Becoming a Sustainable Development Advocate Through Public Land

A Slice of Life in Montana by Calvin Servheen

Land should be the most valuable, most important thing there is. After all it’s a finite commodity that provides just about everything humans use, and unlike gold or diamonds, there’s no more left to be discovered. In my last blog post, I wrote about how we can appreciate nature and lower our impact by acknowledging that the earth is valuable independent of what it can provide us. Today’s blog will serve as an instruction manual for how to become a land advocate. I will discuss my method for advocating — via public land comments — and the system of values that keeps me fighting for the right things — in this case, sustainable development (SD).

So, What is a Land Advocate?

I’m sure many of you are eager to make a difference for the environment, but it can be difficult. Most folks think that it’s hard for an individual to influence how others value and care for the land — after all, landowners have little oversight. However, we forget that we are also landowners of our public lands. Each of us can positively shape how land is managed through the public comment process which I will discuss later. I will also explain how to use SD as a tool to ensure we advocate for good, effective policy.

An unusually fierce storm bears down on a Montana ranch near Missoula, threatening lightning which can cause fires that sometimes rage all summer.

But what is SD? SD is a modern philosophy for balancing human and environmental needs, for maximizing our enjoyment of life without sacrificing the planet’s health in the future. The most commonly accepted definition of SD is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (The Brundtland Report). You can read the whole report here. Striking the SD balance requires lots of careful thought about the role of humans in the ecosystem, and the minimum needs of our species. Because determining balance is so tricky, scientists and policymakers have created a set of SD best practices for us to use. They are outlined in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Agricultural fields take up most of the valley floor in Gallatin County, Montana. This elevated view shows the land use priorities of private ranches.

The Sustainable Development Goals are complex and far reaching, so let’s focus on just one of the most pressing ways we in the developed world can help: recognizing the existence value of land regardless of ownership or utility. This starts by seeing the value and scarcity of the land around us and requires everyone having a say in how we treat the earth so that money can’t solely determine how landowners act. You’re probably already thinking about how private land ownership presents a challenge to SD and you’d be right. It is.

A graphic showing the proportion of land used for human or conservation activities in the United States. Graphic courtesy of Cool Infographics. https://5wgraphicsblog.com/2018/08/03/how-america-uses-its-land/

However, in the United States, we have a relatively unique public land system which we can use to our advantage. How our millions of acres of public land came to be is a story for another time, but I believe that public land is a huge opportunity for all of us in the developed world to slow climate change and ecological damage. All we have to do is channel our anger into action. This week, let’s discuss some ways that you can slow exploitation and climate change as a public landowner.

What is Public Land?

Public land in the US is very diverse, consisting of everything from municipal parks like Central Park and the Presidio to wilderness preserves like Denali National Park or Bears Ears National Monument. In Montana, public land accounts for 29% of our total acreage, and consists of largely untouched mountain ranges, forests, and scablands that we use for hiking, hunting, and other forms of outdoor recreation. In your city, public land might consist of parks and easements, or you may have none at all.

A map of all public land in the United States color coded by the administering agency. Photo courtesy of USGS.gov. https://www.usgs.gov/news/mapping-public-lands-united-states

However, regardless of where you live, in the US and a handful of other developed countries you have a say in how your public land is managed. This is the beauty of public land. It is managed for the people under something called the Public Trust Doctrine which dictates that land must be stewarded by the government and not to be depleted or sold so that the people may use it indefinitely. Because of its emphasis on perpetual value preservation, the Public Trust is very similar to SD and it gives us an edge when we dispute with corporations and lobbyists about how land should be used.

Public land can be administered by different levels of government. National forests and parks are federally owned while states and municipalities each have their own system of management. Each one of these agencies has their own priorities and their own notion of what the right balance of land uses might be. Some agencies even manage exclusively for profit by selling resources and parcels outright. However, each office is beholden to the people through the Public Trust Doctrine and any citizen whose values are grounded in SD can shape how their land is used.

A lake in one of Montana’s many designated public Wilderness Areas. These areas have been given the highest level of conservation protection thanks to outspoken members of the public.

It is important to note that in developing countries, many don’t have the privilege to decide how land is used. Conservation is a conceit of wealth and we must acknowledge that not everyone can engage in the kind of land conservation we’re talking about. However in developed countries, like the US, we do have the luxury of being sustainable (though we don’t always make use of our freedom to do so). As a whole, we are now privileged enough to see land not as an asset, but as something to hold in trust. It’s time to change our institutions to make exploitive ownership obsolete. This is something you can do by making comments to your public land managers.

Flowers bloom on this field in Camas, Washington. This fertile field would have been used for private agriculture had it not been designated public land.

How YOU Can Make a Difference!

Projects on public land in the United States and many other countries are subject to public comment. Because the land is for the people, you have a voice in deciding what happens to it. The public comment process is the well informed person’s best weapon for environmental advocacy and a great way to channel your frustrations and climate anxiety into action.

A section of National Forest in Montana which is pending Wilderness designation. The outcome of the Forest Service’s decision will hinge on the public’s comments.

Public comments are a place to register your opinion about proposed projects and amend government regulators proposed plans for these lands. As the Biden Administration transitions into office, agencies will become more receptive to the will of civilians under new leadership. Now is the time to make your voices heard. Public comment sessions can be found in person or on government websites. I have collated a list of resources to help those of you who want to get involved. Whether that’s in protesting the development across the street or an oil pipeline thousands of miles away, these articles will help your voice be heard.

• The Public Comment Project is a site that has examples and instructions on posting a wide variety of effective public comments to government agencies.
• This is an article that details the importance of and process for presenting a generic comment.
• Here is a complete guide to making a persuasive public comment in writing. Keep in mind that these can be orally submitted as well.

This graphic illustrates how agencies incorporate public comments into their decision making process. Image Courtesy of the Public Comment Project. https://publiccommentproject.org/how-it-works

The Ethical Toolbox for Public Comments

There are numerous issues surrounding land that we can help fix through grassroots means. Here is a quick list of values to stick to when participating in public comments on recreation, resource extraction, and development. These will help ensure your comments are substantive and constructive.

a) Recreation related changes to public land

• Remove yourself from the situation by not thinking from the perspective of an eager recreationalist. Think about the impacts recreation has on the ecosystem.
• Seek the opinions of scientific professionals about the issue. This may come directly from papers published on the issue or from substantive public comments.
• Recognize the scope of the recreation industry. It brings lots of jobs, but it is also a machine with lobbyists and sometimes nefarious interests. Act cautiously.

b) Resource extraction proposals (logging, mining, etc.)

• It is critical to SD to support the growth of public lands. Never support plans to sell land or strip protections. Doing so is always wrong.
• Think about the secondary impacts of stopping the extraction. Will the company go elsewhere to do business? Will the damage elsewhere be greater than here?
• Think about economic impacts. Extraction makes lots of money, but it goes to few people and it often hurts the recreation economy in very significant ways.

c) Conservation related initiatives

• Support initiatives that are based in science. It is easy to be fooled by special interests’ pseudo conservation plans. An example of this is the anti-wolf sentiment.
• Consider the impacts on affordable housing. Land trusts often use conservation to limit space and inflate real estate value thereby hurting working class people.
• Think about the opportunity cost of allocating limited government resources. For instance, bear conservation sounds great, but given recovering numbers should money be spent on more severely threatened species instead?

A tree is cut down over the end of a closed road in western Montana. This measure was proposed by public action groups to create more roadless areas for wildlife and recreation.

Making a difference through public land advocacy isn’t solely about preserving acreage, but about using something people have control over — public land — to promote SD. Sometimes this approach can lead into a moral gray area. For instance, blocking a mine from opening in Montana may force companies to dig for minerals in the developing world instead where regulations are lax and the impact ends up being far more severe. However, good science can often be found that can help us make informed comments. Land management agencies often have independent ecologists who do research and suggest environmental best practices. Their work is often ignored by decision makers, but it is a great place to find action plans that align with SD. Stick to your values and the philosophy of SD and you can make a difference in the climate crisis through public land.

A private field behind a development in Big Sky Montana is open to the public. It is an example of private land in effect becoming public. The key difference is that future developments here will not be subject to public input.

If any of you have stories or tips about public land advocacy, let us know in the comments. Next time, I will talk about land from a more personal perspective, revealing the beauty I see in how wildlife and the ecosystem interact. I hope to see you all then on A Slice of Life in Montana.

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