Congressman Bishop made yet another stop to the Basin
on Thursday
taking time to discuss public lands issues and their effect locally. Among the roadblocks to solving public lands issues, Bishop says the understanding of public lands is skewed by most people on the eastern half of the United States. “Those that don’t live here do not understand what it is like having an absentee landlord,” says Bishop. “When they think of public lands they think of national parks but that is only 13 percent of public lands. BLM land is 44 percent of what the government owns and that is all in the west. So when I think of public lands, I think of land here in the Uintah Basin but when someone out east thinks of public lands, they think of the last park they visited.” Bishop says talking about the cost to manage public lands and the western states clear disadvantage in funding education have been the most effective topics to help eastern states understand the issues.
