What would Colorado be without our mountains, forests, grasslands and other public lands, including the vast acreages preserved by Congress at the beginning of the 20th century under visionaries like Theodore Roosevelt?

Had we failed to establish federal public lands in the West, large parts of the landscapes we love could have been sold off, exploited and changed forever — likely for the worse.

Yet today, there are those who argue Roosevelt was wrong. They believe states have sovereignty over these lands and insist that the federal government has no constitutional authority over them. The infamous standoff between federal authorities and Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy points to the sometimes violent and extreme nature of this debate.

Advocates of this view want to turn back the clock, open up all federal lands, sell them to the states and even to private individuals. It’s a variation on the “Sage Brush Rebellion” and it speaks to the frustration states and local communities sometimes feel when there are disagreements with the federal government about managing public resources.

Colorado’s gubernatorial candidates have opposing views on this controversy.

At a recent Club 20 debate, the candidates were asked about a proposal that Western states like Colorado “assume control” of federal lands within state boundaries.

Gov. John Hickenlooper challenged the wisdom of attempting to appropriate millions of acres of federal land valued up to $300 million, saddling Colorado with management and liability burdens we can ill afford. As chair of the Western Governors Association, Hickenlooper championed a partnership approach, where Western states have a greater voice in management decisions, but without taking over public lands.

This doesn’t mean acquiescing to every federal decision. Colorado has the expertise and clout to push against the federal government when we disagree. The Hickenlooper administration has done so on numerous occasions, most recently in protecting sage grouse habitat.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez disagrees. At Club 20, he promoted a theory of “state sovereignty” over all public lands (presumably including national parks), arguing that the federal government was never entitled to the land initially. He said that these are “Colorado’s lands; not the federal government’s.”

Writing for a conservative blog in April 2012, Beauprez went even further, urging that large portions of public land be “deeded” to “individual citizens” for their financial and economic benefit.

Whether Colorado should try to appropriate federal land is a serious constitutional question. Most scholars and legal experts believe the federal government’s authority over federal lands is well settled. The Property Clause of the U.S. Constitution has been interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court on multiple occasions, and conservative blogs notwithstanding, there is no reason to believe that federal authority over public lands will be overturned.

Utah and Idaho looked at this idea and have mostly dropped it. Not only was there a furious outcry from the outdoor recreation industry, but anglers, hunters, sportsmen and other constituencies that depend on public land also were adamantly opposed. Colorado receives about $13.2 billion in spending on outdoor recreation, a good deal of which depends on public lands.

A study in Idaho determined that the state would lose $2 billion over 20 years if it had to assume the liability and responsibility of managing federal lands. Utah’s study concluded that the costs of such an effort outweighed the potential benefits.

Colorado cannot afford to acquire and manage 22.9 million of acres of national forests, parks and other lands, fight and pay the costs of catastrophic wildfires, and replace the 4,000-plus federal workers who serve these public lands in Colorado.

Collaboration between federal and state land agencies is a better approach.

Alan Salazar, a fifth-generation Colorado native, is Gov. John Hickenlooper’s chief of legislative affairs, research and policy.

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by e-mail or mail.