Transfer of Federal Lands to the States

dave54 wrote:

highplainsdrifter wrote:

I am not saying Teddy Roosevelt was perfect. What I like about him is that he set aside millions of acres of federal land for permanent protection. This started a trend that added millions more acres. How that land was/is managed was and continues to be debated.

The good news is we are having a debate. If the lands had all been privatized, we would have no say in management...and no access.

You are making the unfounded assumption that all states would sell or mismanage the land. There is zero evidence or history all fifty states would do that.

Oh really, take a look at the link below that shows that states have sold much of the state school land they were granted at statehood. Nevada has sold 99 percent. Utah has sold about 50 percent. How much federal land do you see in most eastern states? Most of those states have sold almost all of their original granted federal lands.

You can bet that if/when western states get into financial trouble they would be pressured to sell some of the millions of acres of federal land transferred to them if transfer proponents prevail.

And yes most states do a pretty good job of managing relatively small parcels of land included in state parks, but we are talking MILLIONS of acres here. They simply cannot afford to manage that many acres without extensive development or sale.

On the link below, you can use the drop down box to see how the western states have sold some/most of their state school land.

http://www.statetrustlands.org/