I don't know if it's going to look like Mordor, but I am confident if federal lands are transferred to state or local governments and those governments then sell or lease to private companies to mine it, those companies are unlikely to allow you to access it, so you won't actually know what it looks like.

Worked at a coal mine in SE Wyoming that was on a lot of BLM land. We technically couldn't kick someone off the property, but could call authorities if they were interfering with the operation.

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Pactimo brand ambassador, ask me about promo codes

Only available on Direct TV...

That's unAmerican :-(

In a lot of ways I support transfer back to the state especially in the western US. I believe that the states in the west are pretty good stewards of the land and don't buy into they are going to sell it off to the highest bidder. I would like to see some protections put in place to prevent this or assure that it goes through legislative process.

One observation that I've made living in Idaho is people in the midwest and east coast have no concept of how much public land is out there available for recreation. Just this week I was in Minneapolis talking with a supplier about my enjoyment of riding my dirt bike and side by side. I explained that 1 area that I frequent has a couple of hundred miles of trails/roads available to ride. They couldn't get their head around having this much available and this is just a small area about 1.5hrs from Boise.

There is a boat load of public land available for multiple uses in the West. I'm not for mining and developing every inch of it but if these activities are profitable for the state with the proper controls in place many economies would benefit. Recreation, land use, timber harvesting, mining all have their places.

I also support wilderness areas which we have a lot of in Idaho and my birth state Montana.

Just my 2 cents,

Twenty-five years ago I used to fly fish a lot in the mountains of CO and WY. There were a lot of creeks and rivers and drainages that were barren/sterile due to the continued run off from old mining operations. Most of these were just old time simple holes dug into the side of mountains, not much to look at and easily overlooked, but slag and trailings left behind is still there killing all the fish 100 years later.

These creeks and rivers all looked wilderness pristine to the naked eye, but not a fish to be found in them. Deadly toxins running off from the surrounding peaks.


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If it is oil and gas it is unlikely to look like Mordor but you will likely have more company on the water as the access opens up. For mines, I know in Canada they can restrict access to the land, I'm not sure of the rules so it maybe only close to the operating mine that is restricted but I have driven past lots of no trespassing signs put up by mines. They also restrict hunting on the mine property, I think the biggest Big Horn Sheep in Alberta was shot just off mine property where they hang out a few years ago.

Ben

Just started. I am recording it

Come on over to GA and we can drink cheap bourbon or good rum and watch the recording

/r

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Steve

well in summary

i thought it was pretty one sided in that it portrayed the ranchers/protestor/occupier side almost exclusively.

i was also disappointed in that it did very very little to place the issue within the greater context of the sagebrush rebellion--which i view as a valid issue (personally) i guess this is what i am most disappointed in. There exits a serious issue and debate here on 'best use' of western lands. They walked past that :-(

in so far as the actual wildlife occupation--again one sided. If they attempted to interview the Fed/FBI/Justice side of the equation i saw no effort in that regard.

so interesting but not very professionally done imo

/r

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Steve