Idaho deserves a BLM chief who won’t sell public lands, access to lakes and waterways

By John Robison
Reader Contributor

The jewel thieves at the Louvre captured international attention for their brazenness in stealing some of France’s most treasured possessions. In terms of national treasures in the U.S., we don’t have much in the way of crown jewels, but what we do have are our public lands and waters. 

And our public lands, rivers and lakes are not some inert relics in a museum, but are living and breathing parts of our communities. These shared resources are the source of family stories and traditions, home for abundant native fish and wildlife, and economic force multipliers for our communities. Public lands and waters mean freedom. 

The Bureau of Land Management manages more than 20% of Idaho’s land base — nearly 12 million acres in the state and about 245 million acres nationwide. While most BLM lands in Idaho are located in the southern part of the state, there are also parcels in North Idaho that the public cherishes. If you’ve watched wildlife at Gamlin Lake or hiked the Mickinnick Trail, you’ve been on BLM land.

While Idahoans may have differing opinions about how these lands should be managed, there is broad agreement on one point: public lands belong in public hands.

Recently, some have floated the idea of selling public lands for affordable housing and other development. While much of Lake Pend Oreille’s shoreline is public, roughly 90% of the shoreline around Lake Coeur d’Alene is already privately owned. Many of the remaining public access sites on Lake Coeur d’Alene — such as the Blackwell Island boat launch — are managed by the BLM. 

If these parcels were ever sold, they would not become affordable housing. They would become luxury homes with private lake access. For most families, that would mean losing access to the water altogether — unless they happen to have friends in high places. 

U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, has rightly called our public lands “the heart and soul of Idaho.” Risch, along with U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo and Rep. Mike Simpson, both R-Idaho, stepped up on behalf of Idahoans last summer and prevented the outright sale of millions of acres of public lands to developers.

So Idahoans might be surprised that the latest nominee to serve as the national BLM director, Steve Pearce, is an ardent supporter of selling off public lands. Pearce is an oil executive and former Congress member from New Mexico (2003-’09 and 2011-’19). In a 2012 letter to then-Republican House Speaker John Boehner, Pearce made the following recommendation to reduce the deficit:

“[d]ivesting the federal government of its vast land holdings could pay down the deficit and reduce spending. The federal government owns roughly 650 million acres of land, or one-third of the entire landmass of our country. Over 90% of this land is located in the Western states and most of it we do not even need.”

In a 2012 speech at the Colorado Conservative Political Action Conference, then-Rep. Pearce boasted: “we’ll reverse this trend of public ownership of lands.” 

Confirming Pearce would be the equivalent of hiring one of the “smash-and-grab” jewelry thieves to manage the national treasure of our living public lands and waters. Of course, any good thief should know that the public is now watching, so we should also beware of under-the-table handouts for billionaires with proposals to “scale back” current land protections. 

Our BLM lands are already in enough trouble — understaffed, underfunded and under increased pressure from invasive species, wildfires, development and other risks. We do not need an auctioneer to hold a fire sale of our public lands to the highest bidder or transfer them to the states (where they would inevitably be sold off). 

Instead, we need a BLM director who treasures our public lands and waters in the same ways that we do. We need someone who can build relationships, bring people together with collaborative solutions and work in good faith to restore, protect and steward our public lands and waterways for future generations of Idahoans. 

Idaho has an important voice in this decision. Risch serves on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which will vet Pearce. Risch is well known for asking tough questions. Idahoans deserve to know if Pearce still supports the sale of America’s public lands. We encourage Risch to oppose Pearce’s nomination. 

If you care about these places, contact Risch and let him know that you oppose Pearce’s nomination by calling his office at 202-224-2752 or using the form on his website at risch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact.

John Robison is the Idaho Conservation League’s public lands and wildlife director and has been working on public lands issues since 2002.