Anti-public lands push!Conservationist's View: 'No net gain' bill just the tip of an anti-public lands push.
By David A. Lien on Feb 17, 2019 at 4:36 p.m.
On Feb. 7, the Minnesota Backcountry Hunters & Anglers — along with other hunting, angling, and conservation groups — held a second-annual "Rally for Public Lands" at the State Capitol Rotunda in St. Paul. Land Tawney, president and CEO of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, was the keynote speaker.
The rally was organized in response to anti-public lands legislation being pushed by some state and congressional legislators. For example, as reported Jan. 25 in Outdoor News,
"no-net-gain" legislation has been introduced by state Rep. Steve Green, R-Fosston. Is it possible he doesn't realize that out of roughly 51 million acres of land in Minnesota, 76 percent is in private ownership?
Perhaps he isn't aware that in 2008, when times were tough across the country, Minnesotans overwhelmingly passed the Clean Water, Land and Legacy constitutional amendment, the "Legacy Amendment." That's right. Minnesotans voted to increase the state sales tax on themselves to raise nearly
$300 million a year for fish and wildlife habitat, parks, trails, and the arts. Unfortunately, our Minnesota Republican Party platform supports repealing the Legacy Amendment, according to a June Outdoor Insights report.
"It's a horrible idea," Minnesota Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Vice Chairman Erik Jensen said in the Jan. 25 article regarding "no net gain."
"It's bad for hunting and fishing opportunity." 
"It's very important to realize that these land-acquisition programs that are there — the DNR isn't driving this," Bob Meier, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources assistant commissioner, said in February 2017 in Outdoor News. "It's citizens and your constituents out there who want this, who voted for the constitutional amendment. ... (They are) the ones telling us to do this, driving our mission."
"Though I'm optimistic that 'no net gain' and other dumb anti-public lands bills won't progress this session, ... yours truly has meetings set with his state senator and ... representative to explain that casters and blasters are the nation's first environmentalists," added Rob Drieslein, Outdoor News managing editor, in the Feb. 1 issue.
"While access and opportunity to hunt on these lands may seem like a no-brainer to you and me, opposition to acquiring more public land exists in our state and federal government," Howard K. Vincent, president and CEO of Pheasants Forever, said in the Jan. 25 Outdoor News. "We need to stand together as an outdoor community to protect the places we hunt, fish, hike, and paddle."
....
As explained by outdoors writer Sam Cook in the April 30, 2017, News Tribune, "This is who we are. We love the outdoors. We bust our behinds all week, and then we get outside. We hunt deer and birds and turkeys. We catch walleyes and sunfish and trout. ... We camp and hike and look at the stars. ... Minnesota's outdoor experience defines our way of life. It is our passion, our renewal, our inspiration."
I suggest Rep. Green is out of step with the vast majority of Minnesotans — and Americans. And it's important to point out that not all Republican politicians agree with his apparent anti-public lands agenda. For example, state Sen. Carrie Rudd was quoted in the Jan. 26, 2018, Outdoor News stating, "That is so much the wrong direction. ... Cass County has no-net-loss. That is where we should be going."
However, bad ideas are like weeds; they never really go away. So it goes with the cyclical schemes to liquidate America's great public lands estate. Thirty-five years ago, it was the Sagebrush Rebellion. This year, in Minnesota, it's "no net gain" legislation. Make no mistake about it, this is just the tip of an anti-public lands agenda iceberg that should concern every American. We must keep pulling weeds.
David Lien of Colorado Springs, Colo., and formerly of Grand Rapids, is a former Air Force officer and the founder and former chairman of Minnesota Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (backcountryhunters.org). He's the author of "Hunting for Experience II: Tales of Hunting & Habitat Conservation." In 2014, he was recognized by Field & Stream as a "Hero of Conservation."
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