Hello, everyone. It's Clay. I'm introducing this week's podcast. This is a conversation with

Mr. Jonathan Thompson, currently living in Greece, but he's from Durango, Colorado, one of my

favorite places in the world. He's the author of a number of books. Most recently, Sagebrush

Empire, how remote Utah County became the battlefront of America's

public lands. And really, it's a deeper look at the Sagebrush Rebellion, which he says in this

interview has been going on really for a very, very long time, although it flared up in the big way

after the environmental legislation from Congress during the late 1960s and the 1970s.

It's a fascinating man, a kind of quiet, understated man, but what I love about him is that

he is not simpleton.

He doesn't see any of this very complicated situation from a single perspective.

He has respect for the ranch community, for the recreation community, for the mining community,

for the heritage people of places like Malta, Montana, and Moab and Durango and Telluride.

He sees legitimacy in every direction.

He also is willing to criticize the environmental movement when

it overreacts, et cetera. And he's net optimistic about the future of our public lands. He's concerned,

of course, about Donald Trump's agenda, which is to privatize everything he can possibly privatize,

including giving whole chunks of the public domain in the West,

back to the States.

Fascinating conversation.

I've been reading his book and really enjoying it, Sagebrush Empire, which I urge you to take a look at.

It's available on Kindle as well as in, of course, print form.

Let's go to the program, follow along at LTamerica.org and sign up for our weekly newsletter. This is a really, really exciting time

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