In January 2016 the Bundy clan threw down the gauntlet. They challenged the legitimacy of the Federal government's claims to any lands.
They armed themselves, they took the land. They said "stop us".
The government watched, and did nothing..
During the process the Bundy's became national heroes and international celebrities.
Yes, eventually the government took some belated action. After a month of the Bundy's occupying the national stage and giving daily press conferences they were arrested. But in the end they won. They were found not guilty of all charges and upon their release from imprisonment by the oppressive big government were now not only national heroes but noble martyrs to the cause.
In November 2016, 1 week after the Bundy's not guilty verdict, Donald Trump was elected President. The fate of our Public Lands was now sealed. Not because Trump has a philosophy concerning these lands, he likely has none beyond equating the word "public" with "communist". But because those who do have an agenda saw him as a vehicle. Just as those whose passions and political philosophies are in other areas: civil liberties; guns; economics; war, etc , saw him as a vehicle. Unlike the Democrats, the vehicle for their ideas did not have to be perfect, eloquent, or for that matter even capable of intelligent thought. He had merely to be sentient and able to hold a pen.
As to our Public Lands, an era is now over. And will never return. Unlike other areas of public policy when the lands are gone, they are gone forever. Health insurance/healthcare policy, for example, can be changed and wrongs undone. Thousands or even millions may die in the interim but in time policies can be changed. When the land is gone, it is gone forever. When the blade falls and the land is scraped away, covered with asphalt, houses, strip malls, Walmart’s, and airports or klieg lights, drilling rigs, fences, and retention ponds it can never be undone.
A quarter century ago Cliven Bundy was a crank voice in the "Sagebrush Rebellion". His lawyer, Karen Budd (now Karen Budd-Falen) was "...the hired gun of choice for ranchers facing court action from federal agencies.”
Now Bundy and his sons are symbolic Patriots at the leading edge of a revolution that will change the West forever. Karen Budd-Falen is no longer fighting the government from the outside, she is dismantling it from within. She is now Deputy Solicitor for wildlife and parks in the department of Interior. Her job is to provide legal counsel to the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and U.S. Geological Survey, on wild and scenic rivers, wilderness areas, environmental protections and endangered species protection. None of those matters will benefit from a person whose philosophy is to oppose the very concept of Public resources. “It’s all related to private property use and less government regulation which I am a strong supporter of,” she said. She was thought to become head of BLM, the "nations largest landlord" in keeping with the Trump administration "fox for every henhouse" method of government deconstruction. She withdrew from consideration,however, due to the conflict of interest requirements. She also felt her nomination would not be approved, indeed she maintained that no one from the right could ever be approved. That conundrum is now resolved, that position is now filled, as of Monday. No approval required.
On Monday, July 29, 2019 Interior Secretary David Bernhardt signed an order making Wyoming native William Perry Pendley acting head of the Bureau of Land Management. Pendley is just as ardent an opponent of Public Land as Budd-Falen. Albeit more vociferous. He has written books accusing federal authorities and environmentalists of "tyranny" and "waging war on the West." He has argued that the
"Founding Fathers intended all lands owned by the federal government to be sold."
He has indeed had much to say:
Pendley stated in an April 2014 speech: “The American West had been victimized by the environmental policies implemented—utterly regardless of their destructive economic and human consequences—during the previous two decades.”
“The perversion of good science to achieve extremist policy objectives is the work of three groups:
* Radical environmentalists who are at war with western civilization and seek to remake, if not destroy it;
* Federal bureaucrats who seek greater authority -- and the personnel and budget that comes with it -- over the lives of every American; and
* Millions of Americans who are unwilling to take personal responsibility for their problems, believing that others should be held accountable while demanding that the government do something, anything, about the latest crisis, real or imagined, even if it is the wrong thing, doesn't work, or violates legal or constitutional principles.”
Earlier this month the Interior department announced that BLM headquarters would be moved from Washington to Denver. Some see this move, and now this appointment as the end of the BLM and the beginning of the liquidation of our Public Lands. But the administration insists it is opposed to lands transfer. Others see this as not a move to sell the lands but to open them to other uses. Such as "mining, ranching, cattle grazing, ATV riding, hunting mountain biking".
Either way. It is an end to an era and the West will be a very different place.
No longer pastoral, quiet, pristine.
Developed, industrial.
Machines, noise, pollution.