Wilderness Lands: News Miner 64
Federal land disputes, Republicans, Juneteenth, Denver, Floorwax, Thunderbirds, guns, and more.
Public Wilderness Lands
Complete Colorado published my new column, “The politics behind Colorado’s wild spaces.” Here are a few excerpts:
People need access to wild spaces, I argued in a recent column. But who should control those spaces? . . . In Colorado, most wilderness lands are owned by the federal government. . . .
Most people, especially progressives, think it is perfectly obvious that government, especially the federal government, should control most wilderness areas. That has been the norm since Teddy Roosevelt. Not everyone agrees with that, however. . . .
Plausibly, state governments would manage wilderness lands more to the liking of residents of those states. State governments also might be more-prone to the influence of regional special-interests. Yet the national government long has been accused of mismanaging its forests. Hard-core libertarians are suspicious of government ownership of most anything, including wilderness lands. . . .
Meanwhile, people need not concern themselves with the politics of wilderness lands in order to enjoy them.
I also review some of the history of specific city-owned wild lands.
Read the entire piece.
Here’s a recent photo of mine of the Sand Dunes.
Controversies over Federal Wilderness Lands
The Durango Herald discusses one recent controversy regarding federal wilderness lands: “San Juan Citizens Alliance, the Durango-based conservation group, and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a complaint this week in U.S. District Court of Colorado seeking to overturn a plan approved in 2021 by the San Juan National Forest to selectively log and thin 22,346 acres of land in the Mancos-Dolores Ranger District.”
Here’s another controversy: BLM wants to “allow conservation leases on federal lands,” Newsline reports (I’m not exactly sure what that means). Kristi Noem and Mark Gordon think that’s a bad idea. Newsline adds: “Colorado Republican Lauren Boebert asked directly if the rule would block grazing access and if the rule would ban the use of mechanical forest thinning. [BLM’s Nada Wolff] Culver answered that grazing leases would not be affected, and that mechanical thinning is a generally accepted conservation technique.”
To adapt my familiar refrain: It’s so weird how government-owned lands become so politicized.
Quick Takes
Republicans: Dick Wadhams writes, “The Republican state chairman, Dave Williams, a MAGA stolen election conspiracist who refuses to acknowledge the destructive impact Trump has had on Republican candidates, is now openly attacking Republican elected officials who do not conform to his own narrow ideology.” Wadhams reviews the problems of Republicans winning in the 8th Congressional.
Republicans II: Republicans are partly right: There really is some fraud in the elections! The problem is it’s usually committed by Republicans (or their allies). From the Colorado Sun: “Six people who gathered signatures to try to get a Republican congressional candidate on Colorado’s primary ballot in 2022 have been charged by state prosecutors on accusations that they submitted signatures of dead people and signatures that didn’t match voter files.
Juneteenth: Unlike some “libertarians” who denigrated Juneteenth, Colorado’s Thomas Krannawitter wrote, “Juneteenth is an important reminder of the drama-filled tragedy of the American abolition of slavery.”
Denver: Krannawitter sees the dark side of Denver, but I think his critique is one-sided. There remains a lot to love about Denver. Here is a particularly odd remark: “Rainbow flags, BLM stickers, and ‘We Believe In Science’ yard signs are common in almost every neighborhood of Denver; symbols of moral excellence, private property, or equal protection of the laws for equal individual rights are almost non-existent.” But many people fly rainbow flags and post Black Lives Matter stickers precisely because they want equal protection under the laws for LGBTQ and Black people, no?
Radio: Whatever happened to Denver radio legend Michael Floorwax? He suffered from mental illness. Westword tells the story. This could be a movie.
Basketball: Okay, so Denver probably exaggerated the parade crowd numbers. Still, the Nuggets’ victory was very exciting! Even Nikola Jokić got into the spirit. To me, most notable is that this team combines the Serbian Jokić and the Canadian Jamal Murray with the rest of the talented members. A lesson for America, I think, on getting things done.
Western Conservative Summit: The event featured Jenna Ellis, Lauren Boebert, Harriet Hageman, and Kyle Rittenhouse, Krista Kafer writes. Pathetic.
Schools: Denver will again allow police officers in schools.
Mascots: The Sangre de Cristo School District got permission from the Jicarilla Apache Nation in New Mexico to retain the Thunderbird mascot.
Blue State: “Republicans have lost their minds,” notes Democratic strategist Ted Trimpa, but Democrats are moving too far left.
Noise: Lakewood is not enforcing laws against very-loud car noises at night, Rob Natelson complains.
ICE: “Immigrant rights advocates applaud new Colorado law banning local jail agreements with ICE.”
Guns: Krista Kafer writes of “a feckless and bizarrely racialized attack on Coloradans’ rights” to own guns.
Guns II: The legislature now requires makers of home-made guns to get serial numbers for them. The problem, as Sherrie Peif writes, is there’s no clear way to get the serial number. Further, “a second law could hold FFLs liable for crimes committed with any guns they serialize.” So will state government treat people as criminals for failing to comply with a paperwork law with which they have no practical means of complying? We shall see. Meanwhile, where are the so-called “abolitionists” talking about this problem?
Auon’tai: Jimmy Sengenberger really, really, really does not like Auon’tai Anderson, who is leaving the Denver school board. Hard to blame Jimmy.