Defending Multiple Use of Public Lands

It is every citizen's duty to manage our public lands responsibly to ensure water quality, wildlife habitat, and the multiple-use of our public land base. We need our public lands to be used in a way that appeals to all of our citizens, not to just a single, relatively narrow-minded group. The Western Caucus believes our public lands hold great benefits for all of us. There are many resources available on the land from our renewable forests, to the opportunities to raise cattle on them, to mining for minerals below the surface, to a wide variety of recreational activities, to ensuring the well-being of endangered species, and other wildlife values. Indeed, Congress intended for these resources to be used for a multitude of purposes, including the right of all Americans to access and enjoy the land's spectacular beauty.

Multiple use is a key element of responsible public lands management in the U.S. Throughout our history, non-park federal lands have been available for a variety of activities, from recreation and grazing to mining, energy development and forestry. These principles are embodied in the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960, in which Congress established that national forests are to be used “for outdoor recreation, range, timber, watershed, and fish and wildlife purposes."

In recent years, a string of statutes and regulations have negatively impacted the ability of these sectors and others to make economic use of many public lands. Restrictions due to endangered species, historic preservation requirements, Clean Water Act regulations, and other laws have eroded the principles of multiple use.

The multiple use philosophy of public lands management -- which encourages the environmentally responsible use of lands for economic purposes -- has been a bedrock concept that has sustained much of the West's rural economy. Revenues that have been generated through grazing, mining, timber operations and recreation would otherwise not have occurred. Further, these sectors are the economic engine for hundreds of local communities – communities that would disappear if their ability to use public lands for beneficial use were removed.

There are a variety of proposed laws and regulations that seek to limit the multiple use of non-park federal lands. Out-of control wilderness, roadless area, and wild and scenic river area designations, an exploding number of areas of critical environmental concern (ACEC), and efforts to reduce or prohibit mining and grazing on public lands continue to put multiple use of our federal lands at risk. Each Congress dozens of bills are introduced that would further erode multiple use of federal lands. We will continue to be vigilant in opposing legislation that undermines the multiple use philosophy.