standing on public land?

[ThinkingWolf]

If all the land was held in trust for the people, what mechanism supercedes that standing and allows the establishing of national parks, wilderness areas, etc.?

[Notorial dissent]

I suggest you look up the word aphorism, as in political.

The government owns the property, they can do with it what they will including nothing, or turning it into a national park or whatever. It is done either by statute or in some cases proclamation, depending upon what they are doing and which law they are using at the time.

[ThinkingWolf]

Originally Posted by citizensoldier

Although such land is public... it must be purchased from the trust to transfer ownership from We the People to a private man or woman (or to a corporation through explicit Congressional approval).

Would you point me to such a "Congressional approval" please.

[jdogpupil]

The government doesn't always claim to own the land. The BLM, for instance, makes it somewhat evident that they are responsible for holding large amounts of public land "in trust".

In fact, if you visit the California BLM website, they have a search tool that displays all BLM holdingds, type, existing claims, expired claims, etc.

[Notorial dissent]

For "public" substitute government, "public" is nothing more or less than an euphemism. If you will check with the county recorder for the county the property is in it will either list it as U S Government, or whatever portion of the government owns it, Forest Service, BLM, Army, etc. The BLM is generally only the property manager for the government, and has been designated the keeper of records.

[ThinkingWolf]

If the land was granted to the living people held in trust for those people, how can an entity other than a live person "own" the land?

If the government entity is acting as trustee, be it BLM or whatever, how can it "sell" or otherwise prevent a live person from making claim to the land as intended by the original trust?

[Notorial dissent]

Where on earth did you come you come up with this mythology? The land, if you are referring to “Public Land” was NEVER granted to living people in the first place. Most of it was open territory at the time of the formation of the country. The original thirteen colonial governments who may or may not have had claim to the lands west of the Appalachians owing to their original charters ceeded all claims to that land at the time to the new Federal Government which then held it in its own name and right. The western lands were for a time the main assets of the new government, the government used that land to pay debts either directly or as means of making money.

There is no trust, and never has been one, the term public lands, public trust etc are nothing more or less than political rhetoric and have exactly no meaning.

The Bureau of Land Management, is exactly that, the government property manager, and it takes its instructions partly from the President and partly from laws passed by Congress.

As things stand now, there is no mechanism for an individual to claim public lands, or even buy them except in limited circumstances, and there hasn’t been since the last of the homestead laws were repealed in the early 70's.

[jdogpupil]

ND, I'm not going to pick your post apart, but I'll address your last comment. Up until 1994 there was mining law provided for an individual to obtain land and have it patented - hundreds of acres. The law hasn't been repealed, but they aren't issuing any more patents for the time being.

[Notorial dissent]

The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 repealed the Homestead Act

The Mining Law of 1872 otherwise known as 30 usc 42, and 74 stat 7 as amended, allowed for only a maximum of 5 acre claims. “The patent fees for millsites are the same as the fees for lode and placer mineral claims: $2.50 per acre for placer claims or $5 per acre for lode claims.” These are mineral claim patents, and the above ground area is secondary to the mineral claim, and if the mineral claim is not proved up it can be revoked. The moratorium on mining patents went into effect in 1994 and has yet to be reversed. and most likely will not be.