Letter: Public lands under threat
Imagine Colorado without public lands. Imagine nowhere to hike or mountain bike, no place to snowmobile, ride a dirt bike, or fish, and nowhere to hunt except in expensive, European-style stocked preserves where it costs a fortune just to enjoy a privilege that Americans have always considered a right. Imagine the gorgeous vistas that take our breath away, littered with condos.
Last week, House Republicans quietly and at the eleventh hour adopted a measure sponsored by Reps. Mark Amodei of Nevada and Celeste Maloy of Utah to authorize the sale of thousands of acres of Public Lands in Utah and Nevada for oil and gas development.
Coloradans should be alarmed. Public Lands are the basis of the economy throughout the West. In Colorado alone, outdoor recreation generated nearly $14 billion and created 130,000 direct jobs in 2022, according to the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Office.
Public Lands belong to all of us, be they national parks, wilderness, national forest, BLM or simply that special secret place that is all yours and no one else’s. That is something the vast majority of Americans agree upon.
Call your Congressional representatives and senators today. Urge them to oppose any and all efforts to sell public lands to private interests. Let them and anyone else who will listen that Reps. Amadoi and Maloy, have in the words of Rep. Ryan Zinke, Montana congressman and former secretary of the interior, have crossed a “red line.” Encourage your friends around the country to do the same.
Support Local Journalism
Pitkin County is working on zoning that would protect land there should the unthinkable happen. Counties throughout Colorado should be working on similar legislation.
Get active and support groups that support public lands. The Sierra Club Headwaters Group and American Hunters and Anglers Action Network are two that come immediately to mind, but there are countless others. Many of them will be at the Colorado Rally for Public Lands at the Capitol on Saturday, May 17.
The lands we love, and all they represent to us as Americans, need us. I hope we will answer the call, before it’s too late.
Jonathan Staufer, Vail Town Council member
Vail
