Elky Welky
Well-known member
I agree that it is ridiculous, we shouldn't have to care, and at the end of the day it is a red herring.
However, it is a powerful narrative that the enemies of the public good have in their toolbox and use to great effect to scare property owners into their corner. There are countless good people whose entire net worth is tied up in their property. "Land rich, money poor" as the expression goes. Telling them their land will be devalued (contrary to reality, sure) because of the public accessing public land is a good way to raise money for UPOM and its ilk.
There are many ways for the enemies of the public good to fight corner crossing that, though illegitimate, outright false, etc. are still compelling. As Mr. Albus has demonstrated here, "common sense" is in the eye of the beholder. (In my experience anyone who relies upon "common sense" as an argument probably doesn't have much sense of their own.) Someone already predisposed to dislike public access is going to latch on to any argument that they think advances their cause. And we would be wise to take them seriously. There's nothing more powerful than a good story, true or false.
And don't expect these people to play this clean or fair or logical. Bypassing DNRC to swap away corner-locked lands, asserting that the public can be excluded from grazing leases, holding block mgmt hostage or being petty and stepping out of BM over corner crossing, etc. All of this is happening right now, and we must be nimble and unafraid to call it out as we see it.
Can we stop them? Only if enough of us show up.
