Federal proclamations covet private property.

By Angel Cushing

At a coffee table with local ranchers in the early 2012, we discussed the property that Tom and I had just purchased. The property was located in Lyon County, Kansas.
This was not the first time the conversation came up during early morning planning at the Texas diner. This time however, one of my friends showed me an article from an old magazine. The article outlined a proposed National Park. The proposed boundary covered one fourth of Kansas and the article went on to talk about how wonderful a National Park in Kansas would be for the buffalo.
It was an old article from a long-ago magazine that I never subscribed to. I didn’t give it serious consideration.

At least, not until Lyon County attempted to pass zoning regulations in 2019 that would have banned barbwire fences.

www.protectedlands.net > proclamation and other boundaries.

The idea to convert the entire Flint Hills into a National Park for buffalo is not a new idea. Early attempts resulted in the Tallgrass National Prairie Preserve in Chase County, Konza Prairie near Manhattan, KS and Flint Hills Tallgrass Preserve in Butler County, KS.

That led to state preserves and parks, wildlife areas and parts of the Flint Hills lands currently preserved on military installations; each implying that their spot in the Flint Hills is the very last of the native landscape.

In 2010 President Obama proclaimed all the lands outlined in pink above are to be administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. No need to consider the private landowner, nor the property owner paying mortgages and taxes, not one was ever asked or informed that their property would be administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Screenshots taken of various websites in 2020-21.

Stopping population growth:
Planning professionals are organized to convince the local politicians and people that everyone is working together. There is a preservation that is needed. Yes, that includes lying to their own team players. The less the employees and volunteers know, the more likely they will believe in what they are doing. “Angel, we would never build the public use trail that is in the Comprehensive Plan. That is like, only if, like a tornado took out the whole county. We don’t have that kind of money.” the Lyon County Zoning Administrator said. I have no doubt our Zoning Administrator believed what he said to me about the trails back in 2020. He probably had no idea that Congress had funded the trails five years before.

Depopulating the targeted area.
Conservation Easements are a wonderful tool for not only stopping growth but also for moving people out of the area. Some conservation easements pull the land directly out of production, which means fewer jobs for the industries who rely on farming the land such as metal workers, mechanics, tire repair, machine operators, well drillers, etc. etc. etc. Other forms of conservation easements simply prohibit technology advancement. Wages are often based on technological skills. The more advanced the technology is, the higher the wages often are. By freezing technological advances, workers move away and seek jobs that match their skills. Perpetual Conservation Easements were started in the 1970s by Ben Ivory. A self-absorbed individual who felt intitled to the perfect view of the coast of Maine “I realized that if anyone has been shaped by a landscape, it is I.” — (Sailor for the Wild, p 1). The popularity of this covetous investment scheme has exploded among elitists. Each state now has numerous federal partners proclaiming to be conservationists.

Regulations is another method of depopulation. Using federal grant dollars, local elected officials are promised grants in exchange for updating their Comprehensive Planning and Zoning Regulations. Upon discovery of the restrictions on their property, the landowner will be blamed for never knowing that a plan had been put in place to encourage them to sell and move away.

There is not a pattern of first, stop growth, and then depopulate the area. All the strategies employed work harmoniously together. Funding, partnerships, communication, easements, regulations and purchases.

The Nature Conservancy is one of the largest landowners in the United States.

Screenshot of a Nature Conservancy’s visitor brochure found on the Conservancy’s website, Aug 2023

For an example, consider:

Fact: The Flint Hills is rocky terrain. The grass reaches down into the rock and pulls up nutrients known to benefit livestock. The Flints Hills has a well known reputation for fattening cattle. Row crop planting is mostly isolated to creek and river bottom lands.

Fact: Lyon County, Kansas is next to Chase County, home of the Tallgrass National Prairie Preserve. Both Chase County and Lyon County are south of Fort Riley, Kansas. All of which are in the Flint Hills Legacy Proclamation.

Fact: Lyon County has a Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Regulations written by an architect firm called Urban Collaborative, who also has worked with the Flint Hills Regional Council. Urban Collaborative created the original draft attempted to ban barbwire fences. The Flint Hills Regional Council is a non-profit partner to the federal proclamation under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Fact: Ranchland Trust of Kansas is also a federal partner who purchases access to property for pennies on the dollar, known as Conservation Easements. Ranchland Trust of Kansas is owned by the Kansas Livestock Association. Kansas Livestock Association gets funding through the Beef-Check- Off program, which is a sales tax on cattle producers and traders.

Fact: The ranch featured in the invitation below is next to Tallgrass National Prairie. Note the section on invisible fencing below:

Fact: Tallgrass National Prairie Preserve has a Buffalo herd.

Fact: Federally owned buffalo herds are protected. It is illegal to harass any animal owned by the federal government. Not the bull mounting your cow or jousting your steers, not the buffalo herd eating your grass.

As the population of the area shrinks, so too does the representation. Members of the Congressional House is determined by population. Regardless of the State’s wishes, once enough members of Congress are lost, there is little to no resistance to the use of Eminent Domain or outrageous abuse to acquire the last few deeds of land.

Regulatory Takings – “if regulation goes too far it will be recognized as a taking.”

1922 decision, Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon