Most people would be surprised by the large percentage of western states' land that is owned by the federal government. Given that population in these western states is growing and folks are moving out the plains states by the droves, Alex Tabarrok's proposal to sell off federal holdings in western states to fund land acquisition in the plains states piqued my interest.
Does a sale of western lands mean reducing national parkland? No, first much of the land isn’t parkland. Second, I propose a deal. The government should sell some of its most valuable land in the west and use some of the proceeds to buy low-price land in the Great Plains.
The western Great Plains are emptying of people. Some 322 of the 443 Plains counties have lost population since 1930 and a majority have lost population since 1990.
Now is the time for the Federal government to sell high-priced land in the West, use some of the proceeds to deal with current problems and use some of the proceeds to buy low-priced land in the Plains creating the world’s largest nature park, The Buffalo Commons.
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Anyone interested in more information about the Buffalo Commons should look at my Rutgers website, policy.rutgers.edu/faculty/popper. The idea originated with me and my wife Deborah Popper, a geographer at the City University University of New York/College of Staten Island and Princeton University. Anyone interested might also look at the website of the Great Plains Restoration Council, gprc.org, the only group devoted to creating the Buffalo Commons. (I chair its board.) The Buffalo Commons has no necessary connection to the Sagebrush Rebellion idea of selling off the federal lands. Best wishes,
Frank Popper
Rutgers and Princeton Universities
fpopper@rci.rutgers.edu, fpopper@princeton.edu
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