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The Plan to Stop Federal Law Enforcement of Public Lands

House Bill 621 is dead, but 622 would do much to undermine protections for our most treasured public lands

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On Wednesday, Utah Republican Representative Jason Chaffetz聽responded to public outcry and dropped , which sought to sell off millions of acres of public land across the West. But a similar, lesser-known bill to gut public land protections, which Chaffetz introduced alongside H.R.621 on January 24,聽is still on the table.

Dubbed 鈥渢he Local Enforcement for Local Lands Act,鈥 the bill proposes stripping the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management of its law enforcement powers. Both organizations employ uniformed rangers and criminal investigators, who enforce laws and investigate a whole host of issues on federal land: mineral resource theft, dumping of hazardous materials, vandalism of archeological areas, theft of artifacts and timber, and wild land arson, among other crimes. Opponents of 622聽say that federal law enforcement officers also help protect species and habitats by deterring illegal off-highway vehicle use, patrolling big game habitats, and curbing waterway pollution.

With 622, Chaffetz appears to be ripping a page from the anti-public lands chapter of the Bundy Family playbook. The Bundy Family, widely known for it鈥檚 highly publicized 2014 standoff with Bureau of Land Management agents on its Nevada cattle ranch, believes federal agencies should totally cede control of America鈥檚 public lands to local counties. That was the point that Ammon and Ryan Bundy, sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, drove home last year as they led a group of armed men in the highly-publicized 41-day takeover of southeastern Oregon鈥檚 Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. At press conferences, that by controlling land at the local level, counties could decide whether 鈥渢o get the logger back to logging, to get the rancher back to ranching, to get the miner back to mining.鈥

What Chaffetz and friends are proposing with 622鈥攚hich Chaffetz after the Malheur occupation鈥攃ould have been written by Ammon Bundy himself: get the enforcement of public lands out of the hands of the feds, and into the hands of locals. 鈥淔ederal agencies do not enjoy the same level of trust and respect as local law enforcement,鈥 Chaffetz with other members of the Utah delegation last March. 鈥淭his legislation will help deescalate conflicts between law enforcement and local residents while improving transparency and accountability.鈥 Policing functions are a 鈥渄istraction鈥 for BLM and Forest Service employees, the statement said. 鈥淭his is a win all around.”

That鈥檚 not how environmental and conservation groups see it. Conservationists say taking away the law enforcement role from BLM and Forest Service officers is a part of a trend by GOP representatives to 鈥渄efund our public lands, villainize public servants who are managing these lands, and in cases like this remove their ability to do their job,鈥 says Brent Fenty, executive director of , an organization devoted to protecting the health of the state鈥檚 deserts. (BLM and Forest Service contacts refused to comment for this story, citing pending litigation.)

But here鈥檚 the scary part: what Chaffetz is proposing is already happening in some Oregon counties.

In Grant County, that Sheriff Glenn Palmer, a 聽who has designated his own militia and who supported the Bundy occupation, transferred the patrolling of Forest Service roads and campgrounds to local deputies, . 鈥淭here is a general mistrust of the federal government by people of this County, State and Nation,鈥 Palmer wrote in a 2011 letter to the director of a national forest located in Grant county. 鈥淲ithin the confines of Grand County, Oregon, the duties and responsibility of law enforcement will rest with the County Sheriff and his designees.鈥

If 622 passed, guys like Palmer would be 鈥渋n charge of enforcing environmental rules, protecting endangered species, and protecting the rights of hikers,鈥 says Steve Pedery, conservation director of , a group working to protect Oregon forests and waterways. 鈥淭hat doesn't seem like a very good idea.鈥

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