Recently, in Oregon, a group of armed citizens, initiated a take-over of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Their intentions are to attempt to force the federal government to relinquish ownership of these public lands. This should not be happening! These and all public lands should be just that, public lands. This should not be happening in Oregon nor anywhere! The public enjoy going out into these lands for many different activities. Why should public lands be handed over to the state or any private ownership? I am so tired of having citizens of our wonderful country put at the end of the line because of the greed of any group of people or any individual.
The enjoyment people find on these public lands is what people need. We all need to get outside and reconnect with our earth. People need places to go to seek peace and relaxation after working hard day after day. The land is where people can go to unwind and get reconnected with nature. With all of the stress that is in the world we need to create more, not less, places for people to be able to go to unwind. With all of the craziness that is going on in our country and the world we need to save the public lands for our citizens so that they and future generations will have places to go to for a bit of solitude. Personally, I hope that Montana holds onto all of its public lands. I sure would hate to lose our wonderful public lands. Sometimes, you don’t realize how valuable something is until it’s lost. As Montanan citizens, we would be wise to be aware that there are those that would like to turn some of our public lands into private land.
Theresa Jones
Troy, Montana