Colorado Land, Water and Food Alliance Report

by
Norman L. Kincaide Ph.D.

To capture the essence of the Stop 30X30 Summit in economy of words is
impossible. What follows are my major take-aways. The essence of 30X30 is the federal government wants to con property owners into voluntarily giving up their property rights to achieve an arbitrary conservation and preservation goal by the year 2030.

According to American Stewards of Liberty the essential points to know about
30X30 or America the Beautiful plan are, it is being aggressively advanced by radical environmental activists under the Biden administration using the politically motivated climate crisis agenda to gain control of the land. There is no credible scientific reasoning or facts to support the preservation of any specific amount of land by a certain date. Furthermore, the Federal Government and the states already own and control 1/3 of the land in the United States, while 12 percent are in conservation. Their land losing math does not add up to requiring the preservation of 400 million acres by 2030. There is no constitutional or statutory authority for the President, the Department of Interior or the Department of Agriculture to set aside and permanently preserve 30 percent of all land and water in the United States. The Biden administration removed local governments veto power over federal land acquisitions when they rescinded Department of Interior Secretarial Order 3388. The advocates for 30X30 have no skin in the game or property to
conserve. They are seeking to place other people’s property under the control of the administrative state. Taking 30 percent of the land is only the first step, the international goal is 50 percent or the Half Earth agenda. American landowners are the best stewards of the land while producing the food, fiber, minerals, and energy this country depends upon to create wealth, defend our liberties, and live free.

Biden’s Executive Order 14008 stands only as long as his administration’s term of office, unless succeeding administrations follow up on the 30X30 initiative. The use of executive orders guides policy in administrative agencies of the federal government to expand the power and influence of certain departments such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to expand the application of the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) beyond navigable waters. As North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer demonstrated the application of enhanced WOTUS would cover most of his state.

Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts was the first Governor to oppose 30X30, leading 15 other governors to follow in signing a letter of opposition. Garfield County, Colorado Board of County Commissioners passed the first resolution opposing 30X30. Governor Ricketts held twenty townhalls across Nebraska to inform citizens of the dangers of Biden’s Executive Order.

Resisting Biden’s Executive Order must be accomplished at the state and local
government level. Western states already significantly burdened with federal government land use restrictions by Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and Department of Agriculture and the Forest Service, would suffer additional oversite.

Issues Across America Panel discussed particulars of land control policy. Wayne
Butts, Chairman, Custer County, Idaho Board of County Commissioners, discussed the problems endemic to having 97 percent of the county controlled by the federal government. His main issue is: How do you contemplate the dissolution of your county when there is little revenue to function as a local government? From his perspective, coordination with the federal government was problematic.

Will Caven, Chairman, Chaves County, New Mexico, Board of County
Commissioners, illustrated the problems of having a total of 58 percent of Chaves County controlled by the state and federal government. In New Mexico 47 percent of the land is controlled by the state and federal government. But that is never enough for government. There is a push to create more wilderness areas, protect the lesser prairie chicken, shut down oil and gas exploration. Caven emphasized that your county should already have a land use plan that predates any proposed federal government land use policy. The federal
government will then have to coordinate with the existing land use plan. The Gold Standard for federal government conservation and preservation is the Wilderness Area, these areas are de facto larger than their boundaries since there must to be clean air around these most restrictive of government designations.

Ron Jankovsky, Commissioner, Garfield County, Colorado, Board of County
Commissioners, echoed Caven’s concerns. Counties are suffering death by a thousand cuts of regulation from the state and federal government. A new state park was created within Garfield County without notice to Board of Commissioners. Then there is the Sage Grouse issued that began with a voluntary plan in 2008. Wildlife officials used Wyoming and Idaho grouse studies to apply to Colorado when the terrain in those states were not similar to the Grouse range in Garfield County. The new habitat maps in 2015 and 2019 did not show enough protection to address climate change, thus moving the goal posts for conservation.

Ross Butcher, Chairman, Fergus County, Montana, Board of County
Commissioners, detailed issues with preventing a National Heritage Area in Fergus County, while opposing the expansion of the American Prairie Reserve. The Commissioners goal is no net growth of public land in Fergus County, Montana.

Angel Cushing, of Allen, Lyon County, Kansas, representing Western Region
Property Rights Coalition, explained her experience with restrictive zoning in Lyon County that would have banned barbed wire fences and restricted livestock production. She pointed out these issues to County Commissioners. She also successfully opposed the Kansas Nebraska National Heritage Area initiative that would have taken in 49 counties, 26 in Kansas and 23 in Nebraska.

Julie McIvor, Co-Owner, McIvor Ranch, Fort Davis, Texas, described her
experience with conservation easements. The individual who first entertains a conservation easement reaps the benefits, while succeeding owners do not. They incur issues of how they may manage their property in accordance with easement restrictions.

These examples only touch the surface of the many ways state and federal
governments seek to control all land use policy. The 30X30 plan emphasized voluntary participation through conservation easements and other programs like Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) through Natural Resource Conservation Service. This voluntary participation is really predatory as land trusts will focus on vulnerable property owners. Governor Ricketts emphasized that the Biden administration will use every tool in its tool box to implement 30X30.

How were National Heritage Areas to be used in this effort? Brenda Barrett, Editor, provided the answer, Living Landscape Observer, March 3, 2021, The National Heritage Areas Act: Now is the Time.

“To address the threat of climate change and loss of biodiversity, the new
administration has signed on to the ambitious conservation goal to protect 30 percent of US lands and coastal areas by 2030. Given the scope of this initiative, it cannot be achieved without engaging multiple partners and private landowners in the effort. While they do not directly undertake land conservation, NHAs have pioneered effective partnership models that provide stewardship outcomes. NHAs have also been shown to increase a regional sense of place and sense of pride as well as an understanding of the need for connectivity and a framework for landscape scale conservation.”

Barrett was National Coordinator for National Heritage Areas, 2001-2007, during which she provided national coordination within the National Park Service for the then, 49 congressionally designated national heritage areas including budget and financial oversight, program assistance and administration, policy development, and coordination across the agency’s six regional offices.

Why should any farmer, rancher or estate owner do any favors for a corrupt and incompetent federal government? Why would any business owner want to partner with an incompetent? President Biden, through Executive Order 14008, wants property owners to voluntarily give up their private property rights in order to achieve an arbitrary conservation goal set by climate alarmists and environmental extremists.

Local and state jurisdictions can stand up to and effectively oppose arbitrary federal government overreach. The federal government must be controlled at the capillary level, at the very extremities, where it is most vulnerable to resistance, push back and the curtailment of corrupt and incompetent implementation of questionable programs and policies. Why should property owners assist the incompetent with their quest to save the planet when they can’t perform the basics of government? How much more should taxpayers reward incompetence and corruption in the federal government?

What you can do: Contact your County Commissioners and Special District
Directors, make sure they are aware of the 30X30 agenda; Ask your local government to pass a resolution opposing 30X30; Educate local association, neighbors and other affected parties; Watch the home front, be vigilant and discerning about conservation programs in your community and the federal nexus these create; Subscribe to free Liberty Matters news service to stay connected to the fight.

The Stop 30X30 Summit in Lincoln, Nebraska stands as a beacon of hope for
individuals and their private property rights against an ever covetous and controlling federal government.