Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past couple of weeks, you know that U.S. Sen. Mike Lee withdrew his push to sell off public lands via an amendment to Trump’s budget bill. Faced with widespread and intense opposition from just about everyone west of the 100th meridian, the Utah Republican blinked.
Opinion
For more than a century, our million square mile public domain has been the battleground for more than one “War on the West.” Just because Lee’s misguided amendment went down in flames is no reason to think that these wars are over. If you believe that the good guys finally won, I have a surfside cabana on some beachfront property near Wamsutter that I’d like to sell you.
Public land has been a political fulcrum since long before Lee. Back in the ‘90s, President Bill Clinton and his Interior Secretary, Bruce Babbitt, were accused of waging a “War on the West” for a different reason.
The Clinton administration’s decidedly pro-environment policies rubbed enough Westerners the wrong way to cause a political backlash. Gov. Mike Sullivan, a man whom I admire and respect deeply, lost his ’94 run for the U.S. Senate when his opponent tarred him with the Clinton/Babbitt “War on the West” brush.
The Trump administration’s policy of merchandising the public domain is every bit as threatening to our Western way of life as Clinton’s hands-off preservation policy. If knuckle-headed politicians get their way, “no trespassing” signs will warn us off of land that belongs to all of us.
That prospect pisses us off as citizens and custodians of public land in Wyoming. And, when we get pissed off, we tend to express our anger in the voting booth. We may not vote our opinions on any other issue, but when it comes to public land, we can and do make politicians feel the heat.
Threats to our public land heritage unify us in our rage as Westerners. We galvanize against them.
I am reminded of another “War on the West,” the Johnson County War of the late 1890s. In that boondoggle, the political power structure in Wyoming colluded among themselves to enlist gunslingers from Texas to invade Wyoming to drive out homesteaders and small ranchers, in order for the moneyed elite to have our range all to themselves.
The grassroots folk of Wyoming banded together to resist and drove off the invaders. Nate Champion — anyone in Wyoming should recognize that name — gave his life to protect our public land, and in the next election, the political enablers of the invasion were swept from office. The new governor was John Osborne, the man who skinned Big Nose George and campaigned wearing shoes cobbled from his hide. But that’s a topic for another column.
Suffice it to say that the Big Empty is littered with the political corpses of fools who try to take our public land from us, or fence us out of it.
Our current congressional delegation — Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, and Rep. Harriet Hageman — would do well to remember this Wyoming history. None of them stood with their constituents while the common folks of Wyoming pushed back against Trump’s new war on our Wyoming values.
I’ve often said that the word “neighbor” is a verb in Wyoming. We might argue and fuss with our neighbor over a fenceline, an irrigation ditch or a stray bull, but when Wyomingites are faced with an outside threat, we neighbor together and fight it.
Our delegation didn’t neighbor with us on this one.
Even though the next election is more than a year away, we should not forget our delegation’s timidity when we were attacked. This Sagebrush Rebellion bullshit is far from over and, like a case of herpes, it’ll be back. We need elected officials who will stand shoulder to shoulder with us to resist it again.
We should demand that our elected officials, from the top down and regardless of party, fight any takeover of our public land. We should make that a core issue of the next election. And the next. And the one after that.
Even if a candidate is running for dogcatcher in Hyattville, we should grill them about their stance on public land, and insist that they side with us. We should know that they share our values before we honor them with our votes. Protecting our public land heritage needs to become the ON/OFF switch for political success in Wyoming. We need to count on our politicians to neighbor with us.
I, for one, want to know who is in the foxhole with me when anyone wages a War on the West.
Great article, Rod Miller!
“I am reminded of another “War on the West,” the Johnson County War of the late 1890s. In that boondoggle, the political power structure in Wyoming colluded among themselves to enlist gunslingers from Texas to invade Wyoming to drive out homesteaders and small ranchers, in order for the moneyed elite to have our range all to themselves.
“The grassroots folk of Wyoming banded together to resist and drove off the invaders. Nate Champion — anyone in Wyoming should recognize that name — gave his life to protect our public land […]”
I am reminded of an essay test I took at UW on Wyoming History from a great professor and the question regarding the Johnson County War. At the same time, I was taking a course on Government and Politics of the USSR from another great professor. As a long believer in mixing subjects, I took the early part of the USSR theory of Marx and repeated it in my essay, substituting bourgeoisie with cattlemen—the owners of the ranches, largely from the East and England—and substituting proletariat with cowboy. The cowboys were the local small ranchers. The professor loved it.
What is happening now is the same. The Trump régime is trying to take public lands from the locals as was done when Nate Campion championed Wyoming rights?
Be careful what you wish for — this régime will steal everything I remember about what makes Wyoming great. The new shit is the same old game—Eastern oligarchs trying to take your public lands.
Thank you, Rod Miller!
Heartened as I am by the public response in Wyoming to the attempted theft of public land, it would be well if those same concerned citizens could realize that this was merely one element in the plans of Project 2025. All the rest of that “Project” is of a piece – the plan is to privatize and monetize everything. There are millions around the country who are just as incensed as Wyomingites were, about dozens of the features of Project 2025. It all goes together, and the perpetrators are not going to give up. Stand up for what is ours – and not just acres, no matter how beautiful they are. I was not born in Wyoming. I came there when I was in third grade, graduated from high school, went away to college, and returned later for another twenty-two years. Now an old man in Texas, I am fortunate to have a 700 acre Audubon Sanctuary to hike in that’s only three miles away. But I sometimes brag to people down here about when I had 50-60,000 acres back in the day, up Happy Jack Road to the area around Pole Mountain. Or best of all, the Snowy Range west of Laramie, though I couldn’t get there multiple times a week.
So nobody loves the Public Lands more than I do (there are almost none in Texas). But there are other things that are just as precious, and those that wanted to take your lands away also want to take a whole lot more from you, and even more from others less fortunate than you are. Be vigilant.
We need to set an example for the future by not re-electing Lummis, Hageman, and Barrasso when their seats come up. They completely ignored what we wanted and bent the knee to the oligarchs. Sweep them out, along with the state congressional knuckleheads who tried to seize public lands in the last session.
Really most of the public land would not of been sold off. Majority of public land has no right of way access.
Thanks, Rod, for the thoughts and for calling out our three congresspersons for not standing with us on public land issues. I called our senators and also senator Lee with my thoughts and was not impressed with silence on the issue from Barrasso and Lummis. On another issue, I’m with Mr Crouch on his mention of their health care stance. I particularly figure as a doctor, Barrasso might have a little more compassion for those among us who are truly in need.
Your comment about Barrasso being a doctor struck a chord with me. He started practicing medicine in 1983. He first ran for a political office in 1996, unsuccessfully. However he was elected to the State Senate in 2002 and has been in some political office ever since. So based on time and grade, I’d classify him as pure politician, a doctor in name only.
It’s interesting to me how the Trump administration came into anther term. Everyone knew from 2021 onward exactly who Trump is and who he represents, yet the gushing enthusiasm to re-elect him was over the top last November. His policies and actions since he was sworn into office last January have bitten many of his worshippers right on the ass. Will those of you who praise the ground Trump walks on still hold him in highest regard? It’s obvious the Freedom Caucus and Trump work for those who use government to manipulate our nation for their own purposes, and to hell with the rest of us. Senator Lee likely thought he had a clear pathway to initiating sales of public lands under Trump. Thankfully he got religion and gave up.
No mystery really. Look at the box of rocks that was the alternative candidate. Other party ran BOX OF ROCKS & DUMBER THAN DIRT. So wasn’t hard choice.
I find your remark offensive Larry. I imagine she is as well educated as you are if not more so. As a woman, I get the message from the misognistic men out there. They will never vote for a woman. Does it make them feel less than?
You and me both Barbara. I appreciate the the editors at WyoFile letting people have their say but my goodness. MAGA meanness doesn’t seem to have any bounds.
Larry, you talk about “box of rocks and dumber than dirt” refering to the former vice president and the governor of Minnesota. To me anyone who voted for a twice impeached, convicted felon and a convicted sex offender, that displays serious mental problems on a daily basis over Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, just because they are democrats, should look really hard in the mirror and question their own mental acuity.
Your title is accurate and note that Bergum, Sec. of Interior, is TOTALLY dedicated to selling these lands which he sees as part of “balance sheet” to pay for Tax Bill just passed. Bergum is also Energy Czar & totally uninterested in conservation tho he was approved because he claimed to be Teddy Roosevelt fan which has to be a farce. https://www.wildlifepolitics.org/blog
I can’t agree more with you on everything here. My only question is what happens when they take voting away?
I served on the Wyoming Outdoor Council for over 25 years. The Council was made of western folks from all walks of life. It is certainly not ruled by outsiders. Tom Bell and his friends, who founded it, loved Wyoming and wanted us to be good stewards of this treasured place. WOC did not try to stop use of public lands: we championed good stewardship. We championed laws, regulations and practices mandating the best available technology when using our resources, whether it was a power plant or oil field sites.
Tom was a rancher as were many of our board members over the years. WOC never opposed public land grazing, as long as it was done with the best available practices.
Public lands should remain in public hands; they should never be there to be raped and scraped by the greedy. Rather they should be a sustainable resources for our children, grand children and greats in the future.
This will only happen it it becomes our highest priority as citizens, for the greedy will always be covetous of them.
Our terrible trio’s stand on healthcare is bewildering. Assuming we still have legitimate elections in 2026, they need to be encouraged to find alternative employment. Virtually any citizen off the street would better represent our iinterests.