Some misgivings about Rep. Zinke

Like all Americans, those of us who live in that part of America that is generally contained in a tiny inset on the lower left corner of traditional maps, have watched and waited as the most improbable of candidates for the White House, one by one, slew the dragons of tradition, aided and abetted by a press corps that is somehow able to draw a distinction between satire and fake news.

The President-elect has nominated many of his picks for cabinet and other high-ranking posts. In most cases, those tapped for secretariats have been men and women of accomplishment and distinction. This trend took an abrupt left turn recently when Mr. Trump identified Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Montana, as the choice to head up the Department of the Interior.

I am not personally acquainted with Mr. Zinke, but I am sure he is a fine fellow. I don't imply that he is anything but distinguished. He comes from Montana, and that is a real plus. And he is a Navy SEAL, which is even better.

What is disturbing, from a purely academic perspective, is that he is on the record as being at odds with many people of the (western states) and, by extension, many Alaskans who draw their livelihood from access to and across federal lands. There are many of us who feel that the Columbian landlord who wields zoning authority over two-thirds of Alaska and "One-Third of the Nation's Land," ought to have the wisdom and flexibility to realize that most of that land could be managed more effectively by the individual states.

I do understand the Ted Turner syndrome, whereby affluent individuals are able to convert large, remote tracts into their own private "Sherwood Forests," and the concomitant paradigm that if the land were turned over to the states, they might, in turn, sell it off to the highest bidder for the purpose of ensuring that hunters don't get their annual bag limit. However, if that is a clear and present risk in Montana, quite the opposite is the case in Alaska.

Our experience is that the state is very parsimonious with its land, allowing only a tiny fraction of its holdings to devolve to private ownership, and then only after survey and subdivision. On the other hand, those with enough money can pull the strings of the federal system to ensure that no matter who owns the land, the general public cannot make use of it for resource development.

Montana is about one-fourth the size of Alaska and, like Alaska, is endowed with vast timber and mineral resources. The state also encompasses a lot of federal land. Mr. Zinke has represented the people of Montana in their state legislature and more recently in the U.S. House of Representatives; yet if he has heard the pleas of miners and loggers, he is not persuaded by their argument.

One would think that the endless debates from the Sagebrush Rebellion to the sage hen fiasco would have turned his head. The folks who decide who will do what, and where they will do it, have established that they have no concern for the success and fortunes of the rest of us. Mr. Zinke, sadly, represents more of the same old, same old. If his nomination is approved by the U.S. Senate, it will clearly mean another eight years of the U.S. Department of the Interior chasing investors and producers from our shores.

Mr. Zinke has no track record of having worked in the trenches and may never have had to meet a payroll. These criteria for federal employment, unfortunately, are often waivable; but Mr. Zinke also has no visible credentials demonstrating aggressive leadership against the land managing agencies guilty of federal overreach, which in the current context is a dispositive disqualification.

In Alaska, we are confronted with federal land managers who appear highly motivated to reduce the entire state to one giant Forbidden Zone. We must throw off that yoke and deliver our resources to the marketplace. Devolution of federal land to the state may not be the only means to resolve Alaska's land issues, but it has a certain appeal.

We respectfully request that Mr. Zinke's nomination be withdrawn in favor of someone more qualified and motivated to inspire land use planners to practice their magic in more verdant foreign climes.

Barring that, we hope that the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will plan to condition its approval of Mr. Zinke's nomination on a commitment to the principles of the Sturgeon case and a promise that he will ensure every land management decision in Alaska under his purview will be harmonized with the promises of the Alaska Statehood Act, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, i.e., there must be no additional restraints on the multiple use of the public domain in Alaska, there must be no further impediments to access across federal lands to inholdings and remote State land, all Public Land Orders promulgated pursuant to ANCSA Section 17(b)(1) must be repealed, and recordable disclaimers of interest to all navigable waters and RS 2477 trails in Alaska must be promptly recorded.

Mr. Zinke can be our Interior secretary only with these pledges in place.