Private ownership of property is one of the cornerstones of our democracy. The founders of this country knew, firsthand, what it was like to have a society where only the governing elite, or the monarchy, controlled all the land. Private landowners are the best conservators of the resource, they need it to live. Private land in Wyoming supports most of the state's wildlife and water resource. While private landowners have been demonized as destroyers of the earth and wasters of the wildlife and the water, just a little critical thought will expose the weakness of this reasoning.
Healthy land is the only way to success for an agricultural producer.
A government, on the other hand, does not necessarily have to worry about the health of the land. They just have to worry that they have the biggest chunk. Having the biggest piece translates into more money, more power and more influence. There is no justification for giving the government more money or power to acquire land, and further erode the rights of citizens in this country to own property, determine their own fates, and exercise their freedoms. We oppose H.R. 701 and H.R. 798.