I have been following, although somewhat casually, the issues regarding land control and use in the State of Utah, which includes the recently created Bears Ears National Monument. I have read blog and facebook posts, articles, and other information shared by organizations of which I am, or have been, a member, which includes blatantly false and misleading information calculated to instill fear in the public mind that if control of federal lands is returned to the states, our treasured natural parks and other lands and resources will be forever lost and their beauty destroyed.
This evening I decided I will take an active part in this issue. On this website, westerntrailrider.com and on my facebook page Western Trail Rider, I will be publicly supporting the efforts of the State of Utah and other states to return control of federal lands within their boundaries to the states themselves.
While I will invite and encourage educated and civil debate of those issues on this page and on my website, I will not tolerate uncivil or mean-spirited commentaries.
I’m with you. although I am in Texas. Access to public lands held in trust is always a concern. hopefully State management will allow access for all kinds of activities, also I would hope the locked gates will be few and far between.
You are absolutely right. Those gates the USFS and BLM have been locking restrict access to public lands, especially for those who may be physically disabled, including vets. The USFS and BLM have also used their authority to restrict or prevent access to privately owned properties whose access crosses public lands. Even though there may be a public roadway that accesses a private parcel, the BLM and USFS many times will not allow even minimal maintenance or improvement of those roads, which sometimes makes it impossible for landowners to access their private parcels. Those locked gates and closed roadways also hamper fire-fighting efforts.
Apache County in Arizona has begun cutting the locks and declaring those roads as public. The county sheriff informed USFS and BLM that any of their employees found locking gates would be arrested. USFS and BLM backed off and did not fight it. So, this is not a problem only in Utah.
Exactly right. Lands that my brothers and I freely accessed in our younger years in New Mexico are now behind locked gates. where we used to go rabbit hunting is now unaccessable. The Federal Government is acting as if the land is theirs when in fact they are trustees managing said land for the public good. Locking the public out does not ,in my opinion, allow for the public good. You trail ride how many time have you encountered locked gates? my brother likes to prowl around out in the desert, locked gates block his use of dirt roads we have used in the past. there may be good reasons for some locked gates but the proliferation of locked gates is really frustrating.