The Great American Land Grab
THE GREAT American LAND GRAB The Clinton administration's lands-locked legacy may be undone before it is even fully recognized as a sinister plan to manipulate the population and the economy of the United States. By Tim Findley
A RAN G E PUB L I C AT I O N
t the beginning of the influx of funding from founda- Clinton administration, tions that usually derived their Athe United States gov- wealth from the underpinnings ernment owned more than 630 of the establishment itself, the million acres of the nation’s land cause of protecting the environ- mass, most of it west of the ment from pollution and Rockies. Combined with state- destruction had become a owned land, military bases and morally-based crusade, with Indian reservations, it represent- detractors limited to question- ed the largest percentage of gov- ing some methods, but seldom ernment-controlled property of the cause itself. any non-communist country in In 1990, the Sierra Club, the world, including Russia. using Wisconsin-based re- Although challenged in the search, identified what would 1970s by the so-called become the icon of the move- “Sagebrush Rebellion,”most in ment and its inspiration in the the West remained satisfied with use of litigation. The “endan- the multiple use of federal land gered” Northern spotted owl that allowed production and rapidly emerged as the surro- profit from timber, mining and gate species for halting logging grazing under federal manage- on federal properties, first ment. Because most of the land THE WEST IN 2001. among “old growth” forests in remained remote, but open to SHRINKING PRIVATE California, and eventually recreation, “ownership” was sel- extending to at least 70 percent dom at issue among political LANDS AND EXPANDING of forests throughout the West leaders or the generally urban WILDERNESS HABITAT. previously open to harvest. populations on the coasts. The newly-elected President “Environmentalism” had “GROPING OUR WAY Bill Clinton, and Vice President been steadily rising as a cause BACK TO 1492?“ Al Gore, acknowledged the eco- among urban activists since it nomic impact of this on the was inherited as part of the gen- OR IS IT SOMETHING timber industry in a series of eral mistrust of the industrial CLOSER TO GEORGE “summit” meetings in 1992 “establishment” in the 1960s. By that promised, but never deliv- the late 1980s, aided by the ORWELL'S “1984“? ered, a new “partnership” that
THE GREAT AMERICAN LAND GRAB ¥ RANGE MAGAZINE ¥ 1M President Clinton listens as Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt speaks at Hopi Point in Grand Canyon, Ariz. on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2000. Clinton was visiting the Grand Canyon to dedicate three national monuments, the largest being a million-acre parcel of land along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was just the beginning. AP Photo/Matt York would allow timber harvesting to continue under terms that ern states.“Recovery” of both species proved so rapid that were more environmentally cautious. the endangered status of both is being reconsidered. Between the promises made at those summit meetings Established on record for its strong environmental and the summer of 2000, more than 300 timber mills were stance by Vice President Gore’s campaign-conscious book, closed in the northwestern states alone, some at the cost of “Earth in the Balance” (1992), the Clinton administration economic catastrophe to entire towns. At least 130,000 peo- put aside its own choice of Bill Richardson as secretary of ple with jobs related to the timber indus- Interior to accept the recommendation of try were temporarily or permanently put the intimidating League of Conservation out of work, effectively devastating an "We must Voters (LCV) to name their president and industry worth some $4 billion to the identify our former Arizona governor Bruce Babbitt to national economy. enemies and the job. More importantly, the use of surro- Babbitt, himself a failed presidential can- gate species, like the spotted owl, to drive them into didate in 1988, was referred to by environ- establish zones of “critical habitat” made oblivion." mental organizations such as the Wilderness the Endangered Species Act the most Society as “our Babe Ruth.”The grandson of powerful tool of executive authority in Bruce Babbitt, 1991 an Arizona cattle baron, Babbitt nevertheless restricting land use. expressed his contempt for western livestock Since 1990, timber harvest on federal land has declined producers and vowed to the LCV that “We must identify our from 12 billion board feet a year to barely 2.5 billion board enemies and drive them into oblivion.”He set upon a course feet in 2000. aimed at revising and limiting the use of federal land for In 1990, 596 species were listed as threatened or endan- grazing purposes, while at the same time demanding new gered in the U.S. By 1999, the list had grown to 1,205. In the restrictions on mining and resource exploration on federal West alone,“critical habitat” for those species is estimated to properties. Thwarted by congressional resistance to his arbi- extend over more than 80 million acres. At the same time, trary revisions of law and regulations, Babbitt bluntly active reintroduction of predatory species, primarily wolves announced he would avoid Congress and carry out his pro- and grizzly bears, was a federal priority in at least four west- gram by executive authority.
2M ¥ RANGE MAGAZINE ¥ THE GREAT AMERICAN LAND GRAB Wa s h i n g t o n 32.8% Mo n t a n a 31.9% Al a s k a 67.0 %
Or e g o n Id a h o 55 . 5 % Wy o m i n g 65 . 2 % 49 . 7 %
Ne v a d a Co l o r a d o Ut a h 35. 9 % 87.6 % 67.9 % Percentage of federal Ca l i f o r n i a ownership in 49 . 9 % New Mexico Ar i z o n a western states 36.2 % 44.3 %
Primarily due to allotment reductions and wilderness one of only two deposits of the most valuable low sulfur expansion, livestock production on public lands in the West coal in the world. The other deposit, in China, is being has declined by more than 20 percent under the Clinton mined by an Indonesian company that was a contributor to administration. the Clinton campaign. By the end of his first term in office, Clinton’s admin- In 1999 alone, the federal government removed over stration claimed to have established an unparalleled record 2.3 million acres from access to mineral exploration. These in the preservation and protection of the environment. The withdrawal notices were taken in spite of congressional 1996 report of the Department of refusal to grant Babbitt’s demand to Interior hailed new acquisition or revise mining laws. extended control over more than 141 By 1996, the Clinton The “Heritage Site” declaration of million acres, most of it in the West, by administration the Grand Staircase was done without the federal government. It amounts to consultation with or notification to an area roughly the size of the state of proudly claimed to any elected representative in the state West Virginia and was added on to the have added or of Utah, including its two U.S. sena- more than one million square miles of extended control tors. Following his re-election, Presi- the West already in federal ownership. dent Clinton once again named Although those acquisitions were over new public Babbitt as his secretary of the Interior accomplished largely in piecemeal lands amounting and entrusted him with what was to steps often involving wetlands and for- to the size of become the most intense and contro- est habitats, the Clinton administra- versial period of federal expansion of tion took an unprecedented campaign the state of control over United States lands in his- advantage in 1996 by using the 1906 West Virginia. tory. Antiquities Act to declare 1.7 million While millions of acres of lands in acres of Utah’s Grand Staircase- the West were either added to federal Escalante a National Heritage Site, restricted from any ownership or further restricted in their use, only one signifi- exploitive use, including extraction of what is thought to be cant region was divested of federal ownership. That was the
THE GREAT AMERICAN LAND GRAB ¥ RANGE MAGAZINE ¥ 3M FEDERAL LAND ACQUISITIONS OR EXPANSION OF CONTROL UNDER CLINTON Grand Staircase-Escalante, Utah 1.7 million acres Grand Canyon Parashant, Arizona 1.1 million acres Aqua Fria, Arizona 71,000 acres Pinnacles, California 8,000 acres California Coastal 840 miles (offshore coastline) Hanford Reach, Washington 200,000 acres Cascade/Siskiyou, Oregon 52,000 acres Canyons of the Ancients, Colorado 164,000 acres Ironwood Forest, Arizona 134,000 acres Sequoia National Forest, California 328,000 acres ADDITIONALLY PROPOSED MONUMENTS Craters of the Moon, Idaho 661,000 acres Vermillion Cliffs, Arizona & Utah 293,000 acres Missouri Breaks, Montana (1) Steens Mountain, Oregon (2) Santa Rosa Peak, California (3) FEDERAL PURCHASE (LANDS LEGACY) Baca Ranch, New Mexico 96,000 acres Mojave Desert, California 405,000 acres (4)
(1) 149 miles of the Missouri shoreline in Montana are in the “Breaks.” A region of protection has been proposed on a minimum of 230,000 acres. Much of that expands into currently used grazing areas. (2) Environmentalists demanded up to 6 million acres around the highest peak in South Central Oregon. Pressure from Secretary Babbitt on state authorities would set a minimum of 143,000 acres aside from grazing or other uses. (3) A minimum of 31,000 acres in the mountain itself, although checkerboarded with private inhold- ings and expanded with unclear “buffer zones” in federal demands. (4) The total purchase since 1994 of 6.6 million acres in the California Desert Protection Act is the largest acquisition of private land in BLM history. The purchase was made possible with the help of $15 million from the non-profit Wildlands Conservancy. Additional acquisitions include some 2 million acres for habitat protection of endangered species and Clean Water Act restrictions, as well as more than a million acres in areas of “critical concern” and wilderness designations. Proposed habitat “buffer zones” extending up to 100 miles from river shorelines alone amount to over 150,000 river miles. It should be noted that in every case when a National Heritage Site was enacted by the Clinton administration, the amount of land acquired proved greater than expected, in some cases twice as much as had been suggested.
Elk Hills Naval Oil Reserve in California, a 47,000-acre site Energy Assistant Secretary Patricia Fry Godley said, “This with a daily production of 60,000 barrels of oil and 400 mil- sale helps get the government out of the oil and gas busi- lion cubic feet of natural gas, previously kept in strategic ness.” reserve. In 1997, under the guidance of Vice President Al Consumer costs for gasoline and heating fuel reached Gore, Elk Hills was sold by sealed bid to Occidental record prices in the United States within two years of the Petroleum Corp. for $3.65 billion in cash. It was the largest transaction, and U.S. Naval authorities expressed concern privatization of federal land in U.S. history. The Vice about shortages of fuel reserves for military operations. President’s father and former U.S. Senator, Al Gore Sr., was, Despite promises of “partnership in stewardship” pro- prior to his death in 1998, the vice president of Occidental. moted by Babbitt’s Interior Department, the second term of The Gore family is a significant stockholder in the company. the Clinton adminstration witnessed even further restric- At the time of the Elk Hills sale, U.S. Department of tions on multiple use of federal lands in the West and was
4M ¥ RANGE MAGAZINE ¥ THE GREAT AMERICAN LAND GRAB
While claiming to be saving America from corporate influence, unaccountable non-profit environmentalist groups maintain more than 3,400 full-time employees in Washington, D.C. Funding for their advocacy efforts is estimated at $400 million a year, including more than $35 million a year from Pew Charitable Trusts alone. marked by Babbitt’s own defiance of congressional or leg- the West in the most disastrous fire season in more than 75 islative authority in policy. “The clock is ticking,” Babbitt years. told one congressional committee in warning that he would Secretary Babbitt, speaking for the Clinton administra- not wait for their approval for expanded federal control. tion, accused Montana Governor Marc Racicot of “running Regardless of local opposition, eight more “heritage for a cabinet post” (in the next administration) by suggest- sites” were declared, with the Vice President given the duty ing federal policies were in part responsible for the wildfires. and personal recognition for his own campaign by In its budget submission for 1999-2000 some $20 mil- announcing the last four during a campaign stop in lion was diverted from federal funds to combat wildfires Washington state. Total acquisition in those lands amounted into the president’s “Lands Legacy” fund for new federal to at least 10 million acres, but Babbitt made clear that his acquisitions. The United States Forest Service, nominally an recommendation to the President would include at least agency of the Department of Agriculture, nevertheless was four more sites. directed by Babbitt’s former head of the BLM, Michael The administration also put forward legislation seeking Dombeck. Despite the dire warnings of fire in neglected at least $l billion in funding for future federal land acquisi- forests, Dombeck had argued that economic losses in the tion. timber industry would be offset by $100 billion in mysteri- Throughout this time, since logging was halted by liti- ously-collected recreation revenues by 2001. At the same gation in the 1990s, forest experts within the government time, he announced plans to halt all road construction and itself had repeatedly warned that the ban on harvesting even eliminate existing roads on 40 to 60 million acres of the dead or diseased timber was leading to a potential disaster national forests. in 40 million acres of federal forests overgrown and over- Dombeck’s Deputy Chief for Forest Management, Jim loaded in tinder-dry fuels. Furnish, told RANGE in 1999 that, “If the choice is to allow The first major fire of 2000 was touched off by the more harvest or to allow it to burn, then it’s burn.” Forest Service itself in an attempt to eliminate some of this Following the summer fires, Babbitt and Dombeck said fuel. It burned over some 50,000 acres near Los Alamos, it would require more than $1.7 billion to begin restoration N.M., and destroyed 260 private homes. The Forest Service of the devastated areas, including $117 million to clear dead superintendent in charge was removed from his job, but trees and brush. Environmental groups publicly objected to later given a new post at higher pay overseeing the nearly the funding for clearing debris. adjacent 96,000-acre Baca Ranch which the federal govern- Once Bruce Babbitt had established his “Babe Ruth” ment acquired earlier this year at a price of $101 million. position on behalf of environmentalists in the Department This amount is estimated by private analysis to be twice the of Interior, he soon brought in others dedicated to the actual value of the land. movement, including George Frampton, former president of When lightning-sparked fires broke out in the summer the Wilderness Society, who rose to become President of 2000 in the Bitterroot National Forest and many other Clinton’s chief environmental advisor. parts of Montana, and in even greater stretches of Idaho, Frampton and others given positions in federal author- Secretary Babbitt blamed it on “the worst drought since the ity by Babbitt and Vice President Gore, were well aware of 1930s,” although that was not an accurate statement of con- the most radical proposal put forward by environmentalists ditions. Despite valiant and heroic work by federal firefight- in these last 10 years. Attributed to “Earth First!” extremist ers and others, more than 6 million acres was consumed in (Continued on page 8M)
6M ¥ RANGE MAGAZINE ¥ THE GREAT AMERICAN LAND GRAB THE LEGACY The legacy of Clinton, Gore, and Babbitt will be a souring in the national spirit, a rotten soft sore that a new season alone won’t heal. By Tim Findley
he re wil l be a legacy ul a ti o n on the planet, it need not le ft by eig ht yea r s of ha ve been an issue that would divid e the Cli n t on adm i n - th e m betw een rur al produc tio n and is t rati o n’s cont rol of ur ban consu m p tion . Yet Bab bit t p u blic land, but it pu bl i c ly sneers at what he cons i d ers Twon’t be so mu ch in the the igno ran c e of rur al people who expanse of ne w wil d erness or da r ed oppose him. Bruc e Bab bitt wil l in the denial of access and use claim to have saved the grey wol f of na ti o nal res o u r ces . The lega- fr om exti n c tion , even if in its natura l cy of Cl i n ton , G ore , a n d ha b itat it was never rea l ly end a n - Bab bitt wil l be a souring in the gered. He wil l say he pres e rved pris - na ti o nal spirit , a rot t en soft sore tine lands from exp l oi t a ti on , even that a new season alone won’t th o u g h all he has rea l ly done is to he a l . fenc e them from public use or appre- No matter who wins whe n ci a ti on . The Depa r tme nt of Int erio r, the vot es are finally cou n t ed, Bab bitt wil l cla i m , was moderni z ed the era of Bab bit t ry is over in in his tim e , yet scores of sk i ll e d and the Depa r tme nt of Int erio r.A well-meaning profes s i o nals who s e pompo u s ,a r rogant man seem- ca r eers in land manageme nt were in g ly as cont emp tuous of hi s des t royed by Bab bitt wil l see the own family as he is of mo s t jun i o r pol i c e state he repl a ced them working Ame ricans wil l go off with for what it rea l ly is. Bab bitt wil l in t o some job in whi c h he may feed for yea r s on the plun d er he has sti l l pretend to know what is ta k en, even while families unknown best for all the people he has in the lies he tells may yet starve. at t emp ted to des t roy.But he Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt is a petty tyrant who relished his His t ory seld om lingers long on arbitrary powers in the Clinton administration. wil l no long er have the arbit rar y His legacy is distrust among citizens who once regarded themselves the short and limited influen c e of power he relishes and has as the most loyal of Americans. even suc h a self - po s s e s s e d minor th r ived on as a self - m a de pett y fu n c tion a r y as Bab bit t , but his legacy tyran t . If hi s t ory is a true jud ge , it wil l regar d Bruc e Bab bitt as the ma y well be in the ultim a t e des t ruc tio n of the very powers he so sm a ll , venal man he is,un worth y of an ything but regret for the way abu s ed . For that, Bruc e Bab bitt may be remem b ered. he managed to crea t e endu r ing distrust among citiz ens who onc e It is bit t erly sad that the cli m a t e left by Bab bitt has crea t ed divi- regar ded thems e lves as the most loyal of Ame ric a n s . What he wil l si o ns in Ame rican soci e ty that were not nearly so deep as whe n he claim to have “sa ved” for futur e gene rati o ns wil l be regar ded wit h began gou g ing at them with his scarring tactic s . He enco u ra g ed mis- comp a ri s o n to the bit t erness he has establi s h e d for gene rati o ns to un d erstanding among peopl e . He promo t ed cont enti o n and con- come . The natur al envir onm e nt wil l not have been made measura b ly temp t as a means of sec u r ing his own power. He used peopl e , as he bett er for his pres en ce , but the social and pol i t ical atmo s ph e re is like- was used himself , in a cynical meth o d of sec u r ing a privat e agend a . ly to remain pol luted for yea r s after his passage. He even repea t edly defi e d the fundamental tene ts of cons ti t ution a l Bab bitt need not have done it.The re was no comm a n d i n g governm en t ,p l a cing himself beyond accou n t a bi l i t y to Cong ress or to ur g ency to “res c u e ”pu b lic lands whe n he was appoin t ed as a pay- of f the people of the Uni t ed States . rewa r d to well- f u n d ed special interest grou p s . Two hun d r ed thou- Bruc e Bab bitt cou l d n ’t get nomi n a t ed for the pres i d ency after sand peopl e , at least,in tim b er, mi n i n g , ag ric u l tu r e and lives t ock tw o emb a r rassing trie s . Whe n the vot ers reje cted him, he regar ded in du s t ries need not have lost their jobs or their liveli h o ods . Yet hi m s el f as beyond the grasp of th e ir intelli g ence . Bab bitt held on in Bab bitt is openl y proud of that accomp l i s h m en t .S ti l l unfinished the most powerful job he could find for eig ht yea rs , privat ely conf r ont a ti o ns betw een local auth o rit ies and the federal governm en t bemo aning the fact that he was overloo k ed for the U.S . Sup reme ne ed not have brou g ht the rur al West so close to outrig ht rebelli on . Cou rt . Bil l Cli n t on, for all his faults,mi g ht at least have the res p ect to Yet Bab bitt takes credit for seizing power wit h o u t the need for due thank the majorit y of Ame rican people who kept him in off i c e dur - process or repres en t a t ive approval . On their own, the people of th e ing that tim e . Bruc e Bab bitt won’t thank anyone . He alwa ys thinks Uni t ed States had become the most envir onm en t a l ly conscious pop- th e y should thank him. ■
THE GREAT AMERICAN LAND GRAB ¥ RANGE MAGAZINE ¥ 7M The Wildlands Project is an almost unbelievable scheme to favor wildlife over human habitation and predatory domination over any domestic use.
LEFT: As of the end of 2000, these were the numbers of endangered species listed in each western state. New federal policy stressed protection of habitat for those species, sometimes extending hundreds of miles from where they were identified. RIGHT: The Wildlands Project doesn’t really supply a sensible map unless it is understood that the idea is to make it possible for a wolf or a bear to migrate all the way from the Mexican border to the Yukon without crossing a highway. In its simplest form, all the West between the Rockies and the Cascade/Sierra would give priority to “corridors” for wildlife, while limiting human use to tightly-controlled enclaves. We leave it to the reader to compare such a scheme to the pattern of wilderness expansion in the Clinton administration.
David Foreman, but actually the work of a consortium of United States Senate who subsequently put aside any vote organizations including the never-touched Nature on the U.N. Biodiversity Treaty. Conservancy, the “Wildlands Project” proposes to control The Clinton administration takes pride in establishing and restrict human activity on no less than 50 percent of the a record to exceed that of Theodore Roosevelt in setting United States land mass, virtually all of it west of the aside “public” lands for the future. Rockies. It is an almost unbelievable scheme to favor wildlife Others observe that Roosevelt was himself experienced over human habitation and predatory domination over any with the West and familiar with its people, while Clinton, domestic use. even on a staged vacation trip to Wyoming, acknowledged Fully implemented, it suggests a reduction in human being uncomfortable in the wild, and his Interior Secretary, population of the West by one-third. It claims to have the Bruce Babbitt, admits he is unpopular in the rural West. backing of the United Nations Council on Biodiversity and While Roosevelt set aside the Grand Canyon and other lands the Clinton administration. As much ego-ideology as it is for the appreciation of all Americans, Clinton’s actions have the “deep ecology” it claims to be, the Wildlands Project was been characterized by further restricting access to public described by Foreman as “groping our way back to 1492.” lands. Except as it is acknowledged by its creators to involve a If there is a comparison to be made, the critics say, it region covering at least half the size of the continental might be between Clinton and actions of Presidents Andrew United States, the Wildlands Project is difficult to display on Jackson and Ulysses S. Grant in taking native Indian lands as a map because of its spider vein “corridors” proposed for the public property, while restricting the Native Americans exclusive use of migrating wildlife. The plan, given some themselves to limited reservations. ■ credence in the United Nations, shocked members of the
Additional copies, $1.50 each; 10 copies or more, $1 each. THE GREAT AMERICAN LAND GRAB Published by RANGE magazine, P.O. Box 639, Carson City, NV 89702 775-884-2200 ■ FAX 775-884-2213 ■
8M ¥ RANGE MAGAZINE ¥ THE GREAT AMERICAN LAND GRAB