71% of Climbing Occurs on Public Lands - Those Lands are at Risk!

Ever been to the Creek? Did you love it?

Over the next few weeks I'm researching the Public Lands Heist going on right now, so I can write about it, and share it. It is a subject we should all - as climbers - be aware of, and proactive about. This is a strong community, and our voices are loud, and powerful. Let's use them to protect our public lands.

Check out protectourpublicland.org/ to learn all about it.

If you would like to read a short writeup I did about the transfer of public lands, and the creek, go to: fringesfolly.com/2016/04/01…

If you hate anyone with a blog, especially someone who posts a link to his own blog on a group forum, that's fine, and understandable. Don't click the blog link, please just consider the following:

Step one: Sign the petition you need to sign. protectourpublicland.org is an incredible resource with an elegant lay out of the land heist situation, an extensive list of affected areas, resources for how to help, and fun facts such as: “71% of climbing is on public lands.” It is an easy website to navigate, the information is poignant and concise, and the petition takes approximately 0.05 minutes to sign.

Step two: Find your state representative, and write them. Apparently very few people do. Easy + Stupid + False = “Ah, my one letter won’t make a difference.”
More Difficult + Smart + True = “If I take it upon myself to do this, maybe others will, too. And if we all do, our voices will be heard.”

Step three: Copy paste protectourpublicland.org/ into your social media feeds, and share. If you found this article helpful for generating the stoke necessary to do steps one and two, then copy paste the url in a separate post, and share. Don’t back off. This matters. Like, actually, really, seriously, matters.

Step four: Read about it. (Google these titles)
Here and Here: Why The Government Owns So Much Land in the West – NYTIMES,
The Larger but Quieter Than Bundy Push to Take Over Federal Land – NYTIMES

Here, Here, and Here: How an East Coast Think Tank is Fueling the Land Transfer Movement, The Taxpayer Money That Fuels Federal Land Transfer Demands, Public-land Transfer Proponents May Have Violated Lobbying Laws (All High Country News)

Here: The Money Behind Fox News’ Promotion of Cliven Bundy – Media Matters

And Here: It’s Not Just Militia Members Who Want to Take Over Federal Land – Mother Jones

Step five: Talk about it. You are not alone. This is an issue that affects reps and dems, blues and reds, climbers and ATV riders, fishermen and hunters, kayakers and birdwatchers, mountain bikers and mountain hikers, backpackers and trail runners, extreme athletes and casual admirers, your mom, your dad, your sister brother and everyone you know, Americans and nonAmericans, Trumpers and Sanders thumpers, everyone, everyone, everyone. This matters. And you might just be surprised to see who is willing to fight along side you to protect our public lands.

Petition signed.
Next step: write representatives...