Public lands an old-timey conservative idea

by WildEarth Guardians https://www.flickr.com/photos/wildearth_guardians/14783486239/in/photolist-ownepM-65tAYo-64hF7S-afKuvi-6B27ar-cQhyuj-6JfAU8-afKRxp-kLiTVY-aqDZJZ-afKa1H-n1kEvg-n1mUZc-n1PYfs-fQiFT6-fQAjJ9-fQiFv8-fQAj1b-fQiG5B-fQiFFc-fQiGHB-fQAhZY-mx9Rda-kT1s36-4PjTWd-aqzRWF-e41XCd-ggVMyH-58tmS6-9fGGT9-5rZ42T-8gtL3Y-8391Yr-8uVAJH-8BGpT-Picbm-7NuuAi-k19G8G-e1mJPd-6f5oYn-83c9sE-773NHz-8gtJsE-gWoyco-gWpqnR-kEPVRB-5rZ7PX-ieF8HB-oVzGpc-8gtMYh

 
As the powers that be in Washington toy with the idea of relinquishing control of federal public lands to the states and private sector, some Republicans urge their countrymen to remember where the tradition of conservation began—in the GOP.

The Colorado Wildlife Federation and 40 other conservation and sportsman groups asked the Republican National Committee to reconsider its support of states and the private sector taking over federal public land, Stephanie Carson reports in The Durango Herald.

“The genesis of the public lands idea comes out of the conservative party,” Garrett VeneKlasen, the executive director of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, told Carson. “As a lifelong Republican, I don’t understand why the party itself has abandoned this.”

He noted that “you and I” are trustees of public lands in Colorado and elsewhere.
 

[Photo by WildEarth Guardians via Flickr/Creative Commons.]