The Case for Returning U.S. Public Lands to Indigenous People

The many hardworking civil servants who’ve lost their livelihoods to politics do apolitical things like clean bathrooms and maintain facilities in campgrounds, enforce regulations, fight fires, clear trails, issue grazing permits and timber leases, conduct ecological research, remove litter and refuse, restore environmental damage, protect archeological sites and Indigenous treaty rights, educate and inform visitors, and a long list of other important land management duties.

Who’s going to do all that now?

I have never seen the government come close to providing the care and protection the land needs in over a decade of service as a federal ranger. Not just because of the constant budget shortfalls, but because of the constant political pressures on policy making, as well. It’s not the fault of the people on the ground who are passionate about their jobs and who care for the land, but rather that of a system, which will never let them do what is best for it.