Save Our Public Lands

They're trying to sell them for a song again.

Though many details of President Bush's 2007 budget are still murky, some, regrettably, are painfully clear. Amid serious cuts to public lands programs (already grossly under-funded) there now comes a blatant proposal to begin selling off our public lands themselves.

It's not a new idea. The anti-environmental right has long cherished a fevered pipedream of selling off America's public estate. The President's budget proposal is a dangerous escalation of the crusade that now shows signs of becoming a trend.

LIKE A BROKEN RECORD

Just two months ago, Rep. Richard Pombo included in a budget reconciliation bill a provision to sell off millions of acres of land to mining interests and developers. The measure passed the House. But unified opposition from western conservationists, hunters, anglers, local elected officials, businesses, governors and Democratic and Republican Senators alike forced its removal.

Similar coalitions have blocked other such extreme proposals, including one in which Pombo actually identified units of the National Park System to sell.

OVER 800,000 ACRES COULD BE LOST TO THE PUBLIC

Please visit The Wilderness Society's action page and write your own letter to protect these national treasures.

More from Knight-Ridder:

Details about what plots of land would be put up for sale are expected to be revealed at a noon press conference by Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey, a former timber industry lobbyist. The Forest Service owns 193 million acres of land and plans to sell about 175,000 to 200,000 acres, according to Forest Service spokeswoman Heidi Valetkevitch.

...Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., attacked the plan as "crazy," saying: "Here the administration wants to pass more tax cuts for the rich, and to pay the bill, they want to sell off public land - our nation's natural heritage."

Tags: public lands, Pombo, environment, Bush, BLM