Working to Preserve Use of Wyoming's Public Lands

Statement

Working to Preserve Use of Wyoming's Public Lands

I believe our nation's farmers and ranchers are the best stewards of public lands that our country could ever ask for. I also think they are often overlooked for the job they do in states all across the west. Public lands ranchers serve a unique and vital role in keeping our nation's rangelands healthy for generations to come.

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak at the Public Lands Council's Spring Conference meeting in Washington, DC . I was glad to have the opportunity to thank stockgrowers from Wyoming and around the west for their hard work. You are truly on the front lines of public lands management.

We continue to see a government often out of touch with the policies needed in the west. I have been amazed at some of the bills, legislation and proposals authored and discussed in the committees I serve on in the U.S. Senate.

In the past couple of weeks, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held hearings on bills advocating for increased federal regulation of non-navigable water (mud puddles and cattail sloughs). The Committee has also discussed the need to list polar bears on the Endangered Species Act because global warming is melting ice caps and therefore we should regulate carbon emissions. And, this has just been in the past two weeks!

In Washington there are some people who just do not understand how things work in Wyoming . We do not need the federal government to regulate mud puddles and wetlands that occur from spring runoff and flood irrigation. We do not need to apply for a permit from the EPA so we can manage our land as we see fit. We do not take kindly to the " Washingtonknows best" philosophy. We are westerners. We've been living out here for a long time quite successfully without the helpful hand of the federal government.

I know we were all pleased to have the grey wolf finally delisted in March. This long overdue action is some recognition that Wyoming knows best about how to manage our wildlife. Control of the grey wolf population is an important milestone for us because it is victory for common sense.

We could use a heavy dose of common sense in some of the other federal agencies too. In Wyoming , with more than 47 percent federal land, we know the challenges of government regulations and control of our resources. Our ranch families have dealt with these issues for generations. Access to public lands for grazing allotments is vital to our livestock industry. Without access to those allotments your ranches and your businesses are no longer viable.

We face unprecedented challenges with increasingly complicated regulations. Anti-agriculture activist groups are popping up all over the West including Wyoming. They sue the federal government over technicalities with a single goal in mind, eliminating livestock from public lands. Their strategy is effective and dramatic. Consequently, courts are playing a bigger role in deciding how you - the real stewards - should manage your land, business and life. Federal agencies are bending under this legal pressure and succumbing to the will of these groups at the mere threat of a future lawsuit. I say enough is enough.

Federal lands were set aside for multiple use and that is a fact. That means grazing, timber, recreation, water, mining and wildlife ALL have standing. Our judges and bureaucrats need to be mindful of these facts. I know that we in Wyoming still understand and believe in the multiple use principle, we live by it.

I wanted to share these thoughts that I recently shared with the folks at the PLC meetings, because I know this a fight for your life. And as your Senator, I want you to know that I join you in this fight. I will always be a voice for our Wyoming common sense ways and I will always standup and fight for our ranching families to keep their way of life.

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