Letters

Into the Woods

“Public-Land Colonialism,” by Travis Kavulla (May 19 issue), does a good job of describing Cliven Bundy’s battle with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). However, it gives the impression this is a chapter in a modern story. Actually, it is just a footnote in a story that is well over 100 years old. In the mid to late 19th century, the federal government worked to dispose of federal lands in the West (the Homestead Act of 1862 is an example). At the turn of that century, the modern conservation movement gained strength with leaders like John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, and Gifford Pinchot (the first chief of the Forest Service). Muir believed in preservation, the other two in conservation (wise use). The West was settled by people who believed in exploitation of natural resources. Timber, grazing, mining, oil and gas, and water power are its foundation.