Jones letter Public lands
The Idaho Legislature must have it out for sportsmen and women.
After hundreds of people turned out to show their support for public lands, our elected officials continue to attack them with attempts to diminish our lands and even sell them off completely.
Recently, the Senate voted to pass S1338, a bill created by out-of-state interests — interests who do not have what’s best for Idaho in mind.
The bill allows a county official, be it a sheriff or commissioner, to single-handedly declare portions of public lands a “nuisance,” and demand abatement — whatever that means, it’s certainly not clear to me.
Perhaps it doesn’t sound problematic on its face. But think of this: A person, with no training, who was not appointed or elected to even deal with land management issues, can single-handedly force action on land on which they have no business making decisions.
In Idaho, that’s not how we do things. Not only do we value our public lands, when there are challenges in managing them, we work together to find common solutions.
Taking a bill dreamed up by out-of-state land grabbers and passing it off as good for Idahoans isn’t acceptable.
Chris Jones, Boise
This story was originally published March 17, 2016 at 11:50 PM with the headline "Jones letter Public lands."