Petition to De-Federalize Oregon Lands
and to Return Public Land Ownership Rights
to the Chartered Counties of Oregon
To the Congress of the United States of America:
WHEREAS, the Federal Government of the United States of America has laid claim to more than fifty-three percent of the land base of Oregon in a manner conflicting with the U.S. Constitution, and
WHEREAS, the Federal Government has breached its fiduciary and stewardship duties as trustee of those public lands for the People of Oregon, and
WHEREAS, the Federal Government has mismanaged and committed abuses upon those lands, without the consent of the People of Oregon and to the detriment of the People of Oregon, and that among those abuses committed by the Federal Government are:
- A federal propriety ownership of public lands has been exerted that has denied the rights of Oregonians to care for and steward our own forests, watersheds and rangelands,
- Fees and duties have been imposed on us for use of our own public lands, establishing herein an arbitrary government of Federal bureaucracies, without the consent and against the will of the People of Oregon,
- Bureaucratic conditions and constraints without basis in logic or science, often requested by foreign nations, have been imposed on us without the consent and against the will of the People of Oregon,
- The administration of justice pertaining to Federal lands in Oregon has been obstructed,
- Locked gates have been erected, roads torn out, and entry refused to the People of Oregon into our own public lands
- Wildfires have been allowed to burn across vast tracts, incinerating the wealth of Oregon, and our forests have been firebombed, in direct violation of Federal laws including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Historic Protection Act,
- Wildlife habitat has been destroyed and valued wildlife populations have been threatened,
- Watersheds have been burned, polluting our air and water, and causing sediment to foul our streams,
- Exotic pests, such as Canadian wolves, have been introduced which have attacked our game and domestic animals,
- The forest and range products of Oregon have been withheld and wasted, and the rightful harvest and use of those resources denied to Oregonians, and in so doing our homes, businesses and communities have become bankrupted, our schools, roads and public safety have been under-funded, and our economy has been severely strained, and
WHEREAS, sovereign control, full jurisdiction, and eminent domain by the People of Oregon over the land and resources within its boundaries would be most likely to effect proper stewardship and the safety and happiness of the People of Oregon, and
WHEREAS, the State of Oregon is entitled to those attributes essential to its equality in dignity and power, on an equal footing with other states, and
WHEREAS, the State of Oregon reaffirms allegiance to our sister States and our Union, renders all felicitations and consanguinity to our sister States, and desires to maintain harmonious relations with justice for all,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the undersigned People of Oregon respectfully request the U.S. Congress to return sovereign control, full jurisdiction, and eminent domain of all Federal lands within Oregon's boundaries to the Chartered Counties of the sovereign State of Oregon, 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; and to declare that the power of the Federal government over those lands, as property, shall cease.