Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Agencies like the NPS, USFS and BLM haven't been fully funded in a long time. No funds to hire the required personnel because of those in congress who don't want them to exist in the first place. On top of that understand when you have thousands of acres to watch you can't watch every tree at all hours. Often a national forest will have at most one LEO for every district. They're incredibly overworked and stretched too thin.
In this article below it shows how all the above agencies run and how they waste taxpayers money. The only problem with the states taking over they have worked so long with the federal government, they too will run it most likely the same way. Seems if they would cut wasteful spending the parks could be of better use and better protected against poaching. Plus, make the fines so high no one will want to be involved with stealing or poaching.
BLM's policies create bad incentives not just for the users of federal lands, but also for BLM managers. The rules for the share of fees that can be retained by the BLM, for example, are not consistent. At various times in recent history, the BLM has been allowed to keep 25 percent of timber revenues collected in western Oregon but none elsewhere. It can keep 50 percent of grazing revenues, but no recreation revenues, except in a few locations where it can keep 100 percent. The BLM is allowed to charge 100 percent of fair market value for coal, oil, gas, and timber, but the fees it can charge for hardrock minerals (other than coal), grazing, and recreation are regulated by Congress and are usually well below market value. Following its incentives, the agency tends to focus its attention on resources that produce revenues it is allowed to keep but neglects other resources.
A related problem is that special interest groups have persuaded Congress to give them a share of BLM revenues, and they lobby hard to keep those privileges. For example, in most places counties receive 5 percent of BLM revenues, but in western Oregon they have historically received 50 percent of BLM timber revenues. When BLM timber sales declined by nearly 90 percent in the early 1990s (partly in response to the listing of the northern spotted owl as a threatened species), the western Oregon counties persuaded Congress to nonetheless maintain payments at high levels. The result is that today the BLM collects about $20 million a year from timber sales in western Oregon, but Congress pays about $100 million a year to manage those forests, plus another $100 million a year to the counties in the region.
Another policy concern regarding the NPS is that it has developed an authoritarian culture that sometimes seems to put its own empire ahead of individual rights. For example, NPS has often used eminent domain when creating or expanding its parks. After all, a top NPS official once admitted, relying on willing sellers to get land was "a very time consuming process."
In his 1987 book, Playing God in Yellowstone, Alston Chase described how park rangers were effectively police officers, not scientists or naturalists. The training that allowed employees to advance most rapidly within the agency was police science, not history or natural sciences. The agency's police culture has manifested itself in many incidents:
In 1992 the NPS wanted to acquire land for a California park from an unwilling seller, so it fabricated charges that the property owner was growing marijuana in order to obtain the land through asset forfeiture. A SWAT team invasion led to the property owner's death, but no illegal drugs were found.
In 2004 the NPS wanted to shut down an Indian trader who operated in the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, so it accused him of a long list of crimes. A detailed investigation found that most, if not all, of the charges were fabricated.
Ironically, the FWS has been involved in programs that endangered many of the species that it is now supposed to protect. For example, the black-footed ferret, which is sometimes considered the most endangered mammal in North America, is endangered primarily because the FWS spent decades poisoning millions of prairie dogs, which form the primary food source for black-footed ferrets.
One of the few endangered-species success stories is the Utah prairie dog, which the FWS had been actively poisoning right up to the day it was listed as an endangered species. After a decade during which it stopped poisoning the animal, Utah prairie dog numbers increased enough that its status was downgraded to "threatened." Today the FWS claims populations are stable enough that it once again allows government agencies to kill up to 5,000 Utah prairie dogs per year.
Similarly, the bull trout, which is currently listed as threatened, was reduced in numbers by FWS-funded state programs that actively poisoned this species in order to promote other, non-native species that were more attractive to anglers. Ironically, listing the bull trout has led those same state agencies to now poison the non-native species in order to reintroduce bull trout.
Seems many of you think President Trump invented eminent domain.....while our government has been doing it all along.
President's cannot undo a law passed by Congress. But an Executive Order designated by a previous President is subject to revision and recall. Trump has been doing it quite a bit lately.
I like National Monuments. I don't like the way they have been applied in recent years. The acreage is way to high and probably does not meet the intent of law.
I also have an issue with having land designations for such large areas done without public involvement or a ability to influence the designation through the political process.
My take is that the National Monument process has been abused to such a extent it probably will be tossed out by the Supreme Court in the near future. At least, it will give current President's the authority to remove National Monument status.
It is a shame. It was a great law that allowed for protection of some special areas. Oh well, anything worth doing is worth doing to excess.....and it was.
There absolutely has been public involvement.
The Organ Mountains Monument in New Mexico was many, many, many years in the making and was originally requested by the people who live in the area.
Anyone who believes that there wasn't public input before these designations is simply ignorant of the process.
This is exactly why the characterization in the OP of the land having been stolen is just so much BS.
Edited to add additional information about Bears Ears in Utah, the original proposal for which was initiated in 2010.
In this article below it shows how all the above agencies run and how they waste taxpayers money. The only problem with the states taking over they have worked so long with the federal government, they too will run it most likely the same way. Seems if they would cut wasteful spending the parks could be of better use and better protected against poaching. Plus, make the fines so high no one will want to be involved with stealing or poaching.
The website you quoted from is a project of Cato. Cato was founded by Charles Koch. It would behoove you to find a source not written by players that clearly have an interest in privatizing every last acre of federal land.
This is the last straw for me.
Trump has business profits as his best interest, not the American worker.
I hope someone moves to impeach him as soon as possible.
Well without government protection there would be a lot more redwood for sale at Home Depot as there is now, wouldn't there?
The Sequoia National Monument is Sierra Redwood. It has NEVER been used for lumber, except grape stakes at the turn of the 20th century.
The Coast Redwood is the stuff you find at Home Depot. It ALL comes from private lands and always has....there are NO public forests being managed for Redwood production. They are all in Parks.
His XO was just to have Zinke do a study, nothing but another photo op to appeal to his rabid fans. He could have just called him on the phone but that would be to easy, making a mountain out of a molehill.
This is the last straw for me.
Trump has business profits as his best interest, not the American worker.
I hope someone moves to impeach him as soon as possible.
Catch his last act... Taxes... It will continue -so just give him your shirt already... But what does he want with the fed property??
The Sequoia National Monument is Sierra Redwood. It has NEVER been used for lumber, except grape stakes at the turn of the 20th century.
The Coast Redwood is the stuff you find at Home Depot. It ALL comes from private lands and always has....there are NO public forests being managed for Redwood production. They are all in Parks.
I find it odd that some seem to think that only the federal government can protect land. The people are quite qualified to do so.
The Federal Government is comprised of people. Many of whom are experts in their respective fields. They are people too. They are our neighbors, our kids, our siblings, our parents, our friends, etc... I trust a highly educated conservation expert who studies these issues and happens to work for the government much more than I do the "people" who spend most of their time watching American Idol. And I definitely trust them more than I trust big business who has no motive other than profits.
This isn't about people's rights, states rights or anything even remotely close. This is about letting big business have access to protected lands at the expense of all the rest of us. Trump is a fraud. He's lied about EVERY SINGLE ISSUE that he campaigned on. I find it stunning that there are still people out there who believe anything that man says.
Has anyone actually read the EO? He isn't 'giving back' anything yet, although directing "a review" is probably the first step. Between those who haven't bothered to read the actual Antiquities Act, and those who haven't bothered to read the EO, I can see why this country is in such a hot mess.
One thing I find really, bigly humorous is that he only wants any designations after 1996 to be reviewed - what happened, did we run out of legitimate antiquities in that year or something? Or does one of his corporate cronies want access to something that was designated a national monument since then?
"shall conduct a review of all Presidential designations or expansions of designations under the Antiquities Act made since January 1, 1996"
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
