Once it’s gone, it’s gone. That’s the typical scenario. If you hunt, fish, hike, camp, mountain bike, star gaze, or do anything else associated with public land–and you voted Republican–you shot yourself in the foot. I can’t believe you could not have seen this coming after the last four years of Republican control. (Pruitt, Zinke) Just take Utah’s Mike Lee. Lee’s proposal to sell off millions of acres of public land under the guise of building affordable housing is one of the worst things we could do because it not only ruins the land, it also destroys all the natural corridors. (See any of the 10,000+ research reports on this reality.) But the real reason for his proposal is that he is cutting oil and gas royalties by thirty percent, gifting them yet another silver platter, and he needs to find a way to recoup that loss of revenue for the American government. (This is the same moron who spread conspiracy theories after the assassinations in Minnesota, which due to the outlaw nature of American politics, already seems like the distant past.)
So, why not sell off millions of acres of public land?
For outdoor types who keep voting for these people. I don’t know how else to say it other than you are a bunch of dipshits who vote against your own best interests and the best interests of the American people. I grew up country, at least in part, so I have many, many friends in the outdoor space as well as ranching and farming. Listening to them work themselves up into a stupifying tizzy over the “evil Democrats” is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen. I believe the “hate vote” was greatly responsible for the situation we find ourselves in. I don’t know a single rancher or farmer saying, “Things are great.” “These tariffs are working out.” Every rancher and farmer I know is sweating. Agriculture is a beast of a profession even during the best of times.
The same applies to my hunt and fish friends who are now starting to realize that the guy from Manhattan who looks down on all of them, and who has never been in the wild in his life, might not care about their recreational activities. How could you have possibly been so shortsighted? As I said before, once it’s gone, it’s gone. Selling off is bad enough, using public land for sprawl and poorly built housing is criminal. Anyone can see the level of grift happening, but the grift takes place due to an underlying foundation of ignorance, hate, and a willingness to ingest disinformation three meals a day.
When I ask my republican friends about this, they quickly try to change the subject by saying, “Ya, I don’t know why he’s doing that.” “That’s just silly.” Or, the truly clueless say, “We can’t talk about this,” as they rush back to their disinformation bubble. Oh, I forgot, Hunter Biden’s laptop. Ya, that explains everything. I try to spend as much time as possible in the wilds, and pubic land plays a major part. I know how fast our public land is going away. If this proposal passes, it’s the end of the West as we know it. Wealthy landowners build illegal fences across public land, and no one stops them. Ranchers in Texas fence across wild rivers, claiming they own the river. No one stops them. Wealthy pricks in California hire security to keep people off public beaches, and no one stops them.
There are many forces at work. Greed, corruption, lack of political will, and a public drunk on distraction. Not to mention, you Salgado lovers know, the world saw a massive migration over the last sixty years, from agrarian to urban. We are now a city species. With this reality comes a profound disconnection from the natural world. Most of us don’t want to get dirty. We want our nature through the screen. This is a good thing, at least to a certain degree. If the public at large tried to visit the wilds, you would get what you got at national parks during COVID. Chaos. With massive DOGE budget cuts, the parks are in danger, and my guess is this administration will try to sell off the national parks anyway, or at least privatize them.
And for those of you who will read this and play offended, or make some comment that tries to marry me to the Democratic party, save your fingers. That’s been tried a hundred times already. I don’t have a party. (The Dems have a myriad of their own problems.) Then ask yourself why someone like Sean Ryan is posting about this, the personification of the Republican party in the online space. Like all the mega-pod hosts, I give him total credit for building his platform, but these guys have been conned like everyone else. (He includes a clip of Zinke talking about public land, but don’t let that fool you when it comes to Zinke.) If and when this goes down, Republicans, you’ve got no one to blame but yourselves.
You might be thinking, “Gee, Dan, I thought this site was about photography.” It is, mostly. Photography, books, creative things, adventure, etc., but I can’t just post about these things with so much happening in the world. And you should know by now, I don’t live by any billionaire’s algorithm. F^%$ that. I’m not concerned with views and subs and popularity. I’m concerned with discourse, understanding, and common sense as we move toward an uncertain future. These are issues impacting all of us, and the line in the sand politics of today is doing us so much harm. Good guys, bad guys, political radicalization, and a dignity bar that lowers every day. We need to do better, and that starts with math, science, truth, fact, and the ability to talk things through. One last thing, there is plenty of subpar journalism out there, especially now that AI has landed, but you “fake news” people are fu^%$%$ idiots. Demonizing the media, the bumbling dictator 101 tactic, is so lame and so stupid it makes my neck hurt. Just stop.
Love, Dan
PS: Since I penned this little gem, the land sale proposal has been taken off the agenda. Do not let this fool you. These demented individuals are still roaming the halls of American politics. We can’t allow them to regroup and slip this in somewhere else.
PSS: I wanted to end this post on a positive note. It’s summer, which means the American bison in Yellowstone are doing their very best to try to eliminate as many mouth breathing, dumb as a bag of hammers human beings who decide they want to get close for a selfie. Onward, Mr. Bison, we are with you one hundred percent. Happy hunting.
Comments 19
Bold! Maybe even feisty. Cheering you on from the north as we celebrate our (permanent) independence. Hope this sparks lively (and respectful) discussion. Go bisons!
“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot”, to quote Joni Mitchell, from the 1960s. During COVID, there was a mass invasion of our local trails by people with painted rocks and junk painted with messages of hope, Christmas decorations and other crap, not to mention the people disrupting fish habitat in the creeks by balancing rocks into fake Inukshuks. The “forest decorating” trend does not seem to have ended, sadly. Get out there with or without a camera, before it all burns down, is flooded, or blown down in a storm. (Also, check your spelling carefully in para. 3) 🙂
Author
What did I miss?
Amen.
Most of the time, I have words. Lots of them. I know they will come back but today? Naw… I’m going to let my wordless brain rest with some studio time because creativity is the gift that keeps on giving. But thank you for your outspoken views. God help me, but I have this hope… this fantasy that when we speak up, one of the dipshits will read it and maybe it will give them pause. Maybe it will make somebody think. ps: Have you read Octavia Butler’s Parable series? If you haven’t, don’t! The beginning of the first one fuels my current nightmares.
Author
That sounds right up my alley. Nightmares from a good book. What’s interesting is posting something like this is considered “outspoken.” It’s just pointing out what’s happening right in front of us. But so many feel afraid to say anything.
You know…you’re allowed to spell out Fuck. We’re all adults here. And every time I open up my News and see something ELSE that the clow and his minions have done, I say that word. Preceded, usually, with What The. Stay cool.
Author
I have always loved the use of characters to represent curse words. Not sure why, but I love it.
Danielsan…I’m pretty sure “I’m your brother from another mother” (absolutely – no disrespect to your wonderful parents). I have zero writing skills, so I have no words beyond yours (but none needed). BRAVO my friend. Also, to your end point. When I was a young-en, I traveled and fly fished (no camera then) for many years to the western Yellowstone/Wyoming area to fish the “fabled” waters. I still remember when entering the park, the attending rangers would hand you a map and flyers. One of which was always a weekly-updated report of how many tourists had been gored and/or severely injured by Bison. I mean hey, if you stop when a herd of Bison are crossing the road, jump out and set your baby on the shoulders of one (for that memorable photo moment)… I’d recommend setting your camera to “pre-capture,” at least 1/1000 of a second shutter speed, stopped-down to f5.6 or more (who knows what DOF will be needed for the trajectory of the baby). Then, when you wake up from surgery after being skewered with the girth of a B-horn, you can rest assured “you got the shot!” See, It IS about photography.
PS: Beautiful atmospheric captures.
Author
I’m not sure there is any document that better illustrates our detachment from nature. Watching people from all over the world get gored is so astounding it makes me embarrassed for our species.
Can you write one about the fuckwits in Japan laying concrete everywhere and then complaining about cities becoming heat islands, please?
Author
Japan loves concrete. Especially near the water. Giant walls everywhere. We are doing the same here. Sprawl is our main development method.
The Donald is from Queens.
Author
That makes sense.
Public lands misspelled
Author
Not bad for me…..thanks for pointing it out.
Has anyone been watching this carefully? I mean carefully enough to know whether there are any public lands close enough to a given city/town that housing construction would make any sense at all? As a small example here in Seattle, we have a federal building that I hear is not being used to its fullest potential so there were some proposals to sell it and get it making revenue. I think the costs of a tenant improvement type plan were such that demo and rebuild were a better idea. Stuff like that makes some sense at least. The property was already within the city and not too far from busses, light rail, etc.
I can’t imagine how an isolated flock of apartments somewhere on the city boundary or outside a given city would make any sense.
Author
it’s a boondoggle to pay for his cuts to oil and gas. Extraction owns our governement.
Thank you for what you wrote here, Dan.