States seizing our national public lands would have serious impacts on our ability to access and recreate on millions of acres of America’s most incredible lands.
Studies have shown that states could not afford the costs of managing national public lands, which would force them to be sold off. And, proponents of land seizures have outlined polices that would shift focus away from recreation and towards only extractive uses.
State lands often have more restricted access than national public lands. For example, Coloradoans can only access about 20 percent of their state trust lands for recreation, and even then access is not year-round.
That’s why many sportsmen and outdoor recreation groups are fighting for access to our public lands by opposing efforts to “transfer” lands to the state.
– The National Wildlife Federation and its state affiliates stated in a letter, “For decades we have consistently opposed the liquidation, disposal, or transfer of our federal public lands.”
– The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership put it this way: “The public lands transfer movement [is] an unprecedented threat to public access.” Read a report by TRCP called “Locked Out: Public Lands Transfers Threaten Sportsmen’s Access“
– The Outdoor Alliance (comprised of the International Mountain Biking Association, Access Fund American Canoe Association, Winter Wildlands Alliance, and American Whitewater) stated, “efforts in some Western states to transfer large portions of Federal public lands to State ownership will likely result in impediments to recreation access.”
– The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation “is concerned about the continuing rhetoric and political posturing surrounding the wholesale disposal, sale or transfer of federal land holdings, and stands in opposition to such potential action.”