Pelican River Forest is an almost 70,000 acre stretch of land that offers all fans of outdoor activities plenty of options to use their time, in the Oneida, Langlande and Forest County areas. Whether it’s camping, hunting, fishing- realistically anything you would want to do outside of starting your own Hunger Games- it’s available at Pelican River Forest.
Upon winning the Presidential election in 2020, President Biden quickly initiated the America The Beautiful Intiative, beginning a 10 year effort to conserve land, water and wildlife.
Specifically, the goal is to restore 30% of America’s land and water by 2030, often referred to as 30×30. (Which, not to go on too much a tangent here, is one of the MOST Democratic Party things I’ve heard. I realize you have to set realistic goals, but advertising yourself as the party that will solve 1/3 of a problem 10 years from now is exactly the type of half measures I always reference Democrats take.) Pelican River Forest falls into this distinction, and in the eyes of most parties involved, this already seemed like a done deal.
Heck, Governor Evers went as far as mentioning the investment into the land during his State of the State last week!
Unfortunately, in this era of political obstinance, where any form of compromise is perceived as an unforgiveable concession handing the country over to Antifa… or the Proud Boys… or whoever your boogeyman group de jour is, NOTHING is ever a done deal.
An anti-conservation group based out of Texas called American Stewards of Liberty (ASL) has been challenging conservation efforts all over the country.
They have been targeting the 30×30 initiative hiding behind the legal definition of the word “coordination”. To paraphrase the argument, ASL believes that county, state, and federal governments must COORDINATE (Never use the word in a definition) with one another when determining any details surrounding conservation, ie. how much land, where the land is, should this happen at all, etc. If all entities cannot come to an agreement, then ASL argues that the Federal and State government must defer to the whims of the local representatives.
Now you may be asking yourselves, “Is this real? Does it really work this way?”
No. No, it does not.
But I am by no means an expert on the matter, and that’s why I reached out to someone very familiar with the matter.
I chatted with Charlie Carlin, the Director of Strategic Initiatives with Gathering Waters, about the strategy being used, if he thought it would work, the prevalence of this kind of activity around the country, and what type of benefits would be realized for the people living in the area if this land were to be conserved.
I have reached out to American Stewards of Liberty and some local officials involved in the situation, I have not received a response back yet, but all parties are always welcome on the show.
To listen to the entire conversation, click the player at the top of the article.
[Spreaker: Outside the Box, Huffpost.com, DOI.gov, Gatheringwaters.org, coloradosun.com]
