Kearns letter: Public lands

I hope the people of Idaho who love the freedom of our great public lands can fully understand what giving the state control over federal lands means. If you travel to other states where there is very little public lands you can get a sense of what this could end up like here in Idaho. Idaho’s past has proven this early in its statehood that they will sell off public lands: look at McCall with the sale of the state-owned properties (leases) that were put up for auction last year. I keep hearing state officials saying they can manage the lands better than the feds, on some small levels I would say maybe, but how do they plan on paying for everything? I can bet that selling of land is a big part of this plan.

I’ve spent time hunting and spending time in other states in the Midwest and South and found very few public areas to hunt. Most were private where you had to get permission or worse pay the landowner.

If you love the outdoors and spend your time hiking, biking, hunting, fishing or camping, don’t let our state officials do this transfer of lands or the first piece of land to get sold could be your favorite area.

This story was originally published January 25, 2017 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Kearns letter: Public lands."