Posted on 02/02/2013 5:35:33 PM PST by george76
Legislation that would move the ownership and management of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands in New Mexico to the state has been introduced at the Roundhouse.
The Transfer of Public Lands Act is sponsored by Rep. Yvette Herrell, R-Alamogordo, and Sen. Richard C. Martinez, D-Espanola...
Herrell said New Mexico has a rich history of farming, ranching, hunting, fishing and oil drilling.
"In our past we have also had a thriving timber industry that is unfortunately near nonexistent ...
...
A healthy timber industry, managed responsibly by New Mexicans, would not only help our economy by creating a large number of jobs, but it would also help to protect our watersheds and keep our forests as livable habitat for all wildlife. Additionally, by responsibly thinning our overgrown forests, we can help decrease the devastation of wildfires. As it is currently, the federal government has logging restrictions that keep our forests overgrown, creating a hazardous environment. When a fire starts, the overgrowth serves as kindling, creating a massive forest fire that threatens the safety of our homes and communities." Herrell said it is time to put an end to the wildland fire danger.
...
five other Western states are looking at similar legislation.
(Excerpt) Read more at ruidosonews.com ...
Good news for the locals, but Obama will not allow it.
House Bill 292 .
“New Mexico is 70 percent U.S. government land,” Joseph Eby said. “When New Mexico became a state, the federal government promised to extinguish title to public lands within a reasonable amount of time. We’ve been a state more than 100 years and are still waiting for that promise to be fulfilled.”
federal land still held in Western states, 50 percent, versus 5 percent for Eastern states
Heh. They are certainly justified in doing this. Federal land management policy has gotten absolutely insane, especially in the western states.
But it will be interesting to see what happens if they do. Will they just move in and throw the federal workers out? Where does it it start, and where does it stop?
They had trees in New Mexico????
A healthy timber industry, managed responsibly by New Mexicans, would not only help our economy by creating....
They have trees in New Mexico???.
If New Mexico wants to purchase the federal lands go to it. Do it the same way things were done in the original states formed on federal land.
If I'm not mistaken, Utah has beaten NM to the punch. They've already passed a similar law to take effect in 2014, I believe.
This could get fun.
This is an abuse that goes back to Teddy Roosevelt. At the time, “presidential proclamations” were just an unimportant recognition of some minor accomplishment. But they were turned into a mechanism by which vast amounts of state land were gradually seized by the federal government.
In recent years, their greed has become so great that any tourist site is in danger of being seized, solely so that the feds can put in a parking lot, require vehicles to park there, and demand a hefty fee for doing so.
The vast tracts of land being taken today is of no particular value, and is taken only to prevent the states from using it in any way. Bill Clinton seized one of only two very low sulfur coal deposits in the world, and put them off limits to mining, because a major campaign contributor owned the other one, in Indonesia.
http://strangemaps.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/map-owns_the_west.jpg
The Communists are also pushing to steal water rights so as to shut down cities, towns, businesses, family farms and ranches ...
Hopefully Utah and others will win some of these fights
Yes, lots of trees in the national forest around Cloudcroft in the south.IIRC it is called Lincoln National Forest.
An Indian reservation is also up there.
Which “Federal” lands do they really want to claim?
We did on the mountains next to us until a fire three years ago destroyed several tens of thousands of acres of them. Oh yeah, when attempts were made to control the undergrowth in order to prevent the disaster, the enviromental whackos and the feds stopped it. Now we get to look at bare rock for the next 50 years. Millions of trees, tall conifers, spruce, etc. gone because of stupidity.
Large, lush, and overgrown forests. My shack in the mountains when I was doing the mountain man thing was settled in a rather thick stand of pines.
A dear friend owns and runs a sawmill using NM timber. He sells his products internationally.
The stretch from Alamogordo to Las Cruces ain't all there is to NM.
/johnny
/johnny
“They have trees in New Mexico???. “
Lots. Tall ones, short ones, pines, live oak...
Remember hearing about forest fires there? Sandia and Manzano mountains are tree-covered, lots of trees in the hills around Grant.
I would love it.
Good for them. I hope N.M. takes back the land from the irresponsible Federal government, and if they try anything lock ‘em up if they cross their borders. The Federal government is out of control, so it’s time to take the control away from them.
Good for NM. I think that once a state is created out of “federal” lands, all the land should belong to the state. After all, what does “states rights” really mean? Should the federal government actually own any land at all (except by purchase from a state)? What better way to help keep the federal government small and out of state affairs than by limiting what it can own?
“Good news for the locals, but Obama will not allow it.”
Obuma can’t stop it.
take back the land and drill baby drill
Why haven't the Western States (specifically NV) done so before?
In the USA, governments shouldn’t be owning large tracts of land.
Never been there, huh?
You need to get out more...
Well, whatever you want to think about it, but that’s not the way it’s ever been done in this country.
That’s an old volcano?
Indeed, it is.
http://seethesouthwest.com/2402/valles-caldera-new-mexicos-supervolcano/
yep, make em homestead it like everyone else. Or patent it under 1866 mining law, etc., etc.
Actually, many inland areas have volcanos in this country ~ there are two under Lake Superior ~ and there's definitely a serious hotspot (denoting some really old volcanos) in Southern Indiana, and under the Appalachians.
Death Valley has more than its fair share of volcanic vents ~ and up until recently folks hadn't even noticed those volcanoes.
Much of our continental crust is crisscrossed with failed rifts, and really ancient volcanos covered over with thousands of feet of shale and disaggregated schist. What is most disturbing with this structure is that it was recently discovered that if the upper mantle decides to surge upward it can MELT those ancient volcanic plugs and come right on up to the surface!
I remember the fire near Cloudcroft back in 2000. The Feds would not let the electric co-op clear some trees along the right of way. Such trees would come in contact with the transmission lines. FedGov gave as the reason the “spotted owl habitat”. Of course some trees eventually made contact with the lines, there was a fire. What was found in the aftermath? Well done baked spotted owl. Can’t say if it tasted like chicken.
There were a lot of wildfires in New Mexico that year due to FedGov’s Charlie Foxtrots.
Thanks for the post.
Related: CONGRESSMAN PEARCE TO ATTEND LESSER PRAIRIE CHICKEN RALLY IN ROSWELL
Roswell, NM (January 31, 2013) - Congressman Steve Pearce will attend a rally in Roswell, New Mexico, to oppose the listing of the lesser prairie chicken under the Endangered Species Act. The rally will be held on Tuesday, February 12th at 4:30 PM at the AVFlight Hangar (Formerly the Great Southwest Aviation Hangar). Immediately following the rally, Pearce will join the hundreds of concerned New Mexicans expected to attend the Fish and Wildlife public hearing at the ENMU Performing Arts Center at 6:30.
“Our jobs and our way of life in southern New Mexico are under attack,” said Pearce. “The prairie chicken is yet another example of federal species regulation not based on science, but rather driven by lawyers for extreme interest groups. I encourage New Mexicans to join me in Roswell on February 12 to make our voices heard, and hold Washington accountable for the policies and regulations that will affect our lives. Only if we speak up and stand together can we protect our jobs and our communities.”
The BLM, NM department of Game and Fish, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and private entities, including the oil and gas industry, have been working together on the issue of protecting the lesser prairie chicken. Despite the success of these efforts, the Fish and Wildlife Service began working to list the chicken as threatened late last year due to legal pressure from extreme interest groups. Listing the species has the potential to jeopardize energy, farming, and ranching jobs in Southeast New Mexico, threaten future development of farm and ranch lands, and endanger alternative energy development in Eastern New Mexico, especially wind energy.
Could Arizona do this to get water to Tombstone?
Absolutely he will not allow it. Ninety Percent of Alaska is too big a holding to let go of.
Never know until it's tried. Much to be weighed here - how would the Feds stop it? Would they amass an army and kill a bunch of folks? What would be the fallout of something that made Kent State look like a slight firearms accident?
The environ feds have been milking this lessor species prairie chicken thing for 25 years. Every time there is a drought the numbers of fowl decline and the feds blame livestock grazing and anything else that would apply to people making a living in this wonderful state. Couple of years of good rain and the numbers will be right back. The BLM and Forest Service should be evicted from the West.
Speaking of forest fires, how about the one in the Sacremento Mountains about 8 years ago that just about devastated that part of the State. Turns out it was intentionally set by a chick Forest Service employe who was upset about breaking up with her boyfriend. The government spent days talking about what they were going to do to whomever set that fire. I think she either walked or was promoted and transferred.
Or how about the Los Alamos fire a couple of years later? The Forest (dis)Service set a “controlled burn” in 90+% dry conditions in a 50 plus mile an hour wind! The fire burned thousands of acres, burned or threatened hundreds of homes, and blackened the region. Those responsible lied, altered and destroyed the authorizing documents, and as far as I know weren’t even reprimanded, but rather were transferred and, if true to government policy, promoted. They should have been hanged.
So New Mexico is telling the Congress what it will do? Let us know how that turns out.
By not transfering ownership as the legislation requires? That would pretty much nip it in the bud. Only Congress can dispose of federal property.
Easy - they can just threaten to halt the block-payments the state government relies on.
So - does this mean that the Constitutional limitation of the Fed over the States means nothing because all the States need fed monies? I can picture a universe where the powers are balanced out as the Constitution requires and where the States, refusing to go along with all the expensive and regulatory dictates, get along just fine. Might take a while for the balance to be restored, but eventually it would become stable and we'd all be better off. Unless of course we were willing to leave dictators in charge of pogroms that the Feds are supposed to benignly provide.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.