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307 Dirksen Senate
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Phone: 202-224-6441
Fax: 202-224-1724
Wyoming Office
P.O. Box 22201
Casper, WY 82602
307-261-6413
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Contact: Cameron Hardy
202-224-6441 |
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Land Agencies Mull Land Sale Revenue Raisers
Thomas says Wyoming folks need to evaluate pros, cons of surplus land sales |
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February 10th, 2006 - WASHINGTON – Responding to proposals to sell off surplus Forest Service and BLM lands to raise revenue for other uses, U.S. Senator Craig Thomas is encouraging folks across Wyoming to remain engaged in the issue as it moves toward Congress.
“Anytime you’re talking about 17,000-plus acres of Wyoming land, folks should be engaged in what’s being proposed,” Thomas said.
“The public should take a close look at these surplus parcels to determine whether these are lands that they want to have transferred into private hands.”
“While this amount represents a small percentage of all the public lands in Wyoming, it is significant acreage for folks to consider as the proposal comes to Congress.”
The Forest Service plan involves more than 17,000 acres of land in the Black Hills, Medicine Bow, Bridger-Tetons and Thunder Basin National Grasslands.
“It’s fair to assume that some of these isolated tracts have caused significant challenges and take time and resources away from officials who could be working on areas of greater interest to the public,” Thomas said.
“I don’t see this as a major threat to Wyoming as long as we’re truly talking about surplus lands, and not lands people value for multiple-use. At the same time we have to consider budget needs and best use of the money being raised.”
“In general, I don’t see a problem with reducing these hard-to-manage, isolated tracts from the purview of the federal government. Putting money back into an agency has a positive effect on their ability to complete their mission and properly manage their lands. It certainly makes sense for money to go back to the counties that have Forest Service or public lands in their area,” Thomas said.
“I’m not convinced that this is the best way to fund the rural schools program, but I’m supportive of money going back to the counties that lose tax revenue from having public land inside their boundaries.”
“Let’s keep in mind that these budget proposals are just that – proposals. These issues are likely to come before the Senate Energy Committee and I look forward to addressing potential land sales, including where the dollars may be directed.”
BLM Lands
The Bureau of Land Management is also considering surplus lands sales, although funds from those sales would not be allocated in the same way as the Forest Service proposal.
“Any changes to how money is distributed from these sales needs to be carefully considered. I’m not sure that dropping the money in the federal treasury is the best approach to take,” Thomas said of the plan to sell surplus BLM land.
“In the case of the BLM, I’m not convinced that 70 percent of the money from a sale should go back to the Treasury. The BLM has been particularly slow in getting rid of their excess lands nationwide and while much of their land is rightly available for multiple-use in Wyoming, in many places around the nation, there are tracts that are hard to manage and not inherently useful to the public. What seems more appropriate is to have a good portion of the money from these sales stay within the agency to help them be better stewards of the land.”
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