Idaho’s public lands need a hero, and we are counting on Sen. Jim Risch to oppose the nominee for the Bureau of Land Management. The BLM stewards millions of acres in Idaho, including river corridors along the Snake, Bruneau, Salmon as well as some of the best hunting, fishing, hiking and biking in the world.
Steve Pearce, the current nominee to lead the BLM, is a 78-year-old former congressman from New Mexico. Pearce has consistently and repeatedly advocated for the sale and transfer of public lands. While in Congress, he prioritized his friends in the oil and gas industry and put corporate profits above public interests. In 2016, Pearce was a cosponsor of the Heard Act (H.R.5836 -114th Congress), a congressional bill to sell public lands. His vision for public land is one where corporations get first dibs and ultimately our lands are industrialized, sold or transferred. Pearce is antithetical to the very concept of public lands. Allowing Steve Pearce to manage the BLM is like hiring an arsonist to be your housekeeper.
Over the summer, thousands of Idahoans made their voices heard in opposition to a budget proposal from Utah Sen. Mike Lee that would have required the sale of millions of acres of American public lands. In response to the public outcry from Idahoans, Sen. Mike Crapo and Sen. Jim Risch publicly opposed the Lee amendment. Along with Montana republicans Sen. Sheehy and Sen Daines — and senate democrats — they saved our public lands from Mike Lee’s chopping block.
Sen. Risch and Sen. Crapo stepped up to save millions of acres of public lands and protect our access. They did so because Idahoans have made it abundantly clear that we are strongly opposed to public land sale or transfer. We love our public lands. Our rivers, our trails, our hunting, our fishing, and our outdoor heritage run through the public lands held in trust for future generations and managed for all Americans by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.
Love of public lands crosses party and every other ideological divide in our diverse state. A recent poll from Conservation Voters Idaho showed that 96 percent of Idahoans believe that public lands must remain in public hands.
Steve Pearce is a deeply flawed nominee and a clear threat to the future of our American public lands. Call Sen. Risch this week and thank him for standing up against the Lee Amendment. Then ask him to keep his promise to protect the lands that define our Idaho way of life. Ask him to vote ‘NO’ on Steve Pearce.
(1) comment
Frank Church the democratic Idaho Senator known for his progressive agenda and an environmentalist set the the foundation for Public lands in Idaho. Public lands are also a great source of revenue for the public pocket. Some of the land is BLM, some of it is Idaho public land. The grazing fees are good for the public purse.The ranchers want to keep this land public so they could graze cattle and sheep for a fee. They would oppose the sale of the land to any private interest which would exclude them from the privilege. The recreation areas are just that and could not be used otherwise theoritically. The danger is the timber and mining interest who would destroy the land for their own pocket. The State of Washington and Oregon both suffered badly when they allowed timber interests to destroy the forests. Strip cutting caused ecological damge in erosion and flooding. protecting the natural environment saves things in the long run and is only common sense to protect it from individual explotation.
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