The 395 and Owens Valley-Eastern Sierra Region

I haven't read that it was stopped. I heard enough people called that they were making "revisions". Prob hope the noise dies down and they can vote on it with no changes. Did you notice I think Montana had no land for sale? Their Senator said he would vote no unless all Montana land was removed. Way to look out for his own state but screw the others.

Edit: just found this. You might be right.

I hope this is considered current events applicable to the interests of this forum and not considered politics.

https://www.nationalreview.com/news...mentarian-removes-proposal-from-gop-megabill/

 

For right now, it is removed by the Senate Referee. Personally, I would rather the effort go toward better managing how land is acquired in the first place--ie; fix the Antiquities Act.

And I'm not against disposing of federal land either. Any good real estate portfolio manager is constantly monitoring and managing their holdings. However, I think the process needs better input from the people (and less from large special interest groups).

 

Son of a bitch. There goes my plan to buy a parcel across Buttermilk Rd. Then I was gonna put up a gate and have the 'Milks be like they where in 90s. Quiet and peaceful. Oh well, what's another shattered dream at this point. lol

 

Yeah, I think the longer term "good news" here is that all the push back and people pointing out the potential giant loop holes in the really poorly written original legislation has motivated the sponsor to put more thought into writing any future version of legislation on federal land sales. The parliamentarian tossing it out of the current big bill has ensured it has to get rewritten rather than rushed to the floor as quickly as possible with no thought just to get it passed with the rest of the monstrosity. The sponsor claims the forced rewrite will address some of the worst problems with the original legislation. For example, restricting the land for sale to be relatively close to existing population centers since the original claimed motivation was to address the housing crisis. Selling parts of the floor of Saline Valley does not address the housing crisis.

Like you said, selling off a small percentage of federal land isn't necessarily a bad thing. Writing a really crappy bill that poorly implements selling off federal land is a bad thing. Hopefully when this thing comes around the next time it will now be better written to actually address the problem it claims it is addressing rather than creating a whole host of bad side effects.

 

Something else, I feel like leasing might be a much better solution in many cases. For example, I could see forest managers offering a "short term" (not indefinite) lease to provide forest managed timber harvest. I'd also like to see forest service leases be more transparent. For example, ski resorts--some of these are revenue based leases but who knows what they pay?

The thing that gets me is putting this into the "housing shortage" dumpster fire. Many existing cities would benefit from annexation for example. There are better ways to add housing (if it's really needed) than selling off recreational lands.

 

While I appreciate some of the written confidence in the current congress (gives me hope) to excute a long term vision of America on behalf of Americans I’m seeing something totally different. This funking congress has to be the worst congress since the 1880’s. All I see is a congress serving people that can’t or won’t be governed.
The shit going on in Washington these days that appear to be chaos is in my view by funking design.
In the land of smoke and mirrors e.g. fiat money - that is on its last legs - the land is all we have, dudes.

 

As someone who lives close to large portions of gov land that was at risk, I think the claiming it's to ease housing constraints is a cop out. Urban planners need to do a better job and not gobble up land that was a draw for many of the existing residents. Being able to get away from the masses in 30 minutes will always be better than more poorly planned urban sprawl.

Also, any politician that came out and said they did it realize things were in the bill they voted yes on deserves to be primaried out because they are not doing their job. If they bitch that they didn't have time to read 1,000+ pages all the more reason to send them packing. Mega bills like this are never in the best interest of the people.

 

Oh, and ‘they’re' not stopping at “land” they're coming for the water next.

 

As a reminder we are discussing 395 and the Owens Valley here. A specific and immediate threat to its recreational areas was on topic. Certainly that threat while temporarily postponed is not completely gone and so undoubtedly it will come up as an on going topic along with broadly related public lands issues that would also apply to the area.

That said, it would be good to stay away from the TW Third Rail topics of politics, political motivations, political parties, and political personalities. Obviously those are the root causes of some the threats being discussed, but let’s just ignore the elephant in the room and stay on the narrower thread topic (double entendre intentional).

 

On lighter note, and because I take nothing for granite-
Family photos from the past 12 months - Lee Vining, Mammoth, Bishop











oh and Way back 80’s Bishop trip:
1980-1989 Toyota pickup images please!

 

Temple is well named isn't it?

 

Yeah …. and like everywhere else around there it’s my favorite place on the planet.

 

It's why I live here. Just picked up a permit for Piute Pass. Heading in Friday and looping out Sunday via Pine Creek. No climbing but there will be more then a few Golden's caught. lol

 

Nice, wish I was invited. We're heading up there for sure in September but not sure where - daughter made the plans. I’ll sneak in a hike up there before then though.

The family loves it up there which kinda sucks in the sense we live in San Jose. That makes it hard to pull the trigger on buying a place over there …although, my daughter made two road trips up there by herself this past winter so we can rationalize it now. ;-)

 

What is the status of Saddlebag these days?

 

That picture was taken the day they were closing for the season, in fact the last boat had just come in. I talked to the tender and got the impression that things were looking up there, but wife says they've been closed so far this season and doesn’t know why.

 

I can still add a third. lol

As far as buying a place here goes. If you can afford it. Do it!

 

I was looking for a time. A lot of places look promising until you find out who the owners are...

 

Home prices here have just started too decline from peak. Houses are sitting for longer then a week and some even have Price Reduced signs. That said, it still ain't cheap. lol

 

My wife says she could retire there. Daughter sez she'd go in an instant for a search-and-rescue job …hell, she says she consider a medical clinic job. …btw, thanks for the invite ;-)