- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_2955006
A hostile landlord
Tom Wharton, often a voice of reason in the discussion of public land-based recreation, badly missed the mark in his essay of Aug. 4, wherein he takes to task Assistant Attorney General Mark Ward and Republican Rep. Mike Noel of Kane County. The characterization of their actions as “tantrums” and their words as “rants” trivializes their patriotism and demonstrates a common misunderstanding of the current public land management paradigm.
The time-honored principle of multiple use is dead and the federal government has become a hostile landlord. Where once the people, the counties and the states were partners in the process of public land management, they are now little more than annoying tenants to be evicted as quickly and completely as possible.
Federal agencies today serve only the interests of the Western secular theology known as Environmentalism. The threats and whining come from the federal land managers, not from state and county officials. Much of our rightful access has been lost because most local elected officials have shirked their duties in rejecting their malignant encroachment over the past 30 years.
We owe Ward and Noel gratitude for the courage they show in confronting a growing abuse in federal power that will, if left unchecked, diminish the quality of life in Utah. My hope is, rather than being an anomaly, these actions will herald a new age of balance in the way we manage our prized public lands.
Rainer Huck
Salt Lake City
A hostile landlord
Tom Wharton, often a voice of reason in the discussion of public land-based recreation, badly missed the mark in his essay of Aug. 4, wherein he takes to task Assistant Attorney General Mark Ward and Republican Rep. Mike Noel of Kane County. The characterization of their actions as “tantrums” and their words as “rants” trivializes their patriotism and demonstrates a common misunderstanding of the current public land management paradigm.
The time-honored principle of multiple use is dead and the federal government has become a hostile landlord. Where once the people, the counties and the states were partners in the process of public land management, they are now little more than annoying tenants to be evicted as quickly and completely as possible.
Federal agencies today serve only the interests of the Western secular theology known as Environmentalism. The threats and whining come from the federal land managers, not from state and county officials. Much of our rightful access has been lost because most local elected officials have shirked their duties in rejecting their malignant encroachment over the past 30 years.
We owe Ward and Noel gratitude for the courage they show in confronting a growing abuse in federal power that will, if left unchecked, diminish the quality of life in Utah. My hope is, rather than being an anomaly, these actions will herald a new age of balance in the way we manage our prized public lands.
Rainer Huck
Salt Lake City
