Municipal and community surface drinking water supplies need to be protected from logging, grazing, roading, and other development.
Read MoreProtecting Drinking Water Sources, Part 2: Suggestions for Improvement
Land & Water Cons. Fund
![Figure 1. Very rare in Oregon, the fisher (Martes pennanti) has been the victim of trapping and habitat loss. It needs dense, mature forests with a deciduous component. Source: Bruce Hayward (first appeared in Oregon Wild: Endangered Forest Wilderness [Timber Press 2004]).](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/573a143a746fb9ea3f1376e5/1623336465041-W3D0NPLFKZWHCR3VS8KI/12bFisher+copy.jpg)
Figure 1. Very rare in Oregon, the fisher (Martes pennanti) has been the victim of trapping and habitat loss. It needs dense, mature forests with a deciduous component. Source: Bruce Hayward (first appeared in Oregon Wild: Endangered Forest Wilderness [Timber Press 2004]).
The Proposed Recovering America’s Wildlife Act
Biden’s Bait and Switch
Unfortunately, “America the Beautiful” represents a gross dereliction of the duty of the Biden administration to future generations.
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Figure 1. Some red cliffs in the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area. Source: Bureau of Land Management.
Roading the Red Cliffs: Unnecessary, and Illegal to Boot
As the Trump administration was slithering out the door in mid-January, it issued decisions that would put a new 4.5-mile-long four-lane divided highway through both the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area and a particular stronghold for the imperiled Mojave desert tortoise.
Read MoreConverting State Trust Lands into Public Lands, Part 2: Focus on Oregon
The federal government, through the Land and Water Conservation Fund, should buy a significant portion of state trust lands that have high conservation value. The Oregon Legislative Assembly should use the state’s bonding authority to issue bonds to buy the state trust lands out of their bondage in the Common School Fund.
Read MoreConverting State Trust Lands into Public Lands, Part 1: National Overview
My previous Public Lands Blog post urges the federal government to buy all state trust lands surrounded by federal public lands. It’s a start. States should also find funds to convert state trust lands to public lands.
Read MorePublic Land Conservation Grand Bargains, Part 1: Hard Choices Ahead for Oregon Conservationists
If the soundtrack of Schoolhouse Rock’s “How a Bill Becomes Law” is an earworm in your head, it’s time to exorcise the demon. It no longer works that way.
Read MorePublic Lands in the 116th (2019–20) Congress
Elections matter, and the 2018 midterm election mattered a lot.
Read MoreA Congressional Conservation Agenda for the Twenty-First Century
With President-elect Trump having won the Electoral College and the Republicans being in the majority of both houses of the coming 115th (2017-2018) Congress, the public lands conservation community is going to be on defense like never before.
It was either the Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831) or the Manassa Mauler, William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey (1895–1983) who famously said that the best defense is a good offense. The conservation community needs to be for good things while we are opposing bad things.
Though we’ve burned through one-sixth of the current century, Congress has yet to enact any sweeping and bold public lands conservation legislation in the new millennium. There’s still time though, and a crying need.
You may be questioning my grip on reality at this moment, given the recent election. While I am quite cognizant of the dark times that await us, I’m equally aware that it often takes several Congresses (two-year terms) to enact sweeping and bold legislation into law....
There is no time like the present to begin to change political reality.
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