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
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