Commentary: Value of public lands is enhanced by conservation. Here’s what that means

The Boone and Crockett Club released the following statement April 24 regarding federal public lands:

The U.S. federal public land estate is an American legacy the Boone and Crockett Club will support forever. Since our founding in 1887, whenever the suggestion has been made that public land be disposed of for revenue, we have objected. As the suggestion has been made recently, we object now.

A cash sale produces one kind of return from an asset – the final one. Continuous returns from owning land come from its use and enjoyment. Some of these returns are cash, others not, and together they produce commerce, health, tradition, and commitment – altogether: wealth.

The complete value of our public lands has overcome all past attempts to dispose of it. These lands are too valuable to give up, and hunters, ranchers, miners, foresters, farmers, recreationists, and the rest of the outdoor economy have reasons to agree. Many are saying so.

All should.

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We also see and share some of the dissatisfactions with the public lands that prompt the idea of selling them. Some complain – some genuinely, some selfishly – about not getting what they want in production of commodities, provision of access, or progress toward ecological goals. Answering these narrow complaints by selling title to public land abandons the shared public responsibility to improve public lands for the future. A greater return of all kinds is the greater value to all.

To meet this responsibility, conservation must become again what it was when Boone and Crockett Club members defined it: a discipline for producing value for people today in a way that sustains value for people in the future. This includes what people cannot own alongside what they can.

Wildlife, clean air and water, a place to wander, and even scenery have no price – they are priceless. Water, minerals, wood, forage, oil, gas, and wind and solar energy have prices. To have all these values now and in the future, they must be used with restraint and supported with active care to sustain them. That is conservation.

To improve conservation today, using and caring for public lands must become easier. Development, recreation, and ecological improvement are all delayed by well-intentioned but misused policies to study the environmental effects of actions. Environmental reviews should guide, not diminish, the use, enjoyment, and enhancement of public lands.

Adjusting the boundaries and uses of public lands is already possible and must result in a net improvement in the value of public lands. Selling public land for housing in or near cities, as has been suggested, might be harmless on a limited basis if beneficial to public-land values overall.

Similarly, small, isolated and inaccessible parcels may, if sold, pay for improving or acquiring larger intact areas for a net gain in public-land value. Several laws already exist for this purpose. To judge, we must see the specifics.

As the organization with the longest attention and involvement in public-land issues, we remain alert to good ideas and bad ones. We are committed to fixing the bad and improving the good with Congress, the Administration, and our many partners who share our conviction that public lands must remain and flourish.

Founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1887, the Boone and Crockett Club promotes guardianship and visionary management of big game and wildlife in North America. The club maintains the highest standards of fair-chase sportsmanship and habitat stewardship. Member accomplishments include enlarging and protecting Yellowstone and establishing Glacier and Denali national parks, founding the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, and National Wildlife Refuge System, fostering the Pittman-Robertson and Lacey Acts, creating the federal Duck Stamp program, and developing the cornerstones of modern game laws.

The Boone and Crockett Club is headquartered in Missoula, Mont.