‘Public Land, Private Profit’
When an agency fails to perform well, as documented by the Stein-Sahagun series on the BLM, the problems are funding, foul-ups and philosophy. The series carefully made these distinctions.
When a miner bulldozes and illegal road in a wilderness study area and the BLM doesn’t know about it, the problem is funding.
When it learns of the illegal road and then gives the miner a permit to bulldoze, it is a foul-up.
When the miner then does a lot more illegal damage and the BLM hasn’t required a bond for the permit, the problem is philosophy.
Fortunately, in the California Desert Protection Act, Congress will mandate the wilderness and create the national parks so vital to protecting our desert. Congress will set the philosophical course for the next century.
ELDEN HUGHES
Director
California Desert
Protection League
Los Angeles
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