LETTER: States aren’t prepared to manage federal land

In response to Bonner Russell Cohen’s commentary, “Utah public lands lawsuit has major implications for Nevada,” Mr. Cohen and Utah policymakers’ disinformation around the facts of Utah’s land grab lawsuit poses significant risks to the values and interests of the nation. Utah’s legal challenges ignore the majority of people who support protecting public lands and keeping them in public hands.

Western states do not have the resources, staff or expertise to manage public lands within their borders. Millions of acres of public lands will be sold to the highest bidder to provide the financial resources necessary for states to manage these lands.

A ruling in favor of Utah’s lawsuit would mark the end of public lands as we know them, opening the floodgates to every anti-public lands politician in the West to seize public lands by way of the courts. We are facing the potential of the loss and privatization of 210 million acres currently managed by the federal government for the benefit and enjoyment of the American people. What a disaster that would be for our country and what a financial disaster that would be for Nevadans.