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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (64481)	4/24/2013 7:10:52 PM
From: ManyMoose	Respond to of 71588

I wouldn't characterize the BLM that way, although I do wonder why they didn't dispose of federal lands as originally intended. There are some things they could have done, such as consolidate isolated parcels surrounded by other ownerships. I recall my District had two sections of old railroad land that the BLM administered, that were surrounded on all sides by national forest land. They never came out to manage those two sections, and we drove by them all the time. Also, I wouldn't necessarily blame BLM management for failing to dispose of federal lands. They probably were doing just what congress told them to do. While I'm on it, the need for transcontinental railroads developed in the 19th century resulted in some huge land grants that enabled the railroads to cross the continent. The lands that I'm familiar with resulted in a checkerboard of alternating sections, with the non-RR sections going to the Forest Service. This made for a very difficult management situation. The railroads, and later Plum Creek Corporation which took over the management of those old grants, did exactly what would have been expected of them: they clear cut everything that was merchantable right up to the forest boundary. The result is a checkerboard which you can see on Google Earth at the following coordinates Lat 46deg 37min N; Long 114deg 31 min. I wish Google Earth had a screen capture feature so I could post the image I am so familiar with. You can see Forest Service Management in the primarily green sections, where the managers laid in small cutting units that were more consistent with ecological and environmental values. The bright side is that the 'devastated' sections left by Plum Creek and the railroads are not devastated at all, but are largely stocked with young, fast-growing trees. It's easy to demonize the railroads or Plum Creek and many do. Those who indulge in that should contemplate that the companies did exactly what congress allowed them to do in order to get railroads built across the continent. If we didn't get those railroads when we did, there's no telling if we would even have a country now. If you want to demonize somebody, demonize congress and any corrupt politicians or railroad tycoons who bought them off. But remember the country needed the railroads real bad.