Poll: Strong opinions at root of standoff conflict

New poll shows strong opinions at the root of standoff conflict
By Taxpayer Association Foundation,

Oregon is making national news over a citizen standoff involving federal lands and property rights. The Taxpayer Foundation asked over 300 Oregonians in a statistical sample on who best should control Oregon’s natural resource land. The answers are striking.
Only 7% of Oregonians prefer the existing system of Federal control over our Natural Resource land. Roughly 36% believe the State should. The highest trust was for County and Local Governments at 39%. Put State and local together you get nearly 75% of Oregonians. Trusting Federal management over our lands was rated so poorly that those who stated “Unsure or Don’t know” scored double the Federal response.

This begs the question, “Why does Oregon surrender the responsibility and ownership of their own land to a system lacking public confidence when compared to local control which scores near universal support?”  Giving Oregonians more local control could be a popular and surprising reform to our controversial land use system.

Supporters of local control state that the government closest to the people and closest to the land can best handle the unique local needs.  On the other hand, supporters of Federal control say that national interest and national resources trumps local interests.