Frequently Asked Questions
If you have a question to add to this list, please send it to us via the Contact Page [here].
1. What is this about?
2. Is this "privatization"?
3. What rights does the State of Oregon have to the public domain?
4. Why are the Counties the appropriate jurisdictions?
5. How has the Federal Government abused their trust responsibilities?
6. How will environmental stewardship improve if the lands are transferred to the Counties?
7. How will jobs and the economy be affected?
8. How will public health and safety be affected?
9. How will the counties provide fire support for the forests?
1. What is this about?
Give Us Our Land Back is a 501(c)4 civic betterment corporation spearheading the Petition to De-Federalize Oregon Lands. We seek redress of grievances as authorized by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Our grievances are:
- our public lands rightfully belong to the Counties of Oregon,
- we deserve, indeed are Constitutionally guaranteed, the same rights and privileges afforded other States, and
- Federal trusteeship over those lands has failed catastrophically, damaging our environment, our economy, and our social integrity.
2. Is this "privatization"?
No. We wish public lands to remain public, and all citizens afforded all rights to be upon and use those lands in compliance with Oregon State public land use laws. We will include provisions that specify public land shall remain public in the Legislation we are preparing [here].
3. What rights does the State of Oregon have to the public domain?
When Oregon was admitted to the Union, the 1859 Act of Congress stated, "That Oregon be, and she is hereby, received into the Union on an equal footing with the other States in all respects whatever…"
Few other States have more than half their lands held by the Federal Government. That condition, tantamount to an absentee-owned colony, is manifestly unequal with respect to other States.
The US Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 provides that the Federal Government may purchase property, "…by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings."
The Oregon Legislature never consented, nor did the Federal Government purchase most of the 53% of Oregon that is now in Federal hands.
Our Petition to De-Federalize Oregon Lands requests the return of Federal lands with the exception of "…military bases and armories, naval yards, Federal buildings, and properties purchased by the Federal Government with the consent of the Oregon State Legislature." The Petition is thus in accord with the US Constitution.
4. Why are the Counties the appropriate jurisdictions?
The Federal Government has always recognized the primacy of County jurisdiction.
When reservation of public domain for forest reserves occurred in 1891, the Federal Government began providing Counties with payments in lieu of (instead of) property taxes. That practice continues to this day, bolstered by the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) Act (Public Law 94-565) of 1976, amended by Public Law 97-258 in 1982 and codified at Chapter 69, Title 31 of the United States Code, and the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act of 2000 (PL 106-393 and 110-343). In all cases the precedent set is that Counties are the rightful jurisdictions.
US Forest Service National Forest and Bureau of Management District boundaries follow County lines in Oregon. Those lands have been managed by the Federal Government on behalf of the Counties since creation of the Federal public land reserves.
5. How has the Federal Government abused their trust responsibilities?
It is clearly stated in the Petition. See the bulleted points.
In short, the Federal Government has locked Oregonians out of the public lands, catastrophically burned our forests, extirpated our wildlife populations, fouled our air and water, and impoverished our communities. Oregon has led the Nation with the highest rates of unemployment, business bankruptcy, home foreclosure, and hunger of any state, while the natural resource wealth of Oregon has been incinerated in the largest fires in State history. Recently Federal agencies have restricted the use of fire retardant and substituted aerial ignition – dropping incendiaries on our old-growth forests.
All this has been done without the consent of Oregonians, and in defiance of both State and Federal law.
6. How will environmental stewardship improve if the lands are transferred to the Counties?
The local residents are closely familiar with our natural environment, and are the most affected by impacts to our watersheds, forests, and rangelands. We understand and appreciate our environmental heritage and are motivated to leave an environmental legacy to our children and grandchildren.
The impacts are local, and so the responsibility should be local. We know best how to manage our own public lands. Local "vernacular" management by free people always leads to the best stewardship. Conversely, absentee management by outside entities with disregard for the local residents has been historically the source of major environmental catastrophes.
It is worth noting that Federal control has devastated our environment. It is difficult to see how local control could do any worse, and every reason to believe local control will be far superior.
The Counties of Oregon must comply with the Oregon State Forest Practices Act, the strongest such law in the Nation. Counties must also comply with the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and other national environmental laws (which Federal agencies frequently violate). The Counties of Oregon are not subject to Federal agency rules and regulations (which Federal agencies chronically cite in denying to the residents of Oregon influence and coordination over management of our own public lands).
7. How will jobs and the economy be affected?
Federal control over our public lands has usurped the productive use of local natural resources for the economic benefit, well-being, and cultural vitality of Oregon communities. Currently 25% of rural Oregonians receive food stamps, and many more qualify. Effective unemployment is over 20%. Rural Oregon counties teeter on bankruptcy.
Local control, wherein local communities can chart our own future, will lead to an economic renaissance in Oregon. We do not seek to exploit but to steward our public lands in a rational, sustainable manner, for immediate and long-term benefit.
The national economy will be improved because the cost of Federal control and attendant welfare in Oregon is in the $billions per year. Rather than expending scarce Federal funds on the destruction of Oregon’s environment and impoverishment of our residents, the Federal Treasury will be enhanced through savings and increased tax revenue.
8. How will public health and safety be affected?
Currently public health and safety is threatened by unfought fires emanating from Federally controlled lands. Recent catastrophic fires have repeatedly spread from unkempt, unmanaged, fuel-laden Federal land to private land, and even into cities, wreaking $billions in damages.
Our air has been fouled with smoke and particulates, leading to increased hospitalization for respiratory distress. Our waterways have been polluted with ash and sediment runoff after the fires. Our watersheds have been devastated; former forests are now moonscapes of scorched earth left to sprout into brushfields, inviting return fires in a few years.
Oregon residents have been repeatedly evacuated from our homes in the face of Federal holocausts. Homes and businesses have been burned. Lives have been lost.
Federal officials including the US Secretary of Agriculture and Chief of the US Forest Service have warned us repeatedly that communities within 30 miles of Federally controlled land are at risk from their fires.
Local control will necessarily lead to greater concern for public health and safety. We do not wish our homes and communities threatened by Federal fires, and will take appropriate measures to mitigate the source of the threat – mismanaged public lands and Federal policies which encourage massive fuel buildup, Let It Burn, and firebombing of our forests.
9. How will the counties provide fire support for the forests?
Fire suppression costs will likely be much less, while available revenues for fire protection will increase.
Fuel loadings and fuel continuity (and hence the fire hazard) will be reduced as counties practice active management which the Federal Government refuses to do. Wildfires will receive better initial attack with intent to contain, control, and extinguish.
There will be no more Let It Burn fires. National Forests throughout Oregon have written Let It Burn into their Fire Plans, calling it variously Prescribed Natural Fire, Wildfire Use For Resource Benefit, Appropriate Management Response, Natural Ignitions To Achieve Desired Objectives, or Partial Perimeter Control. Federal fire policies have resulted, over the last ten years, in the largest fires in state history in every western state, and the most expensive.
Counties cannot afford to have their natural resources destroyed. The economic damages from catastrophic fires are 10 to 40 times the suppression costs.
In Oregon, the Oregon Department of Forestry is far superior at fire control compared to the Federal Government. The State puts fires out, whereas the USFS and BLM have banned fire retardant and instead drop exploding glycerin balls from helicopters, igniting crown fires in old-growth.
The additional revenues enjoyed by the counties and the State from responsible, sustainable harvests (now absent on Federal lands), plus the increased tax revenues from a recovering economy (finally free to utilize natural resources in a sustainable manner), will more than pay for any increase in State and County fire budgets. County-State fire collaboration will also be more efficient.
The Federal Government may still have a roll to play in megafire incidents, but there will be far fewer of those (because they result from irresponsible and destructive Federal policies). There will be huge savings ($billions per year) to the Federal Treasury and taxpayers because most Federal firefighting, such as it is, will become unnecessary.