“You’re talking about the rights of every citizen in the United States,” Gibson said. “That’s the Louisiana Purchase. They didn’t buy it for individuals, they bought it for the United States of America. This isn’t some kind of deal where you just slip the title over during a poker game on Friday night.”

Gibson said while he gets frustrated with the Forest Service’s weak efforts to maintain access to its own lands, the state doesn’t have a perfect track record either. PLWA had to go to the state Supreme Court to win entry onto state School Trust Lands after ranchers with grazing permits tried to keep them blocked off. The group has also won court battles enforcing the state’s own stream access laws against wealthy landowners attempting to privatize rivers and streams.

“What gets me is the very people asking for this are the same ones claiming the government is too big,” Gibson said. “Are you going to give them 30 million more acres to manage? How do you do that?”

Gibson said he fears the answer would be to sell the newly acquired land to the highest bidder. That would further erode public access to the backcountry as it’s fenced off for logging, development or private hunting parties.