Joel Bousman is a rancher and county commissioner in western Wyoming. His county is 80 percent public land. “So any decision made by the federal agencies does have an impact,” said Bousman. That’s meant both good and bad things for his community, said Bousman, especially its economic base which relies on energy, agriculture and recreation. But Bousman added right now is an exciting time, with the Interior Department proposing changes that could mean more control in the hands of local government. “Because we’ve always had concerns with the top-down approach of federal agencies, both BLM and Forest Service,” said Bousman...“Well I only know what I've read, so I don't know exactly what the plan is,” said Castle, who used to be deep in the Interior Department. From 2009 to 2014, she was the assistant secretary for water and science. Actually, no one knows what the plan is. It's vague, and it’s already changed a few times. But here’s what Castle said she does know: All this reshuffling is probably a bad idea. For one, she said, it’s expensive. In a 2019 budget document, Zinke estimates it will cost $17.5 million in the first year. “I've seen it estimated that it could cost a billion dollars total,” said Castle. Then, there’s the fact that most people who work for the Interior Department -- about 60 percent of them -- are already out west. “Most of the people are on the land where they should be, working in the regions where their projects are playing out,” Castle said, not stuck in a D.C. bubble...In Salt Lake City, political leaders are welcoming that hubbub. Utah has long-complained about federal control of western lands. But now, the state wants the feds to move here. Tom Adams leads Utah’s Office of Outdoor Recreation. “It makes a lot of sense to be really close to your customer, and the West is the customer of federal lands,” said Adams.
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