I think the time has come for the federal government to at a minimum sell land such that they do not hold more than 50% of the land in any county across the USA.
We have a lake house at Fontana Lake in North Carolina, and the federal government owns 80 -85% of the land in the area. Just not right IMHO.
I kinda have a love/hate relationship with government lands. I'll tell you this: I HATE it back east, where you have to know somebody with land that is willing to let you hunt and camp. Where everywhere you go, you have to pound out your trip relying on approvals or you are trespassing.
Out here, I can walk for DAYS... Maybe weeks without hitting property... Without hitting a fence, even.
Some of that is large tracts owned by logging companies. Some of that is state lands. But mostly it is fed = The BLM and USFS. It used to be wide open... Open to mining, logging, and cattle... open to through-hiking and outfitting and hunting...Open to 4-wheeling, and quads, and snow machines. Now it's all gated off.
But I could not have had the experience of growing up in a wide, wild land, except that it remained preserved, unlike back east. No punching cows... No cattle drives... No fish camp, no hunting camp... There's something important in all that.
