Anti-30x30 resolution to be presented
Staff writer
After weeks of discussion, a resolution opposed to what critics call a 30x30 conservation “land grab” will be presented at next week’s county commissioners’ meeting.
On July 1, commissioners directed county counsel Brad Jantz to write a resolution against the program, a network of policies spread among numerous federal agencies that aims to conserve 30% of the nation’s land and waters by 2030.
Jantz said Monday he would draft a “middle-of-the-road” resolution but reminded commissioners to give the public ample opportunity to comment before making a final decision.
“Make sure it notes the executive order number and that it’s not a conservation program,” commissioner Kent Becker told Jantz.
Becker has pushed for a resolution banning the 30x30 program in the county since he heard a speaker talk about it at a right-wing Patriots for Liberty meeting in May.
Opponents insist the program is a “land grab” that uses conservation easements, state fishing lakes, parks, and federally protected land to “depopulate the area so there is no one to fight.”
Others say the whole effort to ban it is a far-right reaction to a conspiracy theory.
The program is supported by Conservation Corridor, Center for American Progress, the Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Land Trust Alliance, and other organizations.
Expressing cautionary words and questioning whether commissioners knew “more than just enough to be dangerous,” Jantz tried July 1 to push a decision about what position the county should take regarding the program onto planning director Sharon Omstead, but Omstead refused.
In other business Monday, commissioners:
- Discussed a possible contract for custodial services at the courthouse and future health department building. A bidder wants a one-year contract, but Becker said he’d rather have a month-to-month contract. No vote was taken. The contract will be discussed further.
- Conducted a public hearing on closure of a bridge on Old Mill Rd. south of 270th Rd. After hearing from landowner Richard Meisinger, who would lose access to property he owns, commissioners and road and bridge directors decided to rethink the plan.