Federal Land Action Group Holds Forum “Improving Public Land Management Through More Local Control”

WASHINGTON— Chairman of the Federal Lands Action Group, Rep. Chris Stewart, and Chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, Rep. Rob Bishop, hosted their third forum in a series aimed at exploring best practices with regard to public land management and ownership. 

The forum included witnesses representing experts in the fields of public land policy. Witnesses presented testimony and answered questions from members of Congress in the action group.

In his opening remarks, Rep. Chris Stewart said, “Times are tough in much of the rural West. Recent events have illustrated that lands issues are contentious and getting more so. In our two previous forums we explored some of the problems in current federal land management and we raised several promising solutions for devolving control over public lands away from the federal government and to those closer to the lands. Today, we took a more detailed look at several of the ideas that have been raised in previous forums.” 

Rep. Rob Bishop said, “As the President has unveiled his latest budget proposal, it is clear he is not interested in smart solutions. He continues to throw money into failed land management programs. This forum has demonstrated that, not only are there better ways to budget resources, but there are better ways to manage federal lands.” 

Witnesses included:

• Karla Jones, American Legislative Exchange Council, said: “Federal control of public lands that rightfully should be under state administration has led to environmental and economic mismanagement,” said Karla Jones, director of the ALEC Task Force on International Relations and Federalism. “It is encouraging, however, that the western states are petitioning for control, which will benefit the lands inside their borders and both their state economies and the national economy.” Read Ms. Jones' Full Testimony .

• Robert Nelson, University of Maryland, said: “There is a growing recognition that the system of federal ownership of nearly half the land in the American West is serving the region poorly. It is inhibiting the economic use of the lands and is also environmentally damaging -- mismanaging the national forests, for example, to create unprecedented acreages of wildfires now burning at new intensities. The rural West is deprived of the normal experience of democratic governance as it is experienced in other states and localities across the United States. Broadly speaking, public land reform could move in three basic directions: privatization, transfer of federal lands to state and local governments, and management reforms within the existing system of federal land ownership.”  Read Mr. Nelson's Full Testimony Here

• Randal O’Toole, Cato Institute, said: “The key to resolving public land debates, is not who owns the lands but what systems of governance and incentives guide land managers. Two key reforms would resolve nearly all federal land debates. First, federal land managers should be allowed to charge fair market value for all resources people use and should be funded exclusively out of a share of the receipts they collect. Second, federal lands should be turned into fiduciary trusts, which would fundamentally change the incentives faced by land managers.” Read Mr. O'Toole's Full Testimony Here

A video of the forum can be found here.

For information about past forums, click here.

For more information about the Federal Land Action Group, click here.