美国国家公共电台 NPR Push To Transfer Federal Lands To States Has Sportsmen On Edge

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST: 

One of the very first moves by the new Republican Congress was to make it easier to transfer ownership of federal public lands in the West over to states. And the state of Wyoming has become a flashpoint in this debate. Lawmakers there want to amend¹ the state's constitution to authorize² the transfer, but there's a lot of opposition³ because public land would lose federal protection. As NPR's Kirk Siegler reports, this move is angering hunters who bring in tens of millions of dollars to the state's economy.

KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE⁴: Visit Wyoming, and chances are you're going to meet someone like Buzz Hettick pretty quick. He's shot just about every critter you can think of.

BUZZ HETTICK: My one wall over here, I have a desert bighorn sheep from Arizona, a black bear from Montana.

SIEGLER: Everything mounted here, he boasts proudly, was hunted off of U.S. public lands. From Buzz Hettick's place on the edge of the windswept college town of Laramie, you hardly have to drive a few minutes before you're right in the middle of those public lands, the remote country run by the Federal Bureau of Land Management.

HETTICK: I believe we're heading into a set of a old Western. Yep, this is usually where we see the bighorns is right in here in this canyon⁵. A lot of wildlife uses public lands.

SIEGLER: So do hunters. Hunting is big business in Wyoming. A recent study estimated it brings in roughly $25 million into Albany County's economy alone. A sharp turn onto a rutted-out jeep trail and Hettick is now driving straight up a mountain. He's scoping out an elk⁶ hunt for later in the week. Some buddies⁷ are coming in from out of state.

HETTICK: What I like to do is get up high on some kind of a point where I can see a lot of country and then sit down and just start glassing.

SIEGLER: Glassing - slang for using binoculars⁸. Hettick grew up hunting and camping in Montana. He later moved to Wyoming to work for the Forest Service. But lately, it's his volunteer job that's taking up all his time. He heads up the state chapter of an influential⁹ national lobbying group called Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.

HETTICK: I just don't see how people can look at this here and just say, well, all they see is a dollar sign attached to it. There's a lot more than that.

SIEGLER: When it comes to politics, those dollar signs in federal lands are inextricably linked in the West. There's always pressure to lease more land to private oil and gas and coal companies and lately wind, but sportsmen like Hettick now see a new threat.

HETTICK: Anytime that there is even a whisper of anybody that wants to transfer federal lands to the states, you're going to raise the ire and the hackles of the outdoor community in general, and in particular hunters and fishermen.

SIEGLER: It's more than just a whisper right now. Before the election, Republicans included a provision in the RNC platform calling for the transfer of ownership of federal lands to states. One of the biggest questions surrounding this is whether a rural state like Wyoming with a small budget could really afford to manage all this land. Buzz Hettick thinks no, and he's worried the state would have to sell it, and then there'd be no guarantee that hunters or anyone could access it.

HETTICK: I would say it's probably the biggest battle that sportsmen are going to have to face in my lifetime.

SIEGLER: Hettick's battle is starting in the Wyoming legislature. Lawmakers are considering a proposed constitutional amendment¹⁰ that would allow for Wyoming to own and manage federal public land. Hettick mobilized sportsmen from around the state to brave the snowy roads and travel to the capital, Cheyenne, for a recent hearing. Clad in camo, they wore keep public lands public stickers and lined up to testify.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: We don't support any of the language because we don't support the amendment.

(CHEERING)

SIEGLER: Neither does Wyoming's Republican governor, who in an interview with the Casper Star Tribune questioned the legality of transferring federal lands in the first place. He also wondered how his state would pay for things like wildfires, a bill that's usually picked up by the feds. State Senator Larry Hicks, who's pushing the amendment, says he's done the math. He says an energy-rich state like Wyoming can afford to take over the land because of the increased tax revenues that will come off it.

LARRY HICKS: We run about a $3 billion budget and we're sending a billion dollars of federal minerals back to Washington, D.C. That's a 25 percent increase in our state revenues right off the bat.

SIEGLER: But for Hicks, this is about a lot more than economics, it's a cultural battle. He says rural communities that depend on mining, logging and drilling on federal lands are suffering. People are moving out, schools are shutting down. And he says the federal government's too restrictive.

HICKS: A lot of people just feel like they have no more voice, it's detrimental¹¹. I mean, there are multiple generations of families, and they feel like that their heritage and their lifestyle's just been stolen from them.

SIEGLER: Republican or Democrat¹², bashing the federal government is popular political sport in Wyoming. And like any relationship, Wyoming's with Washington, D.C. is complicated. In quite a few small towns here, the federal government is the largest employer. And the state depends heavily on federal dollars for everything from highways to health care to education.

GREGG CAWLEY: I'm Gregg Cawley, professor of political science at the University of Wyoming.

SIEGLER: Cawley has studied anti-federal government movements in the West since the 1970s.

CAWLEY: Every time the federal government does something that irritates Western ranchers, miners, what have you, this issue of transfer of the lands to the States is brought up again, dusted off and put forward.

SIEGLER: There's one big thing that makes it this time around a little different though, according to Cawley, and that's the unpredictable political mood in the country right now.

HETTICK: That wind's definitely picked up since we got here.

SIEGLER: Buzz Hettick, the hunter, says he's not counting on anything when it comes to federal lands. He points to what happened in Oregon, where a jury recently acquitted¹³ Ammon Bundy and his anti-government followers¹⁴ for their armed occupation of a Federal wildlife refuge.

HETTICK: You know what we used to call, you know, maybe five or six years ago the fringe-right or the fringe operators in this whole thing? They're starting to become more mainstream¹⁵ now. And I think that's why we have to really ramp¹⁶ up the pressure we put on our politicians.

SIEGLER: Hettick says you can bet that sportsmen will pressure Washington in even bigger numbers if the federal lands transfer proposal moves forward in Congress. But today, here, he's focused on a smaller quest.

HETTICK: If you look over at the top of this hill right over here, and there is a herd¹⁷ of about, oh, looks to be at least eight or 10 elk right there.

SIEGLER: The trip out here fighting all that icy wind wasn't for nothing. There are elk in these hills, maybe he'll bag one just yet this season. Kirk Siegler, NPR News, Laramie, Wyo.

(SOUNDBITE OF BLOCKHEAD SONG, "INSOMNIAC OLYMPICS")

1 amend   

vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿

参考例句：

• The teacher advised him to amend his way of living.老师劝他改变生活方式。
• You must amend your pronunciation.你必须改正你的发音。

2 authorize   

v.授权，委任；批准，认可

参考例句：

• He said that he needed to get his supervisor to authorize my refund.他说必须让主管人员批准我的退款。
• Only the President could authorize the use of the atomic bomb.只有总统才能授权使用原子弹。

3 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

6 elk   

n.麋鹿

参考例句：

• I was close enough to the elk to hear its labored breathing.我离那头麋鹿非常近，能听见它吃力的呼吸声。
• The refuge contains the largest wintering population of elk in the world.这座庇护所有着世界上数量最大的冬季麋鹿群。

7 buddies   

n.密友( buddy的名词复数 )；同伴；弟兄；（用于称呼男子，常带怒气）家伙v.（如密友、战友、伙伴、弟兄般）交往( buddy的第三人称单数 )；做朋友；亲近（…）；伴护艾滋病人

参考例句：

• We became great buddies. 我们成了非常好的朋友。 来自辞典例句
• The two of them have become great buddies. 他们俩成了要好的朋友。 来自辞典例句

8 binoculars   

n.双筒望远镜

参考例句：

• He watched the play through his binoculars.他用双筒望远镜看戏。
• If I had binoculars,I could see that comet clearly.如果我有望远镜，我就可以清楚地看见那颗彗星。

9 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

10 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

11 detrimental   

adj.损害的，造成伤害的

参考例句：

• We know that heat treatment is detrimental to milk.我们知道加热对牛奶是不利的。
• He wouldn't accept that smoking was detrimental to health.他不相信吸烟有害健康。

12 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

13 acquitted   

宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现

参考例句：

• The jury acquitted him of murder. 陪审团裁决他谋杀罪不成立。
• Five months ago she was acquitted on a shoplifting charge. 五个月前她被宣判未犯入店行窃罪。

14 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

15 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

16 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

17 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。