We Want Our Land Back

The land of the free and home of the brave no longer exists. It seems like every time you pick up a newspaper, you read about how some government agency, public interest group or a mouthy individual wants to steal our land.  Every day brings a new challenge. A video of a jaguar on Fort Huachuca was exciting for the defenders of wildlife, as they are looking forward to an outline for a federal government jaguar recovery plan.  In March 2014, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confiscated almost 1,200 square miles of land along the U.S. and Mexico border for the conservation of the jaguar.  The victims of this land grab were the members of the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau, the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association and the New Mexico Federal Lands Council.  They filed a lawsuit saying the land grab was unlawful, arbitrary and capricious. There seems to be little help for the cattlemen, as the lawsuit is still ongoing to protect the federal governments unlawful land grab.

A Sierra Vista resident’s remark sums it all up: “Find another jaguar and they will close Four Huachuca and there goes everyone’s job.” Our Fish and Wildlife Service is nothing more than a federal fiefdom, which steals our land of the free and home of the brave who established Fort Huachuca to protect early settlers, protected our border, trained soldiers for WWII, established an Army Proving Ground, provides an intelligence center, and is now also involved in training of drone operators.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to gang up with them to prevent the Vigneto Benson land development project from becoming a reality. The issue that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service presented is that the U.S. Army Corps should evaluate the entire Vigneto project rather than one of its own parcels. It appears that it is not about the environment, but making the local community subservient to the federal government.

Even worse, now the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) owner of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area (NCA) wants to steal our water. In ancient times, to capture a fortified city or empire by an invading army was to cut off the water supply. Just think of how the BLM wants to grab Sierra Vista’s watershed of 888 square miles, encompassing Tombstone, most of Bisbee, all of Sierra Vista, Fort Huachuca, Whetstone, Huachuca City and the unincorporated areas of Hereford and Palominos. Wow – what a land-grab – by stealing our water!

The residences of our watershed need to recognize that the federal government does not want a land of the free and home of the brave.  My previous articles in the Arizona Daily Independent of 11 May, 2016 (States’ Rights need to be Expanded), and 26 April, 2016 (Water-Water-Water Everywhere, Not a drop Recovered). These two articles are important.  One, our land needs to be returned to our brave people. Two, if BLM was concerned about the wellbeing of those of us living in the Sierra Vista watershed district, they would be funding a system to capture annual flood water of the San Pedro to recharge the aquifer.  They did not contribute one red cent to the Palominos project, or any of the proposed Arroyo water capture programs.  It is easy to conclude that the federal bureaus do not give a damn about us – all they are concerned with is taking the land of the brave.

This battle to regain our land will not be about “peaceful demonstrations that turn to violence.” As Shakespeare wrote in the Merchant of Venice, “to take a pound of flesh, not one drop of blood will be lost.”   If violence is apparent, we will become the enemy that the government needs to suppress. What it takes is that in every town hall, city council and other meeting, in which a land grab under the guise of environment or endangered species – our brave people must attend in full-force and present the truth.  Next, our freedom of the press is to overwhelm the media with many articles that tell the facts, which is now dominated with liberal federalism that steals our land.

In every court of law, every enterprise must present their case of how the federal government encroaches on our freedom by stealing our land and water. Every court trial needs to be attended by the brave. In most instances, our loss of land and water is because no one cares. What has happened is a vocal few have given our land and now our water to the federal government who miss-manage our resources. The land of the free and the home of the brave are being lost, because we have become complacent and have not fought for home rule of our land and water.  We can have our land and water back by being brave and demanding that home rule be restored to the states, as they know what is best.

We need to tell our Congress to reduce the size of big government that stifles our local economy. The secret of making America Great Again is to allow enterprise to develop our resources.  Our environmental and endangered species laws have gotten out of hand with unwarranted regulations that have stolen our land and water, and needs to be returned to local people so ours is a land of the free, and defended by the brave.

About David V. MacCollum 56 Articles
David V. MacCollum is a past president of the American Society of Safety Engineers and was a member of the first U.S. Secretary of Labor's Construction Safety Advisory Committee [1969-1972]. He is the author of: Construction Safety Planning (Jun 16, 1995) Crane Hazards and Their Prevention (Jan 1, 1991) Construction Safety Engineering Principles (McGraw-Hill Construction Series): Designing and Managing Safer Job Sites Jan 8, 2007) Building Design and Construction Hazards (May 15, 2005)