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utconservationist27 karma

There has been a lot of rhetoric from Congress and elsewhere that public lands are being over-regulated and mismanaged from "bureaucrats from DC," but day-to-day land mgmt operations, including permitting and planning really comes from actions, decisions and monitoring at field offices out West, from people that live in local communities - have you spoken to local federal agency staff in the West about their perspectives or thoughts or how this is affecting them?

utconservationist7 karma

Actually, based on personal experience, that's not accurate. First, every person in the West is represented in DC by 2 senators and a representative - so, unless your congresspeople don't listen to their constituents (and then, hey, vote them out of office!), you can have your voice heard and seek action that way. Second, every federal land agency I've worked with has been good about maintaining an open door policy. So long as you aren't going in there to yell or threaten them, you can usually set up a meeting or attend public forums to express concerns to them directly. And finally, there are specific opportunities - public comment periods, open houses, membership on resource advisory committees (which Trump/Zinke conveniently just put on hold) where any member of the public can participate directly. The land is held in trust for all Americans (they were always federal), so everyone gets a voice, but people on the ground have no shortage of ways to be heard and that usually drives mgmt (by agency people who live also live in those states).

utconservationist3 karma

That issue is actually much debated - states definitely have rights, as enumerated in the Constitution, but sovereignty has a very specific meaning and its never been fully fleshed out by the Supreme Court, or otherwise, in the context of states in America (vs. nation states, which definitely have sovereignty). And it's not why state's have different laws, that's a matter of state's retaining police powers and various other powers to regulate within their boundaries. And FWIW - Supreme Court hasn't ruled on many facets of state vs. federal authority to legalize drugs either.