Ryan Busse is national board chairman of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.

America is exceptional in many regards. One of the most notable of our ideals encompasses 640 million acres – our system of public lands and waters, equally owned by every citizen.

As with our freedoms and government, the concept of public lands was born of a desire to remove the shackles of a stifling European system in which only the wealthy or royalty could enjoy the outdoors. We the people own these mountains and forests, rivers and plains. Nothing could be more American.

States would sell public lands to private interests. No state is prepared to pay to maintain forest roads, fight wildfires and control weeds.

Codified by Theodore Roosevelt more than a century ago and polished by successive presidents, our public estate is unquestionably valuable, playing a central role in the $646 billion that is annually generated by outdoor recreation in the United States. Family vacationers, hunters, anglers, shooters, hikers, skiers and outdoorspeople of all sorts use our national forests, parks and wildlife refuges. Most Western sportsmen depend upon them for our days afield.

Public lands define our national identity. This identity, however, is under siege.

Efforts to liquidate our public lands took a step forward last week with a vote in the House of Representatives. By designating lands transfers “budget neutral” and eliminating common sense safeguards against undervaluing public lands, the House placed a monetary value of exactly zero on our lands. At least on paper, America’s greatest asset was stripped of its value.

If public lands were transferred to the states as some politicians want, one inevitable outcome would result: Those lands would be sold to moneyed private interests. No state is prepared to shoulder the taxpayer burdens of maintaining forest roads, fighting wildfires and controlling weeds.

The incoming administration has pledged its unambiguous support of our lands and waters and keeping them public. American sportsmen applaud this firm position. We call for an end to the budgetary chicanery and misinformation represented in the recent House vote. Finally, we call on citizen patriots to defend this most American of ideals.



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