Public lands stewardship takes more than a slogan, Naomi writes in a new op-ed in the Durango Herald, and decisions about any parcel should rest on its specific characteristics and the public interest.
Naomi says the future of public lands is often reduced to “Never sell public lands,” a position that skips the real questions. She stresses that selling and leasing are very different issues: leasing is temporary use under specific terms, while selling permanently transfers ownership. Both deserve careful examination, but they should not be treated as the same question. She is clear about the places she would never support selling, saying her answer would be an unequivocal no if the discussion involved a portion of the Weminuche Wilderness.
At the same time, she points out that federal law allows the Bureau of Land Management to dispose of certain small, isolated, or difficult-to-manage parcels when it serves the public interest and fits approved land-use plans. Some parcels near communities look nothing like the iconic public lands people want to protect: a small tract surrounded by subdivisions, with little public access and limited resource value, that is costly for the federal government to manage. If a local government could acquire a parcel like that at fair market value to help address a housing shortage, Naomi asks why the answer should automatically be no. She also acknowledges the concern of neighbors who expected the land to stay open, while noting that public land belongs to the public.
That does not mean every parcel should be sold. Naomi says proposed sales deserve careful scrutiny of natural, scenic, historic, recreational, and wildlife resources, along with access, surrounding development, management costs, and highest and best use. The public should receive fair value in a sale and, in her view, equal or greater public value in an exchange. Drawing on her land-use work with BLM land exchanges, she says the environmental review, surveys, and appraisals involved are exactly how the process should work.
Naomi closes by saying the right questions are what the best use of a particular parcel is, what public value would be gained or lost, and what decision best serves the public interest. That, she writes, is responsible stewardship and realistic land-management policy, not selling out public lands.
Read the full op-ed at The Durango Herald.
Learn more about Naomi’s priorities for Southwest Colorado.