By Margaret Byfield
Four decades ago, Congress directed the federal land management agencies to coordinate the management of the federal lands with the local governments directly impacted by their decisions. But the federal agencies have never carried this out. Instead, they subverted Congress’s direction by creating a process, the cooperating agency process, that neuters coordination and sidelines local communities.
The Trump Administration, through the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior, could be the first to require agencies “coordinate” as the law currently directs, and create a path for the America First policies to be implemented in the most remote parts of our nation.
If you read former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s book You Report to Me, you learn that even with the best people and the best policies coming from the top, the career officials and bureaucrats make it nearly impossible for the new policies to be carried out where it matters.
My family’s story is case in point. Between the years of 1978 and 1991, when we finally filed the takings case, Hage v. United States, we were continually harassed by both the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. In one 105-day grazing season, the Forest Service served us with 40 certified letters and 70 personal visits alleging violations of our grazing permits. We filed and won three Administrative Appeals, but that did not stop them from finding new ways to drive us off our Nevada ranch.
In our case, the Forest Service had filed a claim over our privately owned water rights on the National Forests. Then they used their regulatory powers to drive us out of business. They ultimately succeeded after 27 years in court, and we were never compensated. Importantly, the 13 years of harassment occurred during the Carter, Reagan and Bush Administrations.
Trump’s policies will have the same fate and never reach rural America unless the Administration does something different. The coordination directive for federal agencies to work with local governments is already law. This directive has never been initiated by the agencies because they know doing so would stop the green agenda’s goal of removing all productive uses from federal lands—an agenda deeply baked into the administrative state.
The coordination provision was authorized in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, and it directs the Interior Secretary to work with States, local governments and tribes for the purpose of making federal plans consistent with local plans. This simple directive recognizes that since federal land management agencies only have the authority to manage the federally-owned lands, they must harmonize their policies with the local governments, who are charged with protecting the health, safety and welfare of the people. This is essential to ensure vibrant local communities and economies.
For the criteria to be met, this coordination must take place through an open public forum, usually a business meeting of the county government. This means the local citizens can hear what their local and federal governments are planning. Importantly, coordination gives local governments the forum to press and expose the federal agencies if they are not complying with the law.
One example occurred in 2021 when the Biden Administration released a major land use plan revision for the Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico. The counties were given two weeks to comment. Chaves County knew the coordination requirement and invoked it immediately. The four impacted counties then worked together and forced the agency to come to the table and coordinate.
The agency was advancing 54 new Wilderness Study Areas (WSA’s) and three new Wilderness areas, which would have wiped out the ranching industry and recreational access to the area. The counties showed how the WSA’s could not be advanced under the law or the agency regulations. But the District Ranger explained they were following the direction and criteria set forth in their internal agency handbook. Translation, they were not following the law as Congress had directed; they were following the agency’s interpretation of the law.
The counties appealed to the Forest Supervisor, but she insisted the District Ranger was following the law and proper coordination had occurred. She backed her District Ranger’s decision.
Then, during a third government-to-government coordination meeting with the District Ranger and other Forest Service staff, the counties displayed the WSA handbook criteria on the screen. Every commissioner, citizen and agency official could see that the WSA’s being advanced failed to meet the agency’s internal guidance policy. The Lincoln National Forest personnel were not complying with the law, regulations or even their internal policies.
The next day, the counties received notice that the District Ranger had been moved to a new position in Human Resources, and the revised plan disappeared as one of the Biden Administration’s top priorities. The attempt to run producers off the Lincoln National Forest had failed.
Contrast this with the recent bill filed in Congress to rescind 9 finalized land resource management plans by the Biden Administration in 2024 that will destroy the natural resource communities they serve. The only reason the Lincoln National Forest Plan was not on that list is because the New Mexico County Commissioners required agency accountability through the coordination process.
Congress could ensure the federal land management agencies carry out this provision, something the House Federal Lands Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Tom Tiffany has advocated, by including a directive in the budget reconciliation bill. This would force the agencies to coordinate and prevent them from replacing it with the cooperative agency process where they control the agenda, who sits at the table, and what issues are considered —with no accountability.
What the Trump Administration would gain is an army of rural county commissioners eager to see their lands well managed, communities safe and economies prosper.
They know who inside the agencies are working to uphold the law and the President’s policies, and who are there to obstruct. They know what lands need to be thinned and grazed to prevent wildfires. They know what areas should be open to hunting and recreation, and they know the vital industries that should be supported to generate the revenue necessary to pay for their roads, schools, hospitals and emergency services.
If President Trump and Congress would insist the agencies coordinate, as required by law, they would give county commissioners the ability to clean house from the ground up. These local leaders do not want government grants to pay their bills. They want to generate revenue and good paying jobs from the abundant natural resources, keep these lands open to the public, and fuel their economies.
They are eager to help President Trump root out rogue agency personnel who are committed to destroying all that makes America great.
Coordination is the viable path for the President’s policies to actually be carried out at the local level across this great nation. It is past time for the federal land management agencies to do so, and for local control to be returned to the citizens.
