By Hannah Grover
U.S. Reps. Gabe Vasquez, a New Mexico Democrat, and Ryan Zinke, a Republican from Montana, launched a new effort known as the Public Lands Caucus on Wednesday.
This effort comes on the heels of the House Natural Resources Committee adopting amendments Tuesday evening to the budget bill that would lead to the sale of thousands of acres of public lands in Nevada and Utah.
President Donald Trump’s administration has pushed for the use of public lands to address affordable housing shortages.
During a press conference Wednesday, Vasquez said the bipartisan caucus is meant to “reinforce the importance of maintaining the integrity of public lands, public access, land management and conservation in the U.S. Congress.”
“Growing up fishing New Mexico’s rivers and hunting with my father and grandfather taught me early on about these values, about our culture, about responsible stewardship of our lands, water and wildlife,” he said.
Vasquez said public lands offer the same experiences and opportunities to low-income families as they do to “families who are better off.”
“Our public lands are this nation’s great equalizer,” he said. “On the water, on the land, or in the backcountry, we all benefit equally from the foundations led by great conservation leaders like Aldo Leopold and Teddy Roosevelt. Public lands and public access to our forests, rivers, grasslands and deserts are a unique American experience that we must continue to fight for and that we cannot take for granted.”
He said the public lands also support a multi-billion dollar outdoor recreation industry, which is important for rural communities.
In Vasquez’s district, public lands provide access to cultural sites for seven Native American tribes, he said.
Vasquez is co-chairing the caucus with Zinke, who formerly served as secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior during President Trump’s previous administration.
The two congressmen have also teamed up to introduce the Public Lands in Public Hands Act, which bans the sale or transfer of most public lands and requires Congressional approval for sale or transfer of land tracts exceeding 300 acres. If that land tract is accessible using a public waterway, Congressional approval would be needed for parcels greater than 5 acres in size.
“We will use this caucus as a platform to discuss future legislation, public lands resource management, administrative actions and other issues on which we collectively agree. Not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans who understand the importance of the value of the special places that we are privileged to represent,” Vasquez said.
Like Vasquez, Zinke said public lands are not a partisan issue.
“It’s an American issue,” he said. “And we should use it in that context of being red, white and blue.”
He said people in the western United States generally recognize that the public lands are available because of actions taken by conservationists like Roosevelt and John Muir.
“It is our responsibility to make sure we maintain those and manage them in the future,” he said.
Zinke reminisced about growing up in Montana and spoke about the changes that he has seen on the landscapes.
“Today, much of the West is a lot different,” he said. “There are more fencelines. We have challenges on public access. We have challenges on urban sprawl. We are mismanaging our forests…and it’s important that we talk about better management to preserve and defend why we live in the West and why America’s greatest idea should be preserved and defended.”
He said the caucus will talk about hard issues such as how to better manage forests, watersheds and wildlife corridors and flyways.
Other caucus members include Reps. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho; Troy Downing, R-Montana; Raul Ruiz, D-California; and Debbie Dingell, D-Michigan.
“We often complain about the management of those public lands, whether it’s the (Bureau of Land Management) or the Forest Service or the Parks Service or Fish and Wildlife, but, you know what, Idahoans love our public lands,” Simpson said. “It would be a mistake to presume that Idahoans would like to see these lands taken out of public hands and sold off. Idahoans love their public lands. That’s why I live in Idaho. We like to go fishing and hunting and not have to ask anybody for access across their property to get to that favorite fishing hole or hunting place.”