Reagan’s Unintended Discovery

One of our interest in the past decade has been the failure of the U.S. forest service in it congressional mandate. When Congress , authorized the U.S Forest Service it actually came about as a tool to hire government employees, or in other words a welfare agency funded by the American taxpayer, after the first world war. Since then it has been a tool for tree huggers and environmental Nazi’s.

The forest service created in 1905, put in place regulations that provided for range permits and charges for use on the forest reserves, officially renamed “national forests” in 1907. Ranchers in the west challenged the practice all the way to the Supreme Court but lost in 1911 when two key cases, were decided in favor of the governments right to impose grazing permits and fees. But here’s the problem , these were flawed decisions. Neither case addressed the underlying possessory interests of the rancher in these federally managed lands or prior appropriation water rights upon which they were based. Until now this loose string was just dangling out there , waiting for someone to pull it and unravel the now gigantic fabric of centralized government control. The good news is there are folks out there now that are yanking at those strings.

When Ronald Reagan came into office in 1980 he started spending money like a drunken sailor and he had the deficit and government handouts that the Johnson and Carter administration put on the taxpayers, the doers and shakers. One can argue over his reasons, but that’s another story. Reagan promised privatization and deregulation, but his performance fell far short of promise’s . He decided he need to generate cash so he formed a commission to study the idea of selling off the west to ranchers and cattlemen. In 1982 he ended the Privatization Commission because they discovered that you can not sell what you don’t own. Ironically , it was the ranchers’ split estate interest in the federally managed lands that ended the 1982 Reagan proposal to privatize by sale some 35 million acres, or 5% of the public lands. Again, you cant sell what you do not own.

In 1983 the entire effort was terminated. It failed due to the existence of “de facto property rights”. Over the prior 50 years or more of continued use, ranchers had acquired a “de facto property right” to graze on particular parcels of public lands- rights even bought and sold in the market place. In other words before the Reagan plan could work, they would have had to compensate the prior “de facto” owners of those lands.

The major problem with ranchers, farmers, and cattlemen in there dealing with these onerous agencies has always been there access to the courts. And as we have seen in recent years , these courts, primarily federal courts are bought and paid for by eastern money. That to appears to be changing. There is a case coming in coming next spring that hopefully will end this nightmare that the western states have lived under since the beginnings of the forest service .

Ranchers mostly own their water rights, springs, wells, stock watering ponds, water piping, grazing permits, roads, fences, and corrals on federally managed lands. The bottom line is this: Many ranchers already own the predominant interest in the split estate federally managed lands.

Environment groups such as the National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club, and the Wilderness Society had raised the battle slogan “ Livestock Free by 93”. Their goal was to eliminate all livestock grazing from federal managed lands by 1993. They deny that any rights whatever belong to the rancher. They’re wrong and they are about to find that out.

These groups argue that the taxpayer is subsidizing the rancher. The fact is these groups are causing the taxpayer to fund a flawed bureaucracy, otherwise known as the Department of Ag, Department of Interior, U.S. Forest Service. And what makes matters even worse, taxpayer dollars pay the attorney’s fees for these groups when they sue these same taxpayer funded agencies.

Now , many of you may say,. Well how does all this affect me. First , it’s a private property issue, directly related to Freedom. But then you say, I live in an apartment , I’ll never own any real estate. But would you rather have your animal proteins grown, on an open range ranch or farm. Or in a CAFO, Confined Animal Feeding Operation. Where the only way these animals survive is thru the use of antibiotics and steroids. Antibiotics due to the muck that these animals live in to control , not prevent disease. And steroids to get them to market in record time.

Actions by these agencies have driven millions of farmers and ranchers off the land. In the 80’s even Willie recognized the agenda driven by the Federal Farm and Ranch banks to drive the small rancher into debts he could never repay, resulting in the corporate farms we see today. Have you ever heard of Listeria? Ecoli, Salmonella. Growing up on a medium sized farm in Kansas, we never heard of these deadly bacteria’s.

Ref : “Storm over Range Lands” by Wayne Hage
& “Animal Factories” by David Kirby

Note: There are many around the world that want to destroy America. They should develop some patience, because federal, state and county governments on average are way ahead of them in that effort.