Free Republic

Two measures OKd by Gov. Gary R. Herbert would allow use of eminent domain to take valuable sites. A long court fight is likely. Supporters hope the bills, which the Republican governor signed Saturday, will trigger a flood of similar legislation throughout the West and, eventually, a U.S. Supreme Court battle that it hopes to win -- against long odds. More than 60% of Utah is owned by the U.S. government, and policy makers complain that federal ownership hinders their ability to generate tax revenue and adequately fund public schools... Initially, the state would target three areas, including the Kaiparowits...

Orick CA: The Rural Cleansing of America (Joining The Ranks With Klamath Falls) Donald C. Amador - Blue Ribbon Coalition ORICK, CA. July 1, 2001 -- "It isn't about threatened and endangered species. It isn't about water for the fish. It's about control," Helen Franklin told a crowd of patriotic Americans gathered in protest of the National Park Service during an Independence Day rally in Orick, California. "Whoever controls food production and water usage in this country will control the people." Franklin, founder of United Coalitions for a Constitutional Government, added, "What has happened in Orick is not an isolated ...

JOHN DAY -- Ranchers and environmentalists have locked horns over cattle grazing for years. Now a battered economy and a looming court decision are fueling a full-on battle in Grant County. On one side, ranchers and the county chairman say proposed grazing limits could deal a knockout punch to more than a dozen cattle operations and, because of job losses and lost tax revenue, county social services.On the other side, an environmental group says wild steelhead are in decline because of stream bank damage caused by grazing cattle. "The mood here is not good," says Mark Webb, chairman of...

China’s Other Bitter Harvest by: Heather Latham, April 14, 2009 In China there is a serious divide between those that live in urban areas and those that live in rural areas, according to a study by Roy Prosterman, Chair Emeritus, Rural Development Institute, and Zhu Keliang, East Asia Program Manager, Rural Development Institute. Prosterman and Zhu explained their study at a Cato Institute event on April 6. They argued that the way to find economic stability and growth for farmers in these rural areas is “secure, long-term land rights.” Prosterman started by comparing Chinese farmers to those in other countries...

The continuing war of words over the controversy surrounding the possibility of dam removal on the Klamath River escalated March 17, as the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors sent a letter of response to California Resources Agency natural resources secretary Mike Chrisman. The letter was in reply to Chrisman’s threat to end support for the county’s participation in the process of looking into the status of four hydroelectric dams and the effects of their possible removal on the river system and the local economy.

Issue: Having been slapped down by the U. S. Supreme Court’s recent decision that the words “navigable waters” in the Clean Water Act limited federal agencies to regulation of navigable waters only. Democrats and liberal Republicans in Congress are striking back. They are attempting to pass the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007 (HR2421 and S1870) that would amend the 1972 Clean Water Act and replace the words “navigable waters” with “waters of the United States.” Further, it defines "waters of the United States" with such breathtaking scope that federal agencies would be required to regulate use of every square...

WASHINGTON - Two East Coast lawmakers introduced a bill Friday with 73 co-sponsors that would designate as wilderness 23 million public acres in five Northern Rocky Mountain states, including Montana and Wyoming. Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Christopher Shays, R-Conn., wrote the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act. It would give the government's strongest protections to areas of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. They announced the measure along with songstress Carole King. Three co-sponsors are from Washington and three from Oregon. Both Montana and Wyoming's representatives condemned the bill and vowed to fight it. Similar measures have been introduced in...

An environmental-law expert, Brooks won landmark victories against arbitrary regulations Bellevue, Washington; February 27, 2007: It is with sorrow that Pacific Legal Foundation reports that Principal Attorney Russell C. Brooks, managing attorney of PLF’s Pacific Northwest Office in Bellevue, Washington, passed away of a sudden heart attack on Sunday, February 25. He was 41. “PLF has lost a valued friend and a superb attorney, and America has lost one of the leading courtroom defenders of constitutional property rights, limited government, and a balanced approach to environmental protection,” said Rob Rivett, PLF’s president. Arguably the best-known public-interest lawyer in the Pacific...

MADISON, WI (AP) -- Bag a doe before a buck? Heaven forbid. Stop feeding deer in the backyard? No way. Delay a construction project because an endangered snake might slink by? Ridiculous. Over the last four years, the Republican-controlled Legislature has butted heads with the state Department of Natural Resources on everything from deer hunting to snakes - scaling back the agency's regulations and lambasting its officials as heavy-handed. That all could change come January. Democrats wrestled back control of the state Senate in this month's election. The GOP still controls the state Assembly, but the DNR, controlled by Democratic...

News Release from TxDOT:TTC-35 will be 10 miles wide.Response: No. If federally approved, the study area would be 10 miles wide. Then, additional studies would be conducted within the 10-mile wide study area to identify a final route. If roads, rail and a utility corridor are located adjacent to each other, TTC-35 would be no more than 1,200 feet wide. Also, where existing roads and railways can be incorporated, the amount of right of way needed would be less.TxDOT already knows the location of the project and will direct Cintra Zachry where to build it.Response: No. The location of TTC-35...

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Awash with wildlife and native plants but devoid of cars, tract houses and other signs of modern life, the section of the Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife Refuge near the historic Missouri River town of Arrow Rock in many ways resembles the route traversed by explorers Lewis and Clark more than two centuries ago. The refuge's Jameson Island unit is a landscape that former Arizona governor and federal Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt envisions duplicating along the rest of the river's 350 winding miles from St. Louis to Kansas City - a plan sure to...

Let’s see if you can guess who wrote the statement below: "Land, because of its unique nature and the crucial role it plays in human settlements, cannot be treated as an ordinary asset, controlled by individuals and subject to the pressures and inefficiencies of the market. Private land ownership is also a principal instrument of accumulation and concentration of wealth and therefore contributes to social injustice; if unchecked, it may become a major obstacle in the planning and implementation of development schemes. Social justice, urban renewal and development, the provision of decent dwellings-and healthy conditions for the people can only...

A deal between the Bush administration and the timber industry could lift protections for millions of Oregon acresA deal between the Bush administration and timber industry probably will restart chain saws across millions of acres of Western Oregon in the next few years, including reserves set aside for the northern spotted owl and other wildlife. It will mark perhaps the single largest and most striking shift in public land management in the Northwest since the Clinton administration's 1994 Northwest Forest Plan created those reserves in the first place. Conservationists fear it will begin the permanent unraveling of those reserves, a...

PLAYAS VALLEY, N.M. -- For the 100 years that Robert Been's family has been grazing cattle and raising horses on this isolated, scrub-brush desert in New Mexico's southwestern corner, illegal aliens have been crossing into the United States. Mr. Been, whose 2,500-acre ranch straddles a long-established immigration corridor, recalls his parents giving illegals food, water and clothing to guard against the cold desert nights. It was "just a way of life here." "They were respectful of us, and we returned that respect." But things have changed in this remote desert valley and the adjoining Animus Canyon. "The alien smugglers and...

I wrote a book a few years ago about property rights. It was called, "This Land Is Our Land." I didn't think of it as an optimistic book at the time. But after yesterday's chilling U.S. Supreme Court ruling that government can seize our property against our will for no other reason than it capriciously chooses to do so, the title is certainly no longer accurate. We do not own our property any more in America. Imagine the home you own – the one you scrimped and saved your entire life to purchase, the one you planned on living in...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court said Monday that people who lose state lawsuits claiming the government improperly took their property cannot count on federal courts for help. Land rights is a major issue at the high court this year, and so far the justices have made it tougher for people to win lawsuits claiming that local and state laws amount to an unconstitutional "taking." The biggest of three cases dealing with government authority to seize properties will be decided in the next week, before the Supreme Court begins a three-month break. In Monday's decision, the justices ruled against a...

The Center for Biological Diversity, which likes to call itself an environmentalist organization, isn't. It's a litigious society bent on eliminating private property rights in America through intimidation by the courts. The environmental movement is only its cat's paw, but one which it has used with amazing success, first because it rarely encounters more than token resistance to its legal forays, and second, because most Americans are "environmentalists" in the sense that they enjoy the beauty of natural vistas and believe in the preservation of the wild. The Center counts on both these things when it attacks such groups...

Los Angeles Daily News Valley Rim plan opposed U.S. may squeeze out property owners By Susan AbramStaff Writer Saturday, February 12, 2005 - The way Sunland resident John Brown sees it, once the government is allowed to circle in on his land and home, it'll do everything it can to squeeze out the kind of lifestyle he's enjoyed for decades. He's seen it before, he said, in the East Mojave Preserve where he owns a ranch, and where roads that opened in the 1800s have been closed off, and cattle fences have been eliminated. And he believes the government...

I just saw a report on FOX News about King County, Washington. They are about to enact an unbelievably restrictive zoning ordinance. The citizens are up in arms as they should be. If I have it right, the ordinance specifies that a land owner who owns over 2.5 acres can only build on 10 percent of their land. The remaining acreage is basically condemned as a nature preserve. The owner cannot even erect a barn. These events are of particular interest to me, since I am a land surveyor in the state of Tennessee. Freepers having any more information please...

Little Darby Creek wildlife refuge proposal is dead, U.S. official says Wednesday, March 13, 2002 Michael Hawthorne Dispatch Environment Reporter The Bush administration yesterday confirmed what local landowners and lawmakers have known for months: There won't be a Little Darby National Wildlife Refuge west of Columbus. In the end, three years of studies, hearings and rallies were boiled down to a few paragraphs sent to the local members of Congress who pressured the Interior Department to scuttle the project. "We believe that conservation of the agricultural and natural resources of the Darby watershed is important,'' wrote Craig Manson, assistant Interior...

Bald Eagle to Leave Endangered List Sunday, May 16, 2004 SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The American bald eagle (search) — the national symbol whose decline helped spur the Endangered Species Act and a ban on the pesticide DDT — will be off the threatened species list this year, a top Bush administration official said Saturday. Craig Manson, the administration's point man on the Endangered Species Act (search), said it's time to concentrate recovery efforts on more needy species. "It's no longer endangered, but it's still deserving of special protection," Manson said in an interview. The birds still would be safeguarded under...

Date: Mon, Sep 12, 2003 American Land Rights Association - Land Rights Network PO Box 400 - Battle Ground WA 98604 Phone: 360-687-3087 - Fax: 360-687-2973 Email: alra@landrights.org - http://www.landrights.org Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE - Washington DC 20003 Phone: 202-210-2357 - Fax: 202-543-7126 - Email: landrightsnet@aol.com HUGE WIN FOR PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS!!!!! SOMETIMES, DEMOCRACY WORKS ! ! ! ! ! ! ! This past week, the House of Representatives tax-writing committee, the Ways and Means Committee, debated and approved HR 7, which is President Bush's Faith Based Initiative proposal. Despite a multi-million dollar lobbying effort by the powerful...

URGENT action Alert !! HR 7 / Land Trust Tax Scam : ONE More Day!!! Fellow Americans: Apparently, we may have the Land Trusts on the run - Congressmen Herger, Blunt, Pombo and Cannon are really speaking out for us - we may win this!!! PLEASE PLEASE forward the email below to your lists, and act on it yourself, we can win this issue and keep private property on the same playing field with the gigantic, super-rich "non-profit" Land Trusts. Your activism has made a HUGE difference - this is the NUMBER ONE legislative priority for the Land Trusts, and...

You wouldn’t go bear hunting with a BB gun. Well, without "high caliber information," there will be no way to stop federal legislation introduced this year in Washington that will bring about land grabs and controls. When these regulating laws hit the local level, you’ll know those federal bullets are aimed at you. For the ammunition you will need to hold off these controls and land grabs, you won't want to miss the annual Freedom 21 Conference to be held during July in Nashville, Tennessee. Conservative leaders for the preservation of property rights, education, and numerous other issues will gather...

Colorado officials support Moffat County decision State, nation backing RS 2477 road resolution in face of environmental oppositionCraig Daily Press By Josh NicholsFriday, June 6, 2003 The Moffat County commissioners passed a resolution in January that the county land use board chairman said would help the county maintain its custom and culture by assuring recreational, agricultural and mineral development on federal lands in Moffat County. A recent letter written by the director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources to the United States Department of Interior indicates that the state has Moffat County's back in its January decision. In that...

By Sarah Foster © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com It may be a close call, but help is on the way for a beleaguered, small-scale gold miner that the U.S. Forest Service wants to oust from an abandoned mining town that's been his home nearly 40 years. Gerald "Jerry" Fennell, 61, is the last of the independent gold miners in the Jicarilla Mountains in south-central New Mexico, and one of the few remaining in the state. Under orders sent last October by the Forest Service, Fennell had until yesterday to pack up and clear out or face trespassing charges. But with help from a...

**CRISIS** Midnight Land Grab!!! EXTREME CRISIS !!!!!!! ***** EXTREME CRISIS !!!!!!! *** YOUR HELP NEEDED !!!!! *** **** WE CAN WIN WITH YOUR HELP !!!!! **** S. 990 - The "Son of CARA" - a version of CARA - the Condemnation and elocation Act - is on the fast track and moving through Congress! This discredited land grab bill had not moved for eleven months, until the dark of nite in the wee hours of Friday morning. ONCE AGAIN, selected members of Congress have moved legislation - S. 990 - in the dead of night that will 1) make the...

In the final analysis, control of people is Socialism's most important reason for government land acquisition and watershed control programs. Wildlife habitat enhancement, watershed protection and endangered species restoration are simply useful vehicles to advance Socialism and are smoke screens to fool the sheeple. Meramac Regional Planning Commission's (MRPC) meeting in St. James, Missouri, on 24 June 2002, is an attempt to salvage its Partnership for Stream Management program affecting the Missouri Counties of Crawford, Dent, Gasconade, Maries, Osage, Phelps, and Washington. MRPC's program is billed as a pilot program and model for similar programs which proponents intend to grow...

**GOOD NEWS: Votes on E.S.A.! THIS Wednesday, June 26, votes will be taken in the House of Representatives Resources Committee on a GOOD BILL to improve the Endangered Species Act!!! ACTION ITEMS BELOW. Bill number HR 4840 requires "sound science" - solid, valid, legitimate scientific data - to place a species on the endangered species list. This may sound like common sense to most of us. But the leftwing environmentalists are in a tizzy over this bill - they can't stand the idea of actually having their incomplete and fraudulent scientific data reviewed before a species can be claimed as...

In today's Hinton News, Doug Tolbert, Coordinator of the New River Parkway Authority, is begging for letters IN support of the New River Parkway! This is the road to no where! Yet it will deprive landowners of their homes and heritages, as well as cost ALL taxpayers over 35 Million dollars because it will be 80% federally funded! Mr. Tolbert's comments include such statements as.."because of a 'few opponents' we stand to lose federal funds!" The same funds that would strip families of their livelihoods and heritages, as well as the taxpayers all across America for a roadway that goes...