In January 2017, the Congressional Budget Office Rules were changed so federal land transfers are not considered to have a cost to the government, that, in fact, federal public lands are “worthless.” This is a first step by the Republican-led land-transfer movement to transfer to the states or other local entities land held in trust for the American people in National Forest and Grasslands, National Wildlife Refuges, National Wilderness, and by the Bureau of Land Management.
The end-game of designating the lands as worthless and for passing their control from the federal government is to make this land available to development by corporations for mining and development.
Our land of pristine waters, towering mountains, miles of sagebrush, and stands of old trees will become mere blackened shadows of their former glory, despoiled in the name of greed.
