re: Why The Black Hole In The Western US?

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The government has an unhealthy interest in controlling the Western US lands.

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So you think Nevada, for example, would be populated like Ohio, if the feds didn't own the land?

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The government has an unhealthy interest in controlling the Western US lands.

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I'm not totally against this. Our National Forests/Monuments/Federal Lands are a great treasure where there are still huge tracts of land and some of it is virtually untouched. Some of it is managed forest or cattle grazing land. Some of it is open to mineral exploration. Regardless of use it is pretty tightly constrained on what can and can't be developed.

If you drive off road in any of these areas you really get a taste of what the settlers traveled through when portions of the country were originally settled.

The good part is that these lands can be controlled and preserved for future generations. I'm not a fan of many of the things our government does but the NF program has been a good thing.