REPRINT of April 2021 article One of the first things President Biden did after his inauguration was to sign an Executive Order outlining the goal of protecting 30 percent of the nation’s land and water resources by 2030. On February 18, 2021, A.J.R. 3 was introduced into the Nevada Legislature expressing the same goal for Nevada’s land and water resources. The Nevada resolution states that only a small percentage of lands in the state are currently protected. Similarly, there are assertions by some groups that only 12 percent of the land in the U.S. and 26 percent of the oceans in our territorial waters are protected. What does “protected “mean? A common dictionary definition says something, or someone is shielded from harm, loss, or danger, in other words, protected. As parents or sons and daughters we protect our loved ones or were protected by them in return, or at least I hope we were. As homeowners or ranchers, we protect our private property, or we lose it. Humans naturally want to protect things and other people who have a special meaning to them. These are basic to our character. We are not alone in this trait. Animals protect their young from the danger which is ubiquitous in nature. There is evidence that some plants are protective of other plants. Tomato plants being protected from certain insects by marigold flowers is one example that comes to mind. In 1872, the USA established the first national park in the world, Yellowstone National Park. The stated reason for this “public park” in the creation legislation was to preserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources in Yellowstone. Later, in 1916, The National Park Service (NPS) was created by its Organic Act. The act set forth the mission of the NPS: “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment 8 JULY/AUGUST 2021
“30 by 2030”
of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations”. The NPS manages over 80 million acres in all 50 states, territories, and protectorates. These places are not just National Parks but historic sites like the Little Big Horn Battlefield and National Recreation Areas like Lake Mead. During the same time as the creation of Yellowstone the U.S. Congress established the office of Special Agent in the Department of Agriculture to analyze the quality of United States forests. This was followed in 1891 by the Forest Reserve Act and finally in 1905 by the creation of the United States Forest Service (USFS) within the United States Department of Agriculture. The USFS manages about 190 million acres of forest and grasslands. The top priority of this agency is to maintain and improve the health, diversity, and productivity of the lands in its portfolio. In 1946 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was created transferring all the land in the jurisdiction of the Federal Land Office to this new agency located within the U.S. Department of the Interior. The BLM oversees the multiple use function of about 245 million acres with the mission to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of public lands. These are just three U.S. agencies charged with sustaining, maintaining, and preserving over 515,000,000 acres of land in the United States. Does what they do sound like protection to you? Note, I have not mentioned Indian Reservations for which the U.S. has a fiduciary trust responsibility. Nor have I mentioned state and national wildlife refuges or military reservations and bombing ranges which total another 159,000,000 acres of land. Thus, with all the entities I have written above, there is something in the neighborhood of 674,000,000 of land owned and thus theoretically protected by the United States.
In total, there are nearly 1.9 billion acres of land in the continental United States. About 41% of this land and the largest use is livestock grazing. The second highest use and another 14% is forest land not in state or national forests. Finally, the third highest use is in cropland. These three uses total about 1.6 billion acres. Obviously, some of this land is owned by the U.S. but I would suggest most, if not all the cropland and the number of forests, is private land. Going back to the total land area number for the continental United States of 1.9 billion acres for an easy number to use in calculation. 30 percent of this total is a little less than 600,000,000 acres. I go back also to a calculation above of 674,000,000 acres owned and controlled by the United States, in other words, all of which depends on how “protection” is defined to determine whether we have already reached the Biden goal. Tellingly, neither the President nor the Nevada Legislature define protection which leaves open a great subjective debate. I believe the nation cannot afford another vicious disagreement on such a fundamental issue as to what needs protection and what has already been protected. For instance, despite the NPS mandate, some say popular parks like Yellowstone and Great Smoky Mountains (the most visited of all our National Parks), have been protected to death while others might say they are doing just fine. What is it, then? Are we protecting or loving these places too much? As for Nevada, every school child in this state knows that over 80% of our land area is controlled and owned by the Federal Government. There are 110,000 square miles or around 70,000,000 acres within our borders. This means at least 56,000,000 acres is not in private hands. Again, assuming ownership and control equals a modicum of protection, the 30% goal has been reached almost three times
The Progressive Rancher
over in Nevada. Therefore, what about our private forests, farms and ranches producing commodities for our use and survival outside of the public domain? Are these acreages to be added to the protected 30 percent if it is determined that military reservation or Indian reservation are exempt from the calculation? Who makes the decision about the final calculation? The President’s order directs the federal agencies to designate land for protection, but it is unclear if this is additional land or includes land already under their management, control and thus subject to the agency’s protection. I have been to Yellowstone and I like it. I operate a cattle operation partially in a designated wilderness area. I like that too. I am very familiar with other Nevada ranch operations with permits utilizing hundreds of thousands of acres for livestock grazing. These ranches are utilizing the resource to produce desirable commodities it is true, but they are also doing so while protecting the resource. There has been a great deal of talk lately about the need for carbon sequestration to help combat global climate change. There is now scientific proof which supports the theory one of the best ways to sequester carbon more rapidly is to use well-managed grazing by herbivores. This grazing tool is also proven to reduce fine fuel loads which contributes greatly to the reduction of fire hazards on the public and private grazing ranges. I would ask is the 30 by 2030 a catchy political slogan or is it a real goal, and if so, how do you square the goal with the reality of land protection which I have outlined above that already exists in our country? Is this a not very well disguised plot to grab more private property for public use? Hmmmm. I’ll see you soon. www.progressiverancher.com
