Three-fourths of all Idahoans want the federal land in the state turned over to state government management, a new Idaho Politics Weekly poll finds.
Control of federal land in the West is a growing battle between state and county officials and federal land managers – mostly Bureau of Land Management officials.
A new survey by the weekly Idaho political newsletter by Dan Jones & Associates finds that 73 percent of Idahoans want the federal lands in the state turned over to local management.
Twenty-three percent want the feds to keep control, and 5 percent don’t know.
About 64 percent of all land in Idaho is currently controlled by the federal government, which includes large areas of national forests, BLM land and national parks and monuments.
By and large, the public lands battle has state and county officials wanting control of BLM and forest service land, with most willing to allow federal officials to own and manage national parks and monuments.
Here and here is a state-by-state accounting of the federal lands.
And here is a map of federal lands in Idaho.
Republicans lead Democrats in distrusting federal land managers, and seek congressional approval in turning federal lands taken at statehood returned to state control.
Jones finds:
- That among Idaho Republicans, 87 percent want the state to control federal lands in the Gem State, 10 percent want the feds to keep control of the land, and 4 percent don’t know.
- Even Democrats are split on the issue, 47 percent saying they want the federal lands under state control, 49 percent saying the feds should keep control, and 4 percent don’t know.
- 65 percent of political independents want the state to control federal lands, 28 percent want the feds to keep the lands, and 6 percent don’t know.
Jones polled 603 Idahoans between April 8-19. The poll has a margin of error of 3.99 percent.
