Public Lands Under Siege: What's The Latest?
- colin7931
- Jun 27
- 27 min read
Today on the show Colin welcomes Tania Lown-Hecht from the Outdoor Alliance and Friends of Grand Rapids Parks Executive Director Stacy Bare to chat about the latest efforts to sell off our public lands.
Tania provides an update of where things stand with Senator Mike Lee's proposed sell off while Stacy provides some context on the importance of protecting and preserving our public lands.
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Episode Transcript:
Colin True
00:00:00.320 - 00:00:50.880
Welcome to the Rock Fight, where we speak our truth, slays sacred cows, and sometimes agree to disagree. This is an outdoor podcast that aims for the head. I'm Colin True and today it's all eyes on our public lands.
But before we get to that, be sure to come back to the Rock Plate on Monday to get the latest insight into what is happening in the outdoor industry with outdoor industry insider Owen Comerford and outdoor creative and brand guru producer Dave. Both of them join me every week on Monday.
Then on Tuesday check out a brand new episode of Open Container hosted by industry legend the Doug Schnitzpahn. You can find the Open Container podcast feed on your favorite podcast app.
And lastly, next week you'll get the final two interviews that Owen and I conducted at GOA Connect.
On Wednesday, you'll hear from Eagle Creek's Travis Campbell and on Friday, celebrate the 4th of July with John Frederick of RAB and stick around, we'll be right back.
Chris DeMakes
00:00:51.680 - 00:00:54.320
Welcome to the Rock Fight. Rock Fight.
Colin True
00:00:58.740 - 00:05:08.860
Hey everyone, before we keep going here, I need to tell you about our teammates at Darby Communications.
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Since we started working with Darby, more and more people, and this is an important point now. Guys, I want you to hear me on this. More and more people have reached out to us here at the Rock Fight because of that messaging.
Look guys, I'm dead serious. If they can help us, they can help anybody. Hit them up@darbycommunications.com do it today.
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So not to launch into the episode with curse words, but the past few weeks have been fucking nuts.
If you live here in the United States of America, we have a presidential administration sending out goons to round up people for deportation and also using the military to stand by to help them. In our own cities. We subsequently protested our current presidential administration in a way that has never been seen before.
But then after that we started dropping bombs in Iran, which has overshadowed all of the other awful stuff that they've been up to. But the one constant theme through all of that has been the push by Congress to pass Trump's big, beautiful bill.
And by the way, saying those words together just made me spontaneously bleed out of my mouth, which is the incredibly unpopular domestic policy bill that anyone who isn't a Trump loyalist think will set our country back a few steps. And in that piece of legislation has been multiple variations of proposals to sell off anywhere from 500,000 to 3.3 million acres of our public land.
All of which has been driven by Utah's Senator Mike Lee, for reasons no one can really explain but ultimately don't really matter because if anything gets this guy up in the morning, it's trying to sell off the places where we all recreate. Along the way.
Here on the Rock Fight, we've been talking to the good folks at the Outdoor alliance about what's been happening and how they've been helping to coordinate a response from the voice of the human powered outdoor community.
And today on the show, Tanya Lone Hecht, the tirelessly working VP of Communications for the Outdoor alliance, is back on the Rock Fight to give us the latest update and how.
The bottom line is we can never really relax this topic while these folks have control of DC Then after speaking to Tanya, I had a chance to speak with Stacy Baer, who's the executive director of Friends at Grand Rapids Parks in Michigan. If you work in the outdoor industry, there's a good chance you know or know of Stacy.
Stacy is a Iraqi war veteran who credits outdoor activities on public lands as one of the keys to his recovery of depression and PTSD that developed as a result of his service. So let's get things going. Welcome back to the Rock Fight, where today it's all things public lands with Tanya Lone Hecht and Stacy Bear.
All right, we're recording this at 2 o' clock Pacific time on Wednesday, June 25th.
And if you hear a time and date disclaimer before I introduce a guest, you know, that probably means that Tanya Lone Hecht is joining the rock fight from the Outdoor Lions to give us a public lands sell off update. Hi, Tanya.
Tania Lown-Hecht
00:05:09.100 - 00:05:10.940
Hi, Colin. Thank you for having me.
Colin True
00:05:13.260 - 00:05:15.740
Sounds very sincere. Thank you so much.
Tania Lown-Hecht
00:05:16.540 - 00:05:20.060
I'm sorry to be here. I have some good news today, too, though.
Colin True
00:05:20.060 - 00:06:01.740
Oh, good. Okay. Well, hold on, hold on. Let's, let's. Well, we can get to that. But the last, it was only 12 days ago, the last time you were here.
And at that point we talked about the new attempt by members of the United States Senate to sell off upwards of 3 million acres of public lands, which came after an attempt by the House to sell off half a million acres of public lands. It seems the bipartisan line is holding. Right, because the outdoor voices have been loud.
And as of yesterday, June 24, leader of the public land grabbed Senator Mike Lee, aka Beelzebub, announced that they were going to revise their proposal.
So the call of action, call to action worked again, but kind of did it really, because wasn't there also like a, an error that sort of led to him backing off? Like, what's going on, Tanya?
Tania Lown-Hecht
00:06:02.060 - 00:06:31.840
Yeah. So it's all very complicated, but there's good news and bad news.
The good news is that this, his most recent proposal to sell off 3.3 million acres of public lands and that the maps that were going around that were going crazy showed there's like more than 250 million acres of public land that would be available for those 3.3 million acres of sale. So that riled people up. I mean, just Outdoor alliance alone, we sent half a million, half a million letters to lawmakers. And I know lots of other.
Colin True
00:06:31.840 - 00:06:32.440
Is that a record?
Tania Lown-Hecht
00:06:33.160 - 00:09:40.270
Oh, yeah, by a lot. Yeah, if I look really tired, that's why. But that was, you know, people spoke up. Lawmakers really, really hurt us.
Lots of Republicans coming out saying that they support public lands, that they want to see public lands stay public. The outcry was really effective, the same way that it was in the House. And just as you know, we were really rounding the corner on that.
This proposal from Mike Lee actually got taken out of the bill due to procedural reasons. So it's a little complicated to explain.
But basically, when the Senate wants to pass something through reconciliation, which is they can do it once a year, it's a spending package. They only need 50 votes or like a simple majority, 51 votes. But it has to.
Everything that's in the bill has to be budgetary and any policy has to be incidental to that. So there's something that's called the birdbath, where a parliamentarian goes in and sees does the legislation pass muster to be included or not.
And so Mike Lee's proposal went through that and it got taken out. Now there's some way, like, as I understand, there's some ways they could fight it, they could come back, and there's lots of different things.
But basically Mike Lee was like backed off, said, all right, I hear you, but I'm going to reintroduce something new and better because he is completely determined to sell off public lands. His first attempt was this one most recent attempt was pretty sloppy, right?
Like the fact that almost any multiple use land could have been on the chopping block really got people's ire. And now his new proposal, I would say we just came out today.
We've been looking at it, been on the phone like all day talking about it, but it is, it's also somewhat sloppily written, but it looks pretty different.
It focuses just on Bureau of Land Management lands, BLM lands, and it's BLM lands that are within five miles of a population center, which is undefined in the bill. But we're looking at our maps at like towns of 2,500 or more, because that's a sense how the census defines a population center.
Okay, so the map looks really different. But the interesting thing about it is that this bill also would require the sale of a certain percentage of public land.
So it's 0.5 to 0.25 to 0.5% of DOI land. So by our estimates that somewhere between a million, but possibly up to 2 million acres.
But the amount of land that he's defined on here on the map, it looks like just about a million acres. So if we're reading the legislation correctly, we can map like everything that he wants to sell off.
And it includes a bunch of great mountain biking trails, some stuff around Moab, some mountain biking trails, Sandy Ridge around Mount Hood where I am, lunch loops around Grand Junction, and a bunch of other stuff. So.
And I think maybe his hope is like, these maps won't look as bad and people won't get as riled up about it, but selling off a million acres of public land, your trail that you go to after work, that's a big deal.
Colin True
00:09:41.670 - 00:10:01.430
What is this guy's Deal. Like, what is the end game? What. I feel like they're probably gonna be the bipartisan line, like I mentioned. Like, people are still sort of.
This is the one thing. It's consistent. People are coming out like they're fine putting the differences aside.
And it's like, isn't he potentially jeopardizing the other horrible things that they're trying to get done by just continuing to hammer this in?
Tania Lown-Hecht
00:10:01.750 - 00:10:02.190
Yes.
Colin True
00:10:02.190 - 00:10:07.110
Like, who else is with. Who else is like, oh, Mike, yeah, good idea. I mean, does he have allies?
Tania Lown-Hecht
00:10:08.330 - 00:10:21.930
Interesting.
I mean, things are quite partisan now, but he is really out of step with the American public, and he's out of step with his colleagues as well, which is insane.
Colin True
00:10:22.090 - 00:10:24.650
If anything, they've been pretty good about staying in step with each other.
Tania Lown-Hecht
00:10:25.690 - 00:10:57.650
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's interesting. There are. We are hearing that many offices are much more opposed to this than they're coming out and saying.
And so people's letters are really, really, really working. I mean, sending thousands of letters to an office has a really big impact because lawmakers feel that they want to get reelected.
You know, they don't want people really pissed at them. This is not a winning issue. And, I mean, if I were Mike Lee, I'd back far, far away from this.
Colin True
00:10:57.810 - 00:11:04.370
I mean, any sense of what's happening behind the scenes is like, you know, is Adam hanging out at the Capitol, like, listening in on. On conversations?
Tania Lown-Hecht
00:11:05.290 - 00:11:56.940
We have a little bit of a sense of what's behind the scenes, but not always a ton. I mean, Congress is so interesting because it's really like. It's really like high school in a way. You know, no. No one.
No single person makes decisions. They're all trading favors. They're all, you know, trying to listen to leadership of their parties, especially when there's a really narrow majority.
There's things that an office might feel, but they're not able to say because they don't want to jeopardize some other piece of legislation maybe that they really care about that they're doing some training with. So the behind the scenes, the politics is really fascinating.
And I guess it feels like the most important thing to say, though, is, like, it really does matter that we've reached out on these issues. And it feels hard.
You know, I do communication, so sometimes I feel bad just coming back over and over to people saying, like, you need to keep writing letters. Keep calling.
Colin True
00:11:57.420 - 00:11:59.420
Click the link. The link makes it easy.
Tania Lown-Hecht
00:11:59.590 - 00:11:59.750
Just.
Colin True
00:11:59.750 - 00:12:01.510
It's not hard. Don't feel bad.
Tania Lown-Hecht
00:12:01.990 - 00:12:15.510
Yeah, it is very easy, but it really. It's making a huge difference. And it feels, it can feel demoralizing to play whack a mole. You're like, I just stopped this. Why is there another one?
But that's just, you know, that's just how it works.
Colin True
00:12:15.990 - 00:12:26.150
Well, I think it's easy to do. And also, by the way, like Mike Lee, you've given them a face to this issue. So you, you are now the villain. Anything? Any.
Well, so this is just coming out today. What are we expecting next?
Tania Lown-Hecht
00:12:27.880 - 00:12:58.300
Well, what's next, as far as we understand it is right now. His new legislation is going through this bird bath process that I explained earlier.
And then the Senate's going to start voting probably over the weekend. They do this thing called the Votorama where they just vote on like a ton of different amendments. They stay up all night doing it.
And we'll know a little bit more hopefully early next week about whether maybe his proposal will get voted down, maybe it'll get voted in. And then we think the vote on the whole package will happen next week. Now, this could change.
Colin True
00:12:58.300 - 00:12:59.140
No time to waste.
Tania Lown-Hecht
00:12:59.380 - 00:13:01.860
Yeah, no time to waste. Like write a letter today.
Colin True
00:13:02.100 - 00:13:05.300
Do we have an updated link to link?
Tania Lown-Hecht
00:13:05.300 - 00:13:05.780
Yep.
Colin True
00:13:06.100 - 00:13:22.980
All right. It'll be in the show. Notes, send. Click the link. Keep it going. Let's just, let's do not let up. We cannot let up.
By the way, do you realize it was only, it was less than two weeks ago that we were protesting this government? You know, so it's kind of like so much has happened in the last, oh, we started a war with Iran. So like. Yeah, it just keeps on going.
Tania Lown-Hecht
00:13:24.040 - 00:13:26.040
Yeah, there's a lot. There's a lot happening.
Colin True
00:13:27.000 - 00:13:35.240
All right, well, this one's coming up and needs to be addressed now, so make sure we are protecting our public lands. Tanya, thanks so much as always for coming on the show, keeping us posted.
Tania Lown-Hecht
00:13:35.480 - 00:13:36.920
Thank you again for having me.
Colin True
00:13:39.160 - 00:15:06.370
Okay, thanks to Tanya for coming on the show. We're going to take a quick break and then we'll be back with Stacy Bear in the store aisles. A quiet revolution is happening with Endeavor.
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Colin True
00:15:19.180 - 00:15:32.660
Oh, this is djct and welcome back to Rock Fight Radio, where today we're excited to share with you. You guessed it, the latest from Fitz. Here's a little taste of fits like you exclusively independent out in a town.
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Colin True
00:16:18.750 - 00:17:00.170
Check out all of the hits from Fitz on their Spotify playlist. And now back to the show. All right, let's get into my conversation with Stacy Bear. A couple quick things.
When I hit record, we were already talking, so I'm about to drop you into our conversation in an abrupt way because I liked where Stacy was going and didn't want to interrupt his flow. Secondly, Stacy's audio is a little rough. Like, you know, on the should I have scrapped this whole thing? Kind of rough.
But what he added to this conversation on public lands was good enough that I felt like it was worth sharing, even with some shoddy audio. I promise to buy Stacy a new microphone before the next time he joins us. But just heads up if it sounds a little crunchy on Stacy's end. That's why.
So let's get into our conversation. Here is Stacy Bear.
Stacy Bare
00:17:00.570 - 00:17:27.859
What Senator Lee is Talking about in terms of, well, we have all this property, and so we're going to sell the land and we're going to develop it for housing, but there's not going to be any community input. And there's not. And we're not going to guarantee that it's going to be what, affordable housing. It's just we have to have more housing.
And so we're going to sell off this land next to these places or up to a certain percentage. Right. And so it's not like we're necessarily going to sell all 3 million acres. It's the 3 million acres become eligible for sale.
Colin True
00:17:28.099 - 00:17:28.499
Right.
Stacy Bare
00:17:28.579 - 00:20:21.290
And we're making. And that's ridiculous because you can already lease land for housing from public land. Right.
And Secretary Haaland under the Biden administration did this often. But the policy isn't, isn't very exciting. It's not very interesting. But it is happening. And most policy shouldn't be really interesting or exciting.
Like DC Is not supposed to be Hollywood. It's not supposed to be a soap opera.
And that, I think, is the challenge, is that there are already processes in place to lease public land for housing or for other causes. But why these 3 million acres? Why now? Why is Montana exempt? Why are other states exempt?
Does this play into, are we going to lose access to public water? Are we going to lose access to headwaters and fishing in this property sale? What does that look like?
Are we going to look at, if we've got at the EPA and we're not going to look at environmental regulation, why aren't we building these right next to existing infrastructure, what the zoning look like? So there are all these things that, and you can say it's just for housing, but it's really easy to look at that.
And I'm having a harder and harder time not engaging in conspiracy theories that this is going to be some sort of quantum solace, mission impossible, or this is going to be some sort of Mad Max scenario where we're selling off all of our access to water.
And I think what you're seeing, thankfully, is that what you and I believe to be true, and I think a lot of other people, is that public lands continue to be a nonpartisan issue. It's a place where, where Americans can get together and say, I love fishing, right? And like, I love fly fishing and I love bass fishing, too.
I mean, and, you know, if you've ever caught a northern pike and felt the sandpaper on your thumb, I mean, it's a real, it's a real thrill as much as I love to climb and you know, I've got my Patagonia fleece that I've had forever hanging out in my closet, and I've also got, you know, my, my bass fishing hat. So I think it's one of these places where we're seeing America come together and being like, whoa, whoa, whoa, this is too far. And I think.
But the bigger issue is we have advocates on both sides of the aisle. Angus King, who's an independent, has also been really strong on this. Senator King. But where are we? You know, Caroline Gleich ran for Senate.
He made it. He made an effort. Where are we at the county and state and city level? And I think we, as an outdoor community, who's going to take the sacrifice?
Because I think we all took to heart Ed Abbey when he said, be a half assed activist and still go outside and enjoy the land. But I think what we're seeing now is that you've got to be running for office.
Colin True
00:20:22.890 - 00:21:01.340
Well, I'm not going to cut any of that. We're just going to get right into it and not do the typical intro that we do.
Because that was great and actually I had it for later on in our conversation. But yet what is the end game here? It's hard not to go the conspiracy places, right?
These, these proposals are massively unpopular and they constantly have to change. So, like, why do, like, why does a knob like Mike Lee, like, what is he. Why is he insisting on this to happen?
I mean, is it just like, well, I promise these people they could have this chunk of land, so I got to figure out a way to sell it to them. Like, that was part of the campaign promise. Is it as simple as that? I, I, like, I just, I can't. Why are you picking this fight?
Isn't it actually distracting from other terrible things that you want to do that we would also probably be opposed to? I just, this is so weird to me.
Stacy Bare
00:21:02.130 - 00:21:49.430
So weird. Because there's already a process, right? It's like. But it's even the conversation around. I mean, like, why are we rescinding the roadless rule?
Like, who wants roads in 53 million acres of U.S. forest Service? Like, who wants. Like, we're going to increase timber production. Fine, Increase timber production.
There's processes in place to increase timber production. Nobody is against timber production. Nobody is against better management of our forest. Look, our forest.
Like, as much as I love what parts of what Teddy Roosevelt's legacy is, the no burn in forest has been like, we all know the science it's bad, right? We need to burn. We need to do these things.
And even, like, you know, in 2016, when Donald Trump was saying we need to rake the fourth floor, like, what I think he was trying to say is we need to remove fuel from the forest.
Colin True
00:21:49.830 - 00:21:52.470
You think that's really what he was trying to say? Do you think that's what he was.
Stacy Bare
00:21:52.550 - 00:25:39.040
That's what I'm saying. I'm going with it, man. I lived in Germany. I never saw him out with a broom in the forest.
But I can understand what you're saying if, like, we've got to create fire safe corridors. But then why are you cutting funding to the fire service? Why are you cutting. Like, there's not even people to effectuate the timber sale. Right?
And even, you know, here in Michigan, Governor Whitmer has taken a lot of heat nationally for meeting for Trump with our, with the head of our state House. And, you know, and a lot of people nationally, they're like, wow, it's just for the air base. Not at all.
I mean, women went, our delegation went to make sure that we continue to protect the Great Lakes because federal funding has helped to keep the land prey out of the Great Lakes.
And we've got to make sure that the Great Lakes fishery, which, you know, it's like a $65 billion fishery and the largest, you know, fresh water, like, it's this massive freshwater system. And, you know, the president's like, do they all connect? And. Yeah, they all connect.
And that's why he had to go and be like, we need the funding to make sure that we don't screw over this fishery that got screwed over in 1957. And it's taken since 1957. We finally have lake trout populations back to where they were in 1957. White fish are still really down.
This is really not exciting stuff for the everyday regular person. They just want to go out and fish. They want to do those things. So we have to educate people on these things. But also, sure. Did we get the air base?
Yeah. Is that going to be an economic potential? Economic boon, maybe. But the more important thing there is that our fishery stays intact.
And it's not just for recreational fishery. It's for the health of the entire fucking planet.
And so I don't know what the end game is, because also, why not develop the oil and the oil and mineral leases for housing then? Why not do that? You already have more than. I think it's like maybe 50% of all land that's leased for oil and fuel. Development is even ever explored.
So we've locked up a ton of public land already. Why not lease that? Why not cattle ranching? Why are we lowering the price for what it takes to lease cattle on public land?
Why not increase that price? Why not turn that into more land? There are opportunities that already exist, and there's a process in place for doing it. So what is the end game?
Is it just because somebody has to, like, pound their chest and be like me, big, tough policymaker, and any of these guys, let's go camping. Let's go look at that land. I'll go tomorrow. Let's go camping. Let's go fishing. Let me show you what you're missing.
And let's take the people who are from those places and let's take them out there.
And I think you can have a really good argument, Colin, that there are people in a place like Moab, potentially in a place like, you know, Boulder, Utah, even Marquette, Michigan, now, where you can say, did the public. Are the public lands built for the public who fear, or is it for somebody else? I think that's a fair argument.
I think it's something we have to talk about. I think, you know, making the New River Gorge a national park without additional funding and without supporting the community.
In West Virginia, we saw housing prices skyrocket. Those are issues we need to talk about for housing. Those are.
There are policy fixes, there are zoning fixes, but just selling off another 3 million acres or making 40% of public lands eligible for sale, it's not going to create the solution that they think it is. And so that's why it's easy then to go back to the conspiracies of, like, what's the end game here? Is it just.
Instead of national parks, Aramark could manage everything.
Colin True
00:25:41.840 - 00:26:05.840
Well. So, okay, so you're. We mentioned, I mean, I'll mention in my intro, but like, you're the executive director of the Friends at Grand Rapids park.
So you're in Michigan. You've made it. You've made.
You've made being Michigan part, definitely a big part of your kind of personality and who you are and kind of like part of your journey.
And part of this, when we have these conversations around public lands and everything, you're just saying, as we kind of open this conversation, right? It's feels a little more personal when it's coming from you. Like, why is that, like, why does this feel so personal to you?
Stacy Bare
00:26:07.510 - 00:26:35.190
Right, sorry. This is the problem, Colin. You and I have become friends. And so.
So now I know it's a problem in that I'm just like, willing to go down all the tangents in my head. Right. I'm so, you know, I mean, we, we could be discussing, you know, the Detroit Tigers lineup, if you want to go there.
Feels like having a great season, having a good year, having a great year. So. And we don't know what to do with that. Like, the Lions are good, the Tigers are good. Now we have to pay attention.
Colin True
00:26:35.560 - 00:26:37.960
Pistons had a decent season, didn't they? They were all right.
Stacy Bare
00:26:38.280 - 00:26:40.560
The Lions. Did you? The Lions?
Colin True
00:26:40.560 - 00:26:41.960
No, Pistons. I said the Pistons.
Stacy Bare
00:26:42.440 - 00:29:55.090
Oh, also fuck you. Yes, the Pistons had a great year. And then, I mean, what happened in the playoff anyway? Yeah. So I think the connection.
Why it's so deeply personal to me and also the connection from, you know, why do I, as somebody who works on city parks, care so deeply about our national parks is because it's the thread that runs through there.
Very few people understand the difference, nor should we ask them to necessarily understand the difference between a city park all the way to a state park or a national park. Different funding and different experiences stir to a point. But we have to focus on what's that user experience across groups. Right.
And what's that user experience across landscape and public parks are where most people are going to get their all. Most people are going to find their time outside and they're connecting outside in their municipal or county park first.
And then it's that national park, then it's that national forest or that BLM land or that dispersed primitive camping like, like. And, and for me, like, I fought for this country.
You know, my dad backed his signature when I was 17 years old to the recruiter in Oxford, Mississippi, where I was going to college to make sure that I could sign up.
And the blank deck of my life was given over to the United States people to fight and swear and protect, to swear my life, protect and defend the Constitution. I fought for this country. Thousands of people before me, thousands of people, currently, thousands of people after, will fight for this country.
Public land. You can make all sorts of arguments about public land. Abstract. Wild does a good job of laying out some of the negatives of public land.
Yes, we took these lands from an indigenous community that was here before us. Varied indigenous communities. Those are all conversations that need to be happened. And we still have this public land apparatus.
We can still get out there. It is the best thing in a system that we have. That's what I fought for. I came home, I healed on that land.
It was people inviting me out to A county park in Boulder, Colorado, where I had my first experience climbing, but even before that, living in Philly and one of the best municipal park systems in the country. In that park system, just having lunch, having a light hike.
And now here in Grand Rapids, where we have this amazing experience where we're working with the indigenous population to help enforce treaty rights, let people know who was on the land first, that they're still here, that there are opportunities to honor the original stewards of the land and also get nuts on a mountain bike and the amazing bird populations and. And go fishing and all these amazing things. And so it's that through line. An attack on any of our public land is an attack on all of our public land.
And people love to say thank you for your service, but if they're not out there fighting, but then like, okay, what are you doing? What are you doing to show gratitude, you know, because gratitude is an active process. Reciprocity to the land is an active process.
Not everybody has to fight for public lands like I want them to, per se, but engage in the process of public dialogue and policy dialogue.
Colin True
00:29:55.730 - 00:30:31.730
Does it feel like the, you know, not to get into, like, a prediction, but it just, you know, we have the bill comes out of the House like, ah, that got defeated. Now this coming up. Well, there's a set. We're recording this on the 25th. There's a setback yesterday. We know that that was more of a.
A legal setback than, like, a change of opinion about anything. So, you know, there's going to be coming and then. And then. And then it feels like this is just probably not going to go away.
And if you look at the history of Mike Lee, like, this has been a bugaboo for him for how long? You know, how do you feel like at some point he manages to squeak something through, or do you feel like the.
We have the ability to kind of, you know, with our collective voice, to kind of keep that at bay.
Stacy Bare
00:30:32.370 - 00:33:39.240
You have Senator Dane from Montana, and you have Senator Ritz and Senator Crapple from Idaho. They've all come out and said, we're against it. You have Representative Zinke who said this is his San Juan Hill. Right.
Like, and I met Ryan several times and, you know, from a public lands perspective and a hunting and outdoor recreation perspective and his commitment to public lands and his commitment to the veteran community. Representative Zinke and I are on the same page, and I've had great conversations with Senator Wrist over the years.
He wouldn't remember who I am, but I've spent a lot of time in his office and I've always enjoyed the conversations. And before him, Simpson. And so there are champions that I don't think want to see this type of thing happen.
And I think that's also one of the things why Montana is exempt is because, you know, Senator Lee is trying hard to ameliorate Zinke and knows that if Montana is exempt. But I hope Representative Zinke continues to be the champion.
I hope Senator Daines, who is a champion for our public lands and the delegation from Idaho continue to push it.
I got to thank Senator Kennedy understands the value of public lands in a place like New Orleans, where, you know, he represents Louisiana and New Orleans and throughout that state. Army Corps of Engineers, critical, critical public lands down there. Same thing with the Tennessee Valley Authority.
But we don't tie always the Army Corps of Engineers, Public Lands Management, the Bureau of Land Management to these other places. And it's up to us to help educate people and let them know what these intricacies are.
And I think it's easy when you're so deep into it to come off condescending to others who don't understand. And I think that's my fear that we do that.
And I, and I feel like, I know there are times probably people have had those conversations with me and they're like, calm yourself, buddy. But I mean, these are the places where I've healed. These are the places like, like I am alive. I am still alive.
I woke up today because of our public land.
I woke up to get to work on our public land here in Grand Rapids and also to get to work, you know, on my lunch hour and before and after work, to make sure that as many people as possible know that our public lands matter regardless of who's managing them.
And I gotta think Senator Murkowski and Senator Kennedy, Senator Murkowski from Alaska and Senator Kendi from Louisiana are not going to vote for this. I've talked to a few people who say there aren't the votes in the Senate, but people aren't just going to come out and say it yet.
And I think across the board, as we see, you know, these thump, test thumping maneuvers, they're just designed to intimidate and frighten us into inaction. And I think right now what you're seeing is people are unwilling to be stopped. They're unwilling to be unheard.
And I think a lot of people who felt they were unheard voted for this administration and are now realizing that a lot of this administration is not that interested in what they have to say. And I think if you see even, you know, I mean, Joe Rogan tweeting our very own Jeff Turner, you know, and in support of public land.
Colin True
00:33:39.240 - 00:33:41.960
And so that was kind of crazy to hear that that happened, right?
Stacy Bare
00:33:42.120 - 00:33:43.000
Yeah, yeah.
Colin True
00:33:43.000 - 00:33:45.800
Like Joe Rogan said, just Turner's name. That's bizarre.
Stacy Bare
00:33:46.200 - 00:34:21.140
Yeah, he tweeted a quote on Instagram or something like that.
And I've reached out to everybody I know to say, hey, Joe, like, let me onto the podcast, you know, like, let's have this conversation or let's, let's go fishing, let's go mountain biking. And I know, I know Joe has hunted on. I know he spent a lot of in Utah. I know he gets the value of public land. So we need those type of voices.
You know, obviously it's good, you know, you're. We're reaching a lot of people. We're reminding our community, our tribe, if you want to call it that, to speak out.
But we also have to figure out how to break out beyond that. And it's good to see some brands starting to engage.
Colin True
00:34:21.220 - 00:34:33.270
Yeah, totally. Yeah. But they need to finally. All right, well, we're going to have to have you on again soon. Obviously.
I think the administration will probably give us reasons to do so, but we, maybe we can talk about some other things as well. But appreciate you joining us.
Stacy Bare
00:34:33.830 - 00:34:35.030
Thanks as always, Colin.
Colin True
00:34:35.750 - 00:34:55.110
All right, that's the show for today. Make sure to reach out to your own members of Congress to help protect our public lands. And we want your emails.
Send them to myrockfightmail.com, the Rock Fight's a production of Rock Fight LLC. I'm Colin Truth. Thanks for listening. Here to take us out is Chris Demaicz with the Rock Fight Fight song. We'll see you next time, Rock Fighters.
Chris DeMakes
00:34:55.110 - 00:35:54.370
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00:35:54.690 - 00:35:55.570
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00:35:55.650 - 00:35:56.210
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