One of the most unexpected distractions to surface in this year’s statewide races is whether Colorado should seek to take over federal lands.

The Republican candidates for governor and attorney general — Bob Beauprez and Cynthia Coffman — have both spoken out in favor of this impractical and hopeless quest, as if state officials should actually spend time on it.

They shouldn’t. The transfer would be unpopular, it isn’t about to happen, and it isn’t necessary.

Yes, there have been times in the recent past when state land managers might have done a better job than federal officials in crafting policy to preserve Colorado’s wildlife and scenic resources, as Rick Enstrom argued in a recent column in The Denver Post. But federal ownership of millions of acres of land in Colorado throughout the 20th century doubtlessly protected a significant portion of them from development. Even if Colorado intended to maintain them now in their present state, it hasn’t the resources or manpower to acquire and manage them. To suggest otherwise is naive.

Nonetheless, Beauprez has said that “If you believe in state sovereignty, if you believe in the way this republic is supposed to work, we do need to stand up and push back on the federal government, and I’ll push back. This is supposed to be Colorado’s land, not the federal government’s.”

Similarly, Coffman told a group earlier this year that she wants to “talk to attorneys general who have taken a strong stance about federal lands. Because I think it is time that the Western attorneys general join together and fought back against the federal government, and we took back that land.”

Fought back? As in litigate over their ownership? We can easily think of, oh, 100 or so other things that should rate as higher priorities for an attorney general — even an AG acutely sensitive to examples of federal high-handedness.

The governor and attorney general must always defend this state’s interests when they conflict with the federal government’s plans. But that can be done, and has been done, without trying to stoke another, futile version of the Sagebrush Rebellion.

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