I recently caught up with Congressman Bruce Westerman (R-AR), the current House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member. If Republicans retake the House in 2022, he’s expected to take the gavel from current chair Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ).
Naturally, the avid angler phoned in from the 2021 Bassmaster Classic in Houston, TX, and said the event was a nice change of pace from D.C.
“When I was a kid, I thought that was what my calling in life was: I was going to be a professional bass fisherman,” the lone registered forester in Congress recounted in an interview for Townhall.com.
During our chat last week, Westerman spoke about the INVEST in America Act, Democrats advancing policies that lock the public out of public lands, and the future of conservation in America.
Democrats Ram Through INVEST in America Act
Not only does Congressman Westerman serve on the House Natural Resources Committee, he also serves on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
During a recent markup for H.R.3684—a 1,383-page monstrosity known as the INVEST in America Act— he grew distraught with seeing his Democrat colleagues vote against his amendments—including a reasonable one to enhance public lands access for the elderly and disabled.
The markup meeting lasted over 17 hours beginning Wednesday, June 9th, at 10am and ending at 5am on Thursday, June 10th.
“There's an issue that I face in my home state on the National Forest where there are roads that are open for vehicular traffic,” Westerman told me. “The Forest Service has prohibited people from using ATVs and off-highway vehicles (OHV) on these roads that are open up to four wheel drive trucks.”
The passionate conservationist elaborated how non-controversial his proposal was, noting, “I was just talking about roads that were already opened to vehicular traffic. I'm not talking about creating new roads. I'm not talking about letting ATVs out on hiking trails. Just simply allowing people to use off-highway vehicles on existing roadways that are open to vehicular traffic.”
To Congressman Westerman, closing off access to certain Americans is not inclusive and, in turn, is antithetical to America’s longstanding public lands ethos.
Westerman Has Serious Doubts About 30-by-30
During our call, the Arkansas Republican communicated his growing concerns with 30-by-30 and doubts surrounding the Biden administration’s approach to conservation policies.
“30-by-30 is a good name for a show on ESPN, but I'm not sure what it has to do with conservation,” quipped Westerman.
The conservationist explained this key agenda item for Democrats could potentially lock off public lands to access. He believes 30-by-30, if implemented, “is going to restrict use and restrict the number of people” who can access them.
With respect to wilderness areas, Westerman offered, “They're good in certain places. There's reasons for them. But if you think just locking up land and keeping people off of it and doing no management on it is conservation, then you've been reading the wrong textbooks.”
He further argued private land can be managed “much better than public lands, as far as conservation goes.”
He believes private land conservation, on top of public land conservation—or “good stewardship”—has allowed the U.S. to protect well over 30 percent of America’s lands already.
Demystifying Conservation vs. Preservation
Congressman Westerman believes leftist environmentalists conflate conservation with preservation to deliberately confuse the public.
“I want to make sure we have access to public lands—access for hunting and fishing and outdoor recreation. And that American citizens are able to enjoy this land that's owned by everyone. That it's not locked up and set aside for only special interests. And unfortunately, we're seeing way too much of that across our country,” Westerman observed.
“Preservation is for art in an art museum. It's for an old building that needs to be remodeled. It's for something static that doesn't change. That's how you can preserve that,” he said of preservation.
“You cannot preserve nature because it changes on its own, whether we do anything or not,” described Westerman. “The only way you can preserve nature is you can take the cucumber out of your garden and boil it in vinegar and make a pickle out of it. That's preservation. But that's not what we want for our forest [and] for our natural landscapes.”
“We want to be good stewards and take care of what we've got. That's what conservation is. You use it, and you leave it in better shape than you found it for the next generation.”
Hear our entire conversation on District of Conservation. Connect with Congressman Bruce Westerman online and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.