The Privatization of America’s Public Lands: Why It’s a Humanitarian Issue

What are America’s Public Lands?

The United States of America is unique in that it possesses 640 million acres of Public Lands, acreage owned by the American people and managed by the federal government. Public Lands include National Parks, National Forests, National Grasslands, Wildlife Refuges, and more. They include hiking trails, biking trails, and land for outdoor recreation like hunting, rock-climbing, fishing, and canoeing. Oftentimes, American Public Lands also hold spiritual, historic, and modern-day connections with Native American tribes. They encompass and conserve some of the world’s largest untouched, functioning ecosystems. The livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of individuals, from ranchers to rangers to guides, are intertwined with America’s Public Lands, and even though many of us have not grown up fishing in the mountains of the West, connecting with ancestors on sacred lands in Utah, or hunting in Alaska, I argue that the existence of America’s Public Lands is a humanitarian issue that directly influences each and every one of us. 

In a recent documentary, Public Trust, nature writer and activist Hal Herring notes that America’s Public Lands are “the greatest cash cow left on the planet.”

After the industrialization and environmental destruction of the early 20^th century–and eventually the 1930’s phenomenon that was the Dust Bowl–the American Public awoke to the impact our environment can have on our lives. The idea of caring for our natural surroundings began to take hold in civilians’ and politicians’ minds. Conservation was no new idea; Teddy Roosevelt had begun taking the first steps to protect what would become America’s National Parks at the turn of the century. Still, in the 1960’s and 70’s, a number of environmental protection acts passed through congress, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and finally, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. The FLPMA established the federal government’s permanent ownership of and responsibility toward America’s Public Lands.

The Department of the Interior is the umbrella of U.S. public land management, and managing groups primarily include the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service. The diversity of these groups reflects the diversity of what the Public Lands are used for; some deal with recreation, conservation, or climate change, while others make money off of oil and gas, logging, grazing, and mining. By managing Public Lands, these groups are forced to walk a fine line between industry and common good, which can be precarious. In a recent documentary, Public Trust, nature writer and activist Hal Herring notes that America’s Public Lands are “the greatest cash cow left on the planet.” 

The Threat Facing Our Public Lands

Because of the estimated trillions of dollars of oil, gas, and minerals “locked up” in American Public Lands, it’s no surprise individual interest groups are lobbying for access to protected lands. ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, is just one think tank that writes legislation that would allow private corporations to profit off of Public Land. For example, the controversial Disposal and Taxation of Public Lands Act would give all U.S. Public Land to state management. The argument for this act is the argument for less federal control and a larger emphasis on states’ rights. Unfortunately, many states do not have the financial capacity to manage and control these lands, and in many cases, states might be forced to “auction” these lands to the highest bidder: a private corporation that could profit off of mining, drilling, or fracking. Thus, state transfer equals privatization.

In recent years, the American push for energy independence that began after 9/11 has evolved into a goal of American energy dominance. A number of new oil and mineral leases to private companies have been established. Dramatic proportions of federally protected land have been cut and returned to the states for oil and gas development, and many “preventer rules” to protect the environment, like those established after the BP oil spill, have been rescinded.

Why This is a Humanitarian Issue

Bears Ears, Utah encapsulates over 200,000 ancient sites that include rock art, petroglyphs, and ruins. In the documentary Public Trust, contributing Navajo/Hopi filmmaker Angelo Baca calls these sites “our library of congress on the walls.” He emphasizes that “before these were public lands, they were native lands.” Baca spent his childhood hunting in, wandering through, and exploring the canyons of Bears Ears, where he connects with his ancestral past and his present spirituality. When oil and gas development threatened Bears Ears and its surrounding natural landscape in the 2010’s, the Five Tribes Coalition was established to petition for presidential authority to set aside the 1.9 million acres as a National Monument, placing it under federal protection. At the end of his presidency in December 2016, Barack Obama did just that, but only 11 months later, the new government cut 85% of the Bears Ears Monument land.

The Arctic Wildlife Refuge in Alaska is a 19-million-acre ecosystem and home to some of the planet’s last mass-preserved wildlife lands. The Refuge is also sacred land to the Gwich’in people, who have migrated alongside the Porcupine Caribou Herd in this region for over 40,000 years. The Gwich’in depend on the Porcupine Caribou Herd for 80% of their diet, and most members of the tribe rely on the land for their livelihoods. The tribe’s songs, dances, and stories are directed to the caribou and connect deeply and spiritually with the Alaskan landscape. In recent years, the 1.57 million acres of critical caribou calving ground, a potential oil hotspot, has been targeted for fossil fuel infrastructure development. International Human Rights Law states that “In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.” Oil and gas development in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge would be a direct attack on the Gwich’in peoples’ way of life.

Ranch families who have grazed cattle throughout the American West for generations are only able to maintain their way of life due to the low rent fees for grazing on federally owned land. Should Public Lands be privatized, ranching in the American West is another way of life that would become practically impossible, requiring ranchers to possess vast sums of wealth to compete with private corporations for purchasing the land they currently rent.

Not only is privatization of Public Lands a human rights issue, it’s an environmental issue. The development of fossil fuel infrastructure profoundly impacts our country’s natural landscape and our global environment. If we, as a country, are truly invested in dealing with climate change, why should we consider building oil and gas development pads and pipelines through preserved Public Lands? Oil and gas spills, mining wastewater dam breaches, and industrial-scale landscape destruction have long and lingering effects on our country’s water, air, and wildlife.

The financial benefit of these privatized developments doesn’t reach the American people, but rather private corporations, who are sometimes internationally based, and their stockholders. The clean-up and reclamation of the over 161,000 abandoned mining sites in the American West will cost the tax-paying public nearly $50 billion. Cleaning up the 94,000 oil and gas wells on America’s Public Lands could cost taxpayers $6.1 billion.

How We Can Make an Impact

America’s Public Lands are globally unique in that they are accessible to all. The United States possesses miles of trails for hiking and biking, rivers for kayaking and fishing, and acreage for hunting and grazing. Experiencing the immense natural beauty of America’s National Parks and natural landscapes is an outstanding opportunity we have as citizens to connect with the world around us. Hal Herring, in Public Trust, emphasizes, “It is a fact that our society is becoming more unequal, that there is more disparity between the poor and the wealthy, but one of the places that our society has not changed is in the access to the American experience of our public land.” Herring asks what will happen when, someday, it could cost thousands of dollars to use a trail owned by a national biking society? What will happen when the only wildlife remaining is that on private land, to be hunted by those who can pay? Who has the right to put a dollar value on hiking a mountain and watching a sunset?

Even for the less outdoorsy of us, it’s powerful to imagine the Grand Canyon being mined for uranium or to imagine the environmental havoc that could arise in a country laden with privately developed and less-regulated oil flats and mineral mines.

If you want to make an impact, there are a number of ways to advocate for America’s Public Lands. While private interest lobbyists work for oil and gas development corporations to influence policymakers, the Public Lands don’t have their own constituents or well-funded advocates. We have to make our own impact through learning about the federally owned land in and near our communities, spreading the word about what privatization of Public Lands could mean for our country, investing in green energy, and enjoying the outdoors.

Here’s what you can do:

• Learn more about Public Lands by reading resources that can be found through the Public Lands Foundation, by watching the 2020 documentary Public Trust, or by listening to Hal Herring’s podcast, BHA Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring.
• Email your local and federal elected officials about ensuring Public Lands stay in public hands, and encourage your friends and family to do the same.
• Write and submit a letter to the editor or an op-ed to your local or your university newspaper. This will introduce other community members to the issues facing Public Lands and call the issues to the attention of elected officials–many of whom read their local papers on a regular basis.
• Invest in green energy. By contributing to the demand for clean energy technology, you’re helping the United States—and the world—move farther away from dependence on fossil fuels. Check out these Novel Hand resources about environment and sustainability. 
• Enjoy the outdoors, and take advantage of our Public Lands! This fall, take the time to hike, bike, walk, picnic, fish, canoe, and rock-climb.