Durkin: Selling off state land a betrayal

Two weeks from now, hundreds of thousands of deer hunters will be sitting, stalking and still-hunting public lands across Wisconsin while politicians in Madison and Washington, D.C., continue their efforts to sell those properties to the private sector.

Of immediate concern are 118 state-owned parcels covering about 8,300 acres that the Department of Natural Resources is reviewing for sale by June 2017. This sale wasn’t the DNR’s idea. The Legislatures ordered the agency to make a shopping list totaling 10,000 acres, having decided the state can’t properly manage its 1.5 million acres of land. Never mind that budget cuts imposed by the same lawmakers basically cause such neglect.

The potential sales sites are located in 40 counties, and can be viewed on this site: dnr.wi.gov/topic/lands/RealEstate/landsearch.asp. The Natural Resources Board, which sets DNR policy, is scheduled to review the agency’s “For Sale” list when meeting on Dec. 9.

After detailing these potential sales in late August, I heard from many readers who felt angry and betrayed by lawmakers. Most used email, but perhaps the most heartfelt arrived in my home mailbox.

“I use state lands extensively for hunting and trout fishing, and even more so for trapping,” wrote Bruce Foster of Middleton. “The type of lands you mentioned in your article are exactly the sort of places I use. This plan to sell off DNR land looks like a potential disaster and really disgusts me.”

I also heard from Elmer Millette, 85, of Poynette, a retired Marine Corps master sergeant, who wrote: “Wisconsin has some of the smartest and richest men, but do they have any common sense? They can buy all the land they want, that 10 percent, but what about the rest of us? When I was born 12-22-30 in Goodman, my dad was making 34 cents an hour. Many people had large families of 10 to 12 kids, and they could not afford meat and fish from stores. We hunted, fished and put in gardens. Trout waters helped many families, and can do the same today.

“I hope the rich do not get richer, and the poor do not get poorer,” Millette continued. “I hope some people get hot about this and do their job. I’m now 85 years young and 100 percent disabled from a sugar diet and agent orange, and in a wheelchair, but I still want to voice my opinion. I hope my grandchildren and great-grandchildren can keep hunting, trapping and fishing these areas.”

Of course, I also heard from those who shrug and say, “What’s 10,000 acres when we have about 1.5 million acres of state-owned lands, and conservation easements on over 300,000 acres?

Fair question, but do they think this is a one-shot deal? Based on what’s happening elsewhere, especially Western states, this sale sounds like a test drive. If Wisconsin citizens sit quietly while politicians sell public lands to private interests, this will just be Round 1 of a long-term real-estate sale.

In recent years in the West, 37 bills have been introduced in 11 states to promote the transfer of publicly accessible federal lands to the states where they’re found. Only six bills in four states have passed. The premise is that states are more familiar with the land, and can better care for it than federal agencies like the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service.

After all, the land is within a particular state’s border, and states supposedly have smaller, more efficient bureaucracies. The states will presumably make more money than the feds by charging higher fees for natural resources like oil, gas, timber and grazing rights.

But once federal lands become state property, they could be sold to cover budget shortfalls, which Western states have done often. Nevada, for instance, has sold more than 95 percent of its state-trust land, and earlier this year Utah sold several thousand acres of its state lands. And no matter where these lands are found, once they’re private property, they’re no longer open to hunting.

So, how did so many states just happen to start thinking about transferring federal lands and/or selling state lands the past few years? Was it just coincidence?

Hardly. Advocacy groups like Americans for Prosperity and the American Legislative Exchange Council — better known as just ALEC — arrogantly view land as little more than natural reservoirs for profit. ALEC is best known for drafting cookie-cutter legislation, and then holding conventions to explain the purpose and nuances of its pre-fab bills to invited lawmakers from across the country.

The politicians then bring this ghost-written legislation home, insert their name and the state’s name in the appropriate blanks, and claim it as their own idea. To see ALEC’s model legislation that’s driving many of the public-land sale efforts, check out its “Disposal and Taxation of Public Lands Act” at www.alec.org/model-legislation/disposal-and-taxation-of-public-lands-act/. Notice that word “disposal.” That’s not a word evoking respect and reverence for the land.

Granted, deer hunters, as a group, dislike thinking about politics, especially with the gun season opener approaching Nov. 21. But if we keep ignoring such uncomfortable issues after the season closes Nov. 29, we shouldn’t be surprised when politicians start evicting us from lands our forefathers set aside for our perpetual use.

Patrick Durkin is a freelance writer who covers outdoors for Press-Gazette Media. Email him at patrickdurkin56@gmail.com.