The Desert IndependentTM

Serving Blythe, California & the Desert Regions of the Southwest

BLM Declares Their Land “Non-Public Forums”

An Editorial by the Publisher

By ROBERT WINKLER
The Desert Independent

October 16, 2010

In a response to a lawsuit filed by Grass Roots Horse in a Nevada court on October 14^, the Bureau Of Land Management (BLM) revealed that “herd management areas” and perhaps other areas of public lands at their unilateral choosing can, be considered by the government “non-public forums.”

This is interesting news to the rest of us who have considered these lands public, open and freely accessible. It would seem, according to Ken Salazar, Bob Abbey and those they lead at the Department of Interior and BLM, the we, the press, and by extension, you the public have no have no right to know how the government manages your public resources.

The government is controlling the content of the information that reaches you, the public, by prohibiting journalists who may portray them in an unflattering light.

Our interest at this moment is wild horses on public lands. Next year it might be gas pipelines, uranium mining, or nuclear waste storage. The public has a right to know. The government behaves when citizens are watching.

They know that. They know that. They know that.

That is why Ken Salazar and Bob Abbey are fighting in court to prevent public access.

Shame on Ken Salazar.

Shame on Bob Abbey.

Shame on the agencies doing their dirty work hidden from the light of the public eye.

You cannot tear down such a national monument and not be remembered Ken and Bob. We shall not forget you; and, history shall not forget both of your hideous rolls in this.