Conservatives split over U.S. land transfers to Western states

Source: Reuters

U.S. | Sat Aug 20, 2016 6:49am EDT

Conservatives split over U.S. land transfers to Western states

By Eric M. Johnson | ELLIOTT STATE FOREST, ORE.

Every time Dean Finnerty sees the locked neon-yellow gate and "No Trespassing" sign deep in Oregon's Elliott State Forest, he bristles at the growing movement to transfer federally owned land to U.S. states.

The 52-year-old conservationist and lifelong political conservative worries that cash-strapped states that acquire such land will ultimately be forced to sell to private companies only to extract oil, gas and timber.

He is one of many conservative outdoors enthusiasts to join liberal environmentalists in opposing such transfers.

They stand against business interests and conservative states' rights advocates who argue that handing the land to states will unleash its economic potential.

Finnerty likes to hunt bear and elk on public land in Oregon with his five sons. But their outings were curtailed two years ago when the state, which had acquired the land from the federal government, in turn sold some of it to logging companies.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics-landrights-idUSKCN10V09N