Henkelmann letter: Public lands

Very rarely do I agree with Rep. Mke Simpson, but he hit the bulls-eye regarding Idaho’s public lands when he said, “Let me tell you why people live in Idaho. They live in Idaho because they love their public lands. They like access to them for recreation, for hunting, for fishing, for all the activities that they do on public lands.”

I have been saying the same thing about Idaho ever since I moved here four years ago. I grew up in a southern state where being able to hunt or fish on land without paying a fee, asking permission, or being confined to a few acres is an endangered species and thought of as a luxury. Here in Idaho, I can drive 10 minutes north of my house and fish, hike, and shoot on thousands of acres of wilderness, all the while feeling like I’m the only man in the world. That’s something that I don’t take for granted. It’s the reason I want to make my part of Idaho a better place to live, and it’s the reason I don’t ever want to leave Idaho.

With that said, thank you, Rep. Simpson, for defending our public lands.

This story was originally published March 15, 2016 at 11:47 PM with the headline "Henkelmann letter: Public lands."