Dear editor:

In the Aug. 13, 2026, edition of the Powell Tribune article titled “Polls Show Wyoming Loves Public Lands,” writer Mark Davis states, “a staggering 91% of Republican voters who support current multiple-use management practices over sell-off, according to the survey of Wyoming voters.” Davis wrote a blatant hit piece aimed at Harriet Hageman five short days before the election.

Note the words multiple use, referring to land the public already has access to. The article cleverly never mentions lands that have no access.

I’m one of the 9% supporting sale of BLM pieces. The pieces completely locked away by private landowners. They’re the personal playground of the landowner, friends and family. The public can’t use those pieces of public land.

One look at the map of the BLM holdings in Park County shows vast acreages completely cut off from public access, as well as checkerboard patterns of BLM and private lands, also preventing public use. Why not sell and open public access?

The article states, “The federal government owns and manages roughly 48%-50% of the land in Wyoming, spanning approximately 30 million to 31 million acres of surface area.” Of that how much does the public have access to?

Further down in the article Lauren Heerschap, owner of Brunton in Riverton and a leader of the Keep It Public, Wyoming coalition is quoted, “for hunting, fishing, backpacking, off-roading. Public lands are our Wyoming way of life.” Insinuating taking away hunting, fishing, backpacking, off-roading is Hageman’s intention. I would contend those goals are Wyoming Game and Fish’s.

I have never heard Hageman state she wants to sell off trailheads nor suggest selling off places where people recreate. The article capitalizes on unfounded fear driving the narrative of “Public Lands in Public Hands” stoked by her opponents and now Mark Davis.

Respectfully,

Margaret Lohman

Cody