In the Beaver State, 31.4 million acres of publicly owned national forest and Bureau of Land Management lands provide fish and wildlife with irreplaceable habitat. Despite the immense value of America’s public lands, special interests are working hard in favor of the Oregon public lands transfer. If the state were to take over these lands, it is indisputable that important lands would be sold off and closed to hunting, fishing, and public access.
Oregon government officials and stakeholders realize that this idea is unworkable, and they are stepping up in support of America’s public lands legacy.
“To have our treasured federal lands run by some kind of privatized sort of approach I think would really be turning back the clock.”
-U.S. Senator Ron Wyden
“If these people had any argument with the president, it was with President (Theodore) Roosevelt”
-U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer, in response to extremists calling for the handover of the Mahleur National Wildlfie Refuge to Harney County
“The county would be bankrupt if it inherited the roughly 4.6 million acres of federally owned land…”
-Harney County Judge Steve Grasty, the county’s top elected official
“The loss of access to public lands has a negative effect on Oregon’s $2.5-billion outdoor industry, one that is a leader in Oregon’s economy… We simply cannot afford to lose our public lands.”
-Former Oregon Hunters Association Field Administrator Ty Stubblefield
Statesman Journal editorialized in opposition to public lands transfer.
Daily Astorian editorialized in opposition to public lands transfer.