Takeover of federal lands could cost Arizona $800 million, study says
Managing federal lands could cost Arizona $800 million in lost funding, a new study concludes. Most of the cost comes from wildfire mitigation and suppression on wild lands across Arizona. Outdoor recreation is the most lucrative land use of public lands and far exceeds the tax revenues generated from industries like mining. A newly released report aims to remind people of the importance that public lands remain in federal hands, even as state lawmakers in several Western states continue to push plans to take over the resource. The report, released in conjunction with Arizona Public Lands Day, the first Saturday of April, pegs the economic cost of managing those swaths at $800 million a year, enough to bankrupt the state outright if Arizona took over managing federal lands within its boundaries. “A number of legislators seem to think that they could make a lot of money,” said study author Dave Wells of the Grand Canyon Institute. “They don't certainly fully recognize all of the federal dollars that come in to maintain the land.” A state takeover of federal lands would hit rural communities the hardest, block public access to recreation opportunities and likely anger many Arizona voters. Yet rollbacks in...
azcentral.com
