale and strip whatever profit they can from them. They don't understand how important these lands are to our wildlife, our economy, and our quality of life. We along with our wildlife cannot afford to lose these public lands. I'm sorry but worthless peace of paper to me, aren't worth more than a bugling bull elk, a mule deer, a bighorn sheep, a flock of ducks or geese, or just the opportunity to go to a place that isn't surrounded with people and smog. Theodore Roosevelt was one of the greats and contributed so much to this country and the world with these public lands he helped create and the idea of conservation he embraced. I won't stand by and let greedy politicians play games with my money and public land they should have nothing to do with.
Here's a few quotes from Roosevelt as it pertained to the future and the obstacles he knew we would face:
"Wildlife and it's habitat cannot speak, so we must and we will."
"Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children's children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance."
These are important places to us and our wildlife, and I will stand up for these places and there futures. Future generation should not look back at us and see us as the generation who sold and destroyed one of the best treasures our country has. Vote those for this stupid idea out, and tell congress to fund conservation at the level it should be, because 1% on an industry that returns $646 billion back to economy simply isn't cutting it. Is pretty damn easy to make the federal managers look bad when you vote to cut their budgets constantly. The department of the interior (BLM,USFWS) is still operating on the same spending power as it was 20 years ago.
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