Prior to sending his son, Donald Trump Jr., to meet with representatives of The American Lands Council in February, Donald Trump gave an interview to Field and Stream which was published on Jan 21. When asked whether or not he would support the federal government transferring public lands to states. Trump responded, “I don’t like the idea because I want to keep the lands great, and you don’t know what the state is going to do. I mean, are they going to sell if they get into a little bit of trouble? And I don’t think it’s something that should be sold. We have to be great stewards of this land.”
On February 13 the Trump Campaign met with several leaders of The American Lands Council, and on Feb 18th candidate Trump railed against the overreach of federal bureaucracies such as the BLM. According to an article on InvestmentWatchBlog.com,"...the Republican presidential front-runner rails against the “draconian rule” of the Bureau of Land Management and the Obama administration’s “land grab” in the western United States. ‘The BLM controls over 85 percent of the land in Nevada,’ Trump explains. ‘In the rural areas, those who for decades have had access to public lands for ranching, mining, logging and energy development are forced to deal with arbitrary and capricious rules that are influenced by special interests that profit from the D.C. rule-making and who fill the campaign coffers of Washington politicians.’”
Then on February 21st, at a rally in Nevada, while discussing a Ted Cruz ad that suggested Trump preferred federal control over western lands, Trump indicated he didn’t know much about the issue.
