Federal land transfer faces opposition

A proposal to transfer Idaho’s federally-owned lands to the state faced strong opposition at a hearing in Idaho Falls Thursday morning.

The hearing was one of several hosted by the state’s Federal Lands Interim Committee, which was formed by lawmakers to explore the issue.

Of the dozens who spoke at the hearing, most were opposed to the proposal.

“This proposal reminded me of a great Jim Carrey movie: ‘Dumb and Dumber,'” said Dino Lowry.

“That’s about when I started wondering whether I still wanted to remain a Republican,” said another.

Just one person spoke in favor of the land transfer.

“The federal government, every time you turn around, is closing off our public lands,” said Kevin Landon.

But many were worried what would happen to the land if the state gained control.

“Let me guess: Your plan is to sell or lease our public lands to the highest bidder to … extract every resource available,” said Lowry.

Lawmakers pushing for the transfer say this isn’t likely.

“There’s a possibility even with federal ownership that it could be sold off,” said State Rep. Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale.

Proponents say the transfer would give Idahoans greater control of the land.

“The people of Idaho have more love and concern for the land than any people in Washington D.C. might have,” said State Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise.

Critics, on the other hand, say Idaho doesn’t exactly have that great a track record.

“The state doesn’t do a very good job of managing what it has. We have inadequate funding for schools. We have crumbling infrastructure,” said Lowry.

Some at Thursday’s hearing questioned how much the hearings had cost taxpayers. No word on that, but so far, more than $60,000 has been spent on outside legal work to explore the possibility of a land transfer.

In 2010, 61 percent of all land in Idaho was owned by the federal government, according to data from the Congressional Research Service.