Looking back 30 years to the first column I wrote in this space, I was struck by the seemingly unending nature of the threats to our public lands. In January 1996, the so-called Gingrich revolution was getting started, named for Georgia Congressman Newt Gingrich who had orchestrated a sweeping election victory that brought Republicans to power in Congress for the first time in decades.
Gingrich’s revolution unleashed a wave of anti-public lands sentiment no different from what’s occurred over the past 18 months. There were immediate proposals to sell off all 270 million acres of public land administered by the Bureau of Land Management, either by selling to the highest bidder or giving it away to Western states. Sound familiar? The same ideology drove this effort 30 years ago has motivated Utah Sen. Mike Lee just last year in a similarly failed effort.
This historic through-line highlights the strain of animosity toward the very premise of public lands that lies latent within our political system. It’s a strain that flares up every generation and demands a robust response to extinguish. It’s an existential fight, one that if the public ever loses, the millions of acres of public lands we all take for granted – hikers, bikers, hunters, OHVers and more – will be forever no more.
As today, there was no end to the assaults in 1996 on the very fabric of our national public lands. A Colorado congressman from Colorado Springs thought the National Park System needed to be streamlined, and was successful in getting the House of Representatives to pass a bill to eliminate one-third of national park units that in his mind were inappropriately included within the system. The legislation in particular would have targeted parks near urban centers, like the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in Southern California. Thankfully, the legislation was never passed into law.
This reflection about the recurring cycles of political discourse around public lands was driven by my impending retirement from this column and from full-time employment with our local conservation advocacy organization, San Juan Citizens Alliance. Gosh, I’ve penned almost 500 columns spanning this past 30 years, with a break of some years in the middle, but it’s time to pass the keyboard to a new voice, one that brings different insights and experiences to bear.
San Juan Citizens Alliance’s new executive director is Ryan Huggins. She has lived in Durango for 20 years and brings a wealth of professional experience in environmental consulting, hydrology, energy development and carbon markets. Ryan will be taking over authoring this column and readers can look forward to her expertise and perspectives.
Margaret Mead, the renowned anthropologist, provided the motivation for many of my columns over the years with her exhortation: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
How better to implement that than to spur contemplation and conversation about the issues that most directly affect the environment and quality of life in our corner of the world here in the San Juan Mountains and San Juan Basin.
Mark Pearson is the recently retired Executive Director at San Juan Citizens Alliance, but still reachable at [email protected].