"Access" and "Be Prepared" Boogie Men and Public Lands Transfer Legislation

"Access" and "Be Prepared" Boogie Men and Public Lands Transfer Legislation

Spent last Saturday at a "townhall" type of public meeting for 3 Idaho legislators.

They were having a series of meetings in 3 small towns, to "hear" constituent concerns.

The first meeting was up in Council, a small, former timber town, that is now mostly just a rural ranching town. I understood the meeting was a "disaster" from the standpoint of the legislators being unprepared to deal with a bunch of hunters/public land advocates. Quite a few of the Conservation groups and BHA had publicized the meetings and encouraged people to attend.

The second meeting was in Fruitland, a suburb of New Plymouth, and ended up with a standing room only crowd at the City Hall.

Ryan Kerby, one of the Representatives circulated around the room before the meeting, “introducing” himself, and asking people where they were from. They obviously were tuned into the audience being full of people from the “Republic of Ada” (their words) and not being their locals.

The meeting started with each of the three legislators (Ryan Kerby, Abby Lee, and the infamous Judy Boyle) attempting to give long, drawn out introductions, hoping to run out the clock so they could move on to their next meeting, and duck any questions from the crowd.

Then, the Fruitland Mayor, hosting the event, opened it up to questioning, but wanted to have locals ask questions first, and, then if time permits, the people from Boise could ask questions.
That didn’t happen, but it was his goal.

First question was Public Lands, and the floodgates were open
.
The first questioner actually referenced the term “snake oil” in respect to a comment by Judy Boyle, and Kerby tried to admonish him to “not use language like that”, so, apparently all the efforts of calling the ALC scam as “snake oil” has worked, and hit a nerve.

The meeting went on, questions kept coming in support of Public Lands, deflections kept being volleyed back.

Two things came to light, to me.

The GOP is promoting the legislation for the Transfer of Public lands under two false pretenses.

First, “We need to be prepared”, you just never know what those crazy congress people in DC will do, and we might find all the land suddenly transferred to Idaho, so we need lots of laws dealing with how Idaho will manage the land much better than the Feds ever could.

And, Second, all of these transfer ideas are pro-hunting because of “Access”. The Federal government has shut off the access for hunters, and that is one of the benefits of Idaho owning the lands, we will have access to the lands. Just look at how many FS gates there are, how many roads have been closed. We need the access.

(Now, lest you think these were the only two arguments, Judy Boyle brought up the “constitutional” aspects and how the Federal Govt can’t own property, etc… and how Idaho needs to be on the same level playing field as eastern states. For those wondering, Judy Boyle was one of the Idaho legislators who travelled to Burns last year to hang out with the Bundy Brothers.)

Another hunttalker and I attended the council meeting.
Id say that I got a little worked up speaking to Judy. She actually quoted from a study that she refused to reveal the researcher.
When she was describing the study she said "this study was done by some very smart people who know about this".
The questions went like this.
Crowd asks a question.
Judy gives vague answer with a false statistic. Then moves to the next person before she would get exposed. This tactic did not improve the mood in the room.
The fact that Ryan kept claiming everyone who was against the plt was an out of towner and when Judy said something to the effect of "you people in eagle can come up here and speek but you have to understand that this town is hurting". Well that didn't help the tension either. From that point forward it was unproductive. I actually had a man point at me and another guy and yell "you people suing the government is why we can't log anymore!"
When I ask Judy if with transfer she intended to raise all the grazing fees from less than $2 to the higher state fee of over $6 in order to try to pay for land management she said "well I don't know about that we'll just have to figure those things out later". It was pretty funny watching a few ranchers eyes get bigger when I said that.
There were some very good questions about plt that were asked by some well informed people.
But overall they were dismissive and combative clinging to the idea that these weren't there constituents.

Did the "no net loss of private property bill" get discussed in fruitland?

How does the land transfer put them on a level playing field with eastern states? Last I checked, Virginia bought their state owned lands and manage the federal lands just like every other effing state. I guess she'll be glad to know that the playing field is leveled.

VAspeedgoat said:

How does the land transfer put them on a level playing field with eastern states? Last I checked, Virginia bought their state owned lands and manage the federal lands just like every other effing state. I guess she'll be glad to know that the playing field is leveled.

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Judy Boyle held up the ALC map, that shows a bunch of red "public lands" in the West, and nothing even close in the East.

Based upon her interpetation of the map, that means that people in the East have an unfair advantage because they get to log/mine/drill without hesitation, while people in the West don't get to do that.

(Fun fact: Yes, Judy Boyle is still carrying around the map that lumps Indian Reservations into the public lands needing to be transferred to the states.)

That would be a great correlation if the companies were allowed to mine on the national forests in west va. Unless I am gewatly confused that land is privately owned. What a stupid B!

Fruitland, a suburb of New Plymouth. Now that's funny!

The comment about being on a level playing field as eastern states is quite foolish, as the management of lands is so different in the west vs. the east. For one, our state lands are managed in a very similar fashion (multiple use) as our national forest lands. This would not be the case out west if the lands became state trust lands. Second, the tax base in most eastern states is much greater than Idaho (no offense to Idaho folks). Lastly, our states do no have to worry about massive wild fires nearly as often as western states.

It seems as though many of these western politicians have little to no plan as to what the states will do to manage the lands better than the feds. I feel this is because they know they do not really need a plan, the end goal is the lands will be in private hands.

Good work by you Idaho folks that are holding there feet to the fire

Here is how the Ontario (another suburb of New Plymouth) paper reported the meeting.

FRUITLAND — There was an array of topics presented by lawmakers at a recent town hall, but the conversation centered largely around public land management. At least four of the 50 attendees who showed expressed concerns about the loss of recreational opportunities if the federal government starts selling public land.

Some attendees even wore an orange sticker that read, “Keep your hands off my public lands.”

The District 9 Legislative town hall was held Saturday at Fruitland City Hall. It was one of four town halls Idaho District 9 legislators hosted throughout the area last week to speak to community members about the 2017 legislative session.

Lawmakers Sen. Abby Lee, R-Fruitland, Rep. Ryan Kerby, R-New Plymouth, and Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale, shared the floor with citizens during the meeting to hear feedback as well as to answer questions about issues or concerns.

Transportation prioritization

Lee talked to attendees about the legislation she is working on in her committees, including the move to prioritize transportation in the senate.

“I will tell you that in the senate we met this week to talk about what’s it going to take to get us home, and what we can’t live without, and transportation was our priority,” Lee said to the crowd. “We really are struggling with making sure that we are able to fund some critical transportation issues with the weather we have had, particularly in the Magic Valley and our area. We want to make sure the locals have the dollars they need to restore some of the transportation issues.”

The Fruitland representative also touched on the duration of the 2017 legislative session, adding that they are about halfway through this session.

“I feel like we have gone through the easiest half; this next half is where bills are going through,” she said.

Lee also spoke briefly about serving on the Health and Welfare Committee, and her hopes of gaining movement on the Medicaid gap population.

Constitutional Convention tops Boyle’s concerns

Boyle was second in line to introduce herself to the crowd and spoke of her time on the Resources and Conservation Committee, as well as the Education and Agriculture Committee, where she serves as chairman.

Among topics, she talked about the relaxing of the onion disposal deadline and her opposition of the Constitutional Convention.

The purpose of a Constitutional Convention would be framing, revising or amending the Constitution.

“For me it’s the biggest threat to our Republic,” Boyle said.

Kerby wants students to ‘make a living wage’

New Plymouth Representative Kerby, told the crowd about the progress he has seen during his time on the Education Committee as far as providing students with professional technical education.

“We are getting more students participating and certified in welding, health education in certified nursing assistance and information technology, so that when they graduate, they can make a living wage,” Kerby said.

Kerby also spoke about the Medicaid gap population as well as his desire to eliminate sales tax on groceries along the bordering communities.

‘Keep your hands off my public lands’

During public discussion, questions quickly led to the management of public land.

Of the eight residents who had a chance to speak, half of them voiced concerns about the possibility of public lands changing to private.

A couple of those residents, traveled from Boise to share their concern with Boyle, who assured residents that there was no possibility of that happening.

During one dialogue, that of Kahle Becker, Kerby had to remind the attendee to keep his language respectful.

Like Becker, who was the former attorney general for the Idaho Department of Land, those who spoke about the management of public lands voiced their concerns about the effects of what selling the land would have on recreational opportunities, a feature of Idaho that everyone said they loved.

Among other topics, citizens asked for an update on the regulation of gas and oil and fire management costs.

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And remember, the admonishment for respectful language was using the term "Snake Oil".

Ryan Kerby obviously needs his safe places....

Jose do you recall if anyone was able to speak on this?

“No Cession of Federal Lands” Bill: This is a bill so bad it doesn’t even
have a name. Another Rep. Judy Boyle bill resurrecting from 2016, HB 586 would
mandate that any sale of lands to the federal government needs state legislative ap-
proval. That means when an Idaho timber company buys federal property to harvest
timber and sells it back afterwards (which is common), they need a legislative ap-
proval vote. If that seems like state intrusion of property rights you’d be correct. It
also means that there would be no more Wildlife Refuges, Land and Water Conser-
vation Fund purchases, or conservation easements acquired by Pittman-Robertson
or Forest Legacy funds.

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For those following the logic of the "red map," I encourage a reading of Beyond the 100th Meridian. This Wallace Stegner work first published in 1954 and referencing the writings of John Wesley Powell from the 1870's states eloquently the causes for the "red" in the American West. All the mapping and discussion of who controls the land doesn't change these realities. There has to be a better--and certainly unbelievably more complex--solution than trading lands for assisting the rural west and preserving those public places we all hold dear.

elkmagnet said:

When I ask Judy if with transfer she intended to raise all the grazing fees from less than $2 to the higher state fee of over $6 in order to try to pay for land management she said "well I don't know about that we'll just have to figure those things out later".

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We have to transfer it, so we know whats in it.

elkmagnet said:

Jose do you recall if anyone was able to speak on this?

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She addressed it as part of her "be prepared" for whatever the crazy guys in DC do. We need to have rules dealing with the lands, "just in case"....

JoseCuervo said:

She addressed it as part of her "be prepared" for whatever the crazy guys in DC do. We need to have rules dealing with the lands, "just in case"....

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In the Council meeting she went on about how we need this because some counties in Idaho are only 3% private land and how that hurts the county coffers then turned around and jumped right into how we're not going to sell your public lands.
It sounds like by the time they got to fruitland they had devised a better plan.

MTGomer said:

We have to transfer it, so we know whats in it.

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So true, you had to be there to feel the full effect.

Who votes for these idiots?

Fun fact: When Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase, there were many people who opposed it over the same argument that the constitution doesn't allow the federal government to purchase or own land. The argument was shot down then and should be now.

I personally think the Louisiana Purchase worked out ok for the United States and am glad Jefferson had the stones to go through with it.