LETTER: Utah lawsuit threatens the concept of public lands

In response to Bonner Russell Cohen’s Sept. 14 commentary, “Utah public lands lawsuit has major implications for Nevada”: Disinformation from Mr. Cohen and Utah policymakers around the facts of Utah’s land grab lawsuit poses significant risks to the values and interests of the nation. Utah’s effort to defund conservation and spread false information is problematic, and the state’s legal challenges ignore the majority of people who support protecting public lands and keeping them in public hands.

According to Colorado College’s State of the Rockies 2024 poll, Western voters overwhelmingly favor prioritizing conservation over energy production on public lands. For the first time, a majority of Republicans and independents support conservation. Overall, 70 percent of voters prefer protecting public lands, clean water, air quality and wildlife habitats, while only 26 percent advocate for increased energy production. It’s well understood that Western states do not have the resources, staff or expertise to manage public lands within their borders. Millions of acres of public lands will be sold to the highest bidder to provide the financial resources necessary for states to manage these lands, while lining the pockets of special interests.

A ruling in favor of Utah’s lawsuit would mark the end of public lands as we know them, opening the floodgates to every anti-public lands politician in the West to seize public lands by way of the courts. We are facing the potential of the loss and privatization of 210 million acres currently managed by the federal government for the benefit and enjoyment of the American people. Vast tracts of public land currently used for dispersed recreation, such as the area surrounding the Muddy Mountains, would be sold and privatized because the states would not be able to afford to manage this land. What a disaster that would be for our country, and what a financial disaster that would be for Nevadans.