‘This is our land’

 

By Noah Zahn
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

CHEYENNE — Thousands of Wyomingites of all political parties gathered across the state Thursday evening, including around 500 in Cheyenne, to protest the proposed sale of public lands supported by Wyoming Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis.

At the event in Cheyenne, speakers from both Democratic and Republican parties decried the actions of Wyoming’s delegation in the nation’s capital.

A rallying point of the protest was when state Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, called each member of Wyoming’s federal delegation and left a voicemail along with the impassioned crowd chanting “Not for sale!”

“It’s not hard for an elected official to stand up here and say, ‘Not for sale.’ I’m doing it right now,” Provenza said to the crowd.  “And what I want to know is why the hell is Harriet Hageman or John Barrasso or Cynthia Lummis not here with us today? This is your land, and this is our land, and we’re going to fight like hell.”

In each of her voicemails to the elected officials, Provenza concluded by saying, “It’s clear our constituents want you to make sure that their public land is not for sale — not now, not ever. Do the right thing and remove public land sales from the reconciliation bill. Thank you, and have a good night.”

Throughout the event, speakers and musicians stood at the top of the stairs at the front entrance of the Wyoming State Capitol, above a banner that read “BARRASSO- LUMMIS! STOP THE PUBLIC LAND GRAB!”

Another speaker at the event was David Willms, associate vice president of the National Wildlife Federation. He said he has never attended a rally in his life and could think of no better rally to attend and speak at for the first time.

In his speech, he took time to criticize U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, the lawmaker who has spearheaded the plan to sell up to 1.2 million acres of public land, down from his original proposal of up to 3.3 million acres.

He concluded his speech by paraphrasing a statement from U.S. Reps. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., and Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M.

“Public lands are not red, public lands are not blue. Public lands are red, white and blue,” Willms said.

The next speaker was Better Wyoming Executive Director Nate Martin, who is from Rock Springs originally and currently sits on the school board in Albany County.

Martin spoke to the potential sale of lands that Sen. Lee has described as “unused” and “garden variety.” He spoke about how much of the marketing to garner opposition to the sale of public lands shows pictures of beautiful, snowcapped mountains. He urged attendees to consider other types of land that could be sold.

“I’m talking about that place right outside of town. If you work in Wyoming 40 or 50 or 60 hours a week, you might not be able to get to the snowcapped mountaintops on the weekend or after work to go take your family camping or go run your dog. Those are what we have,” he said. “But everybody can attest that just getting outside of town where it’s a little bit more open and a little bit more free can have a beautiful impact on you.”

On April 4, Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., put forth an amendment to the Senate’s budget resolution that would have prevented the sale of public lands. The amendment died on a 48-52 vote. Both Barrasso and Lummis voted against the amendment.

Rod Miller, another one of the speakers Thursday evening in Cheyenne, criticized the elected officials for their actions.

“I think our job here is to show elected officials in Wyoming, and throughout the West, really, if they start (messing) around with our public land heritage, they’ll soon find out it’s like drinking political hemlock,” he said.

Lummis said in a statement obtained by Cowboy State Daily and WyoFile that she supports Lee’s efforts and that the ownership of public lands “creates significant challenges for local communities, state governments, and efficient land management.”

“The federal government doesn’t need to perpetually own every piece of land it currently holds, and we must have honest conversations about smart, strategic land management that serves our communities while protecting our natural treasures,” Lummis said in her statement.

In a statement to WyoFile, Barrasso said he supports federal land sales “when they serve the interests of states, local communities and the public.” What’s on the table would impact “less than one percent of our federal lands,” he wrote.

Earlier this week, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth Mac-Donough ruled Lee’s original proposal to sell 3.3 million acres out of order for a budget reconciliation bill. 

However, Lee said the issue is far from over, and he brought a new proposal that eliminated the sale of national forest lands and restricted the sale of BLM lands to within 5 miles of a “population center.”

He has said his intent is to help spur the development of affordable housing, which is desperately needed throughout the West.

For that reason, Republican Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon said he has offered qualified support for the proposal.

“On a piece-by-piece basis where states have the opportunity to craft policies that make sense … we can actually allow for some responsible growth in areas with communities that are landlocked at this point,” Gordon said at a news conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where the Western Governors’ Association was meeting, according to an Associated Press report.

Dave Gustafson, a Wyoming native and Vietnam War veteran, spoke at the event and recited a poem he wrote, detailing a grandfather and grandson planning a fishing trip.

Gustafson concluded his poem with, “So here I am, and there’s the truck, and we know the way, so we won’t get stuck. Well, I’m sorry, son. You know I’d like to go, but that land’s been bought, and they say, ‘No.’ I’ve been going there since ‘54, but we can’t go there anymore.”