The Land Exchange Story and Avatar

[Wildhorse]

The story of the land exchange is about greed, the power of a wealthy real estate developer over politicians and corruption and abuse of power at the BLM. It is also about exploitation of the land for a windfall profit.

The BLM has proposed transferring ownership of nine square miles of public land in the National Monument to the Tribe, a major real estate developer. In exchange the public will receive only two square miles of land. The land given up contains popular trails and destinations, including the Garstin and Skyline trails. It also contains species near extinction and a water course that matters much to life in the desert mountains. The Tribe has refused to commit to preservation efforts of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife after the exchange.

Even if the Tribe does not develop all of the land it receives in the exchange, through technicalities in environmental protection laws the exchange will enable the Tribe to develop other land in the Coachella Valley that would otherwise be illegal to develop. This will result in a windfall gain to the Tribe.

The BLM’s environmental impact statement is a sham. It was written under the watchful eyes of the Tribe and their political cronies. It is not an assessment of environmental impacts. It is a cynical legal maneuver in a fight to profit from public lands.

If you ever saw the movie Avatar, you know this story. A real estate developer with the backing of the U.S. government wants to exploit the land for a windfall profit. We must try to stop it before the felling of the tree.

[Sally]

All I can say is YIKES! I feel so powerless because I know so little about the legalize lingo and have no idea how to express my apprehension should I reply to or appear at one of their public hearings. I wonder what impact I could have if I were to show up as just a "hikin' fool" wanting to protect my rights.

[Norris]

So what needs to be done to challenge this? File a lawsuit? What is the deadline?

[Wildhorse]

Sally - showing up is powerful. The number of people who protest matters, and the concerned faces of the crowd matter. I hope there will be a public event at which to protest. So far, I have not seen any BLM notices that it will have more public meetings. Someone may organize an event at a meeting of the Palm Springs city council. Someone will surely post information about it when we hear of it. The BLM and the Tribe hope for no event at all, no occasion for protest. If individual people behaved the ways these powerful entities are behaving, we would call them psychopaths because they have total disregard for others. They want their way with the land and do not care at all about the feelings of others. They each regard themselves as superior to the rest of us.

Norris - When the public comment period on the draft EIS expires at the end of March, the BLM will obtain an appraisal and then will approve the deal. The public has a very short period of time to file a formal protest of the BLM action and to initiate a law suit. The BLM and the Tribe have done what they can to prepare for a battle, as have some of us. Even if we were to win that battle, the next day the Tribe and the BLM can start the exchange process again. My understanding is that the Tribe scoffs at the public because they believe we lack the patience and the will for a long fight on this issue.

The only way to really stop this exchange is through politics and public relations. We need to exert all the pressure we can, any way we can, on politicians and on the Tribe.

In his opinion that appeared in the paper on the weekend, the Tribe's Chairman argued that they will take better care of the land than the BLM ever would. And yet, they refuse to enter into an agreement for the care of the land with US Fish and Wildlife. They refuse to make any promise about protecting the land or letting the public visit the land. The refuse to promise that they will not develop the land. If they cared about the land, they would not refuse these things. They would acknowledge the importance of a mutual commitment to such things.

We must expose the Tribe as the exploiter of the land because that they have become. We must expose the BLM as the corrupt and abusive agency that they are. What we are witnessing here is as disgusting as the event portrayed in the movie Avatar. In this case, we are the people who love the land and are part of it. Would it not be wonderful to hike on the lovely planet in the movie? Our land is just as wonderful. The developers are poised to grab it from us and they have marshaled all the power of the United States government to help them grab it.

[Norris]

OK, it seems to me we should use a crowd funding source such as GoFundMe or similar as a way for people to contribute money to fund a lawsuit and find a law firm with experience litigating this kind of thing. There are plenty of lawsuits filed against the BLM every day so it should be possible to find a law firm with experience in this kind of matter.

[bamm321]

Been some letters to the desert sun lately about this. Here is one that points to some specific occurrences of the tribe just moving ahead, doing what they like, and not listening to public interest. I'd also rather not have to pay a skyline entry fee

http://www.desertsun.com/story/opinion/ ... /22671403/