Do You Think The Govt. Will Eventually Try And Squeeze Out Boondocking Life?

[wanderin.pat]

Yes.

 

[Elbear1]

We been through this. Federal land is controlled by political appointees and they have authority to sell 2,500 acres without congressional approval.

We are not part of the RV or motel industry. In fact were a direct threat to those industries.

To sit and act like its chicken little when tens of millions would vote to sell (and actively doing so) all public land without batting an eye is silly.

 

[Qxxx]

I don't know where you live, but every place I boondocked last winter for 2 1/2 months on BLM in AZ and SoCal, I was the only cargo van in sight. One lone puppy dog. Everybody else were in RVs and TTs. Hundreds of them everywhere I camped.

 

[highdesertranger]

"We been through this. Federal land is controlled by political appointees and they have authority to sell 2,500 acres without congressional approval."

while this is true it doesn't happen overnight or in some smoky back room. there are Environmental Impact Reports that need to be done and there would be a series of meetings open to the public for public comment. I am not saying that once the government makes up their mind to sell/swap a parcel that your average Joe/Jane can do anything about it, but what I am saying is the process takes years.

as far as I can tell the private property south of Zion has been private since before the 1950's. I am not sure what section or plot you are referring to but as far as I can tell almost all the land south of the park is private and there is even a finger of private property that extends into the park and it's been private for a very long time.

BTW I do this type of research all the time for my prospecting. I have computer programs that shows who owns what with links to county recorders that shows the owners name. address and in some cases phone numbers. it also shows pervious owners names that go as far back as the county allows on the internet. some counties go way back I have seen the 1850's. it also shows who pays the taxes and how much. it also shows what the property is zoned for. you can also find all this info, start with the BLM LR 2000 data base. but like I said I have programs that get you in the back door to LR 2000 and do all the hard mind numbing leg work for you. I have showed this at some of my prospecting seminars at the RTR's.

highdesertranger

 

[RoamerRV428]

Oof, let's hear it for fatalism. After reading that, maybe I'll just stay home, be a couch potato, drink beer, and watch sports on TV like the typical retired male.

Not hardly, not this puppy.

You are looking at it all wrong.  Life marches on and life will march over all of us as it has done since beginning of time.  What you do with it NOW is key.  Don't be a tater, get out there and use all the free boondocking land ya can while you are alive    and truly there is nothing wrong with sitting home and drinking brew and watching sports IF THAT is what ya want

Just go be you while you live is what my post means.  Enjoy now for you can't control what changes happen truly down the line for the earth.

 

[travelaround]

In other words, focus on today and don't worry about the future because we can't fix that anyway.

Still, live responsibly and do your part to leave the planet in a good condition for future generations. Leave no trace, and all that

 

[highdesertranger]

I deleted a whole series of posts that were calling people stupid or arguing about if they are or aren't. highdesertranger

 

[highdesertranger]

it's the word stupid and the bickering that got the posts deleted. I agree that sitting around watching TV and drinking beer is bad for a persons health but you can't call them stupid. a lot of others words could have been used and I would have let it stand. highdesertranger

 

[travlin man and wife]

I believe some day dot in each will be required to collect a fee from all t.v.. This fee will be turned over to balm and forest service. This will give rangers to come a d inspect your camp. All veil camped will have to have this permit even if you are their for only one weakened. Land between the lakes does this now $30for a yearly pass or $7..per person for a weakened.

 

[user 22017]

BTW I do this type of research all the time for my prospecting.  I have computer programs that shows who owns what with links to county recorders that shows the owners name.  address and in some cases phone numbers.  it also shows pervious owners names that go as far back as the county allows on the internet.  some counties go way back I have seen the 1850's.  it also shows who pays the taxes and how much.  it also shows what the property is zoned for.  you can also find all this info,  start with the BLM LR 2000 data base.  but like I said I have programs that get you in the back door to LR 2000 and do all the hard mind numbing leg work for you.  I have showed this at some of my prospecting seminars at the RTR's.

highdesertranger

I just read this article:

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/11/01/the-capitalist-war-on-the-last-american-commons/?

How much of a threat are the ranchers and oil & gas industry folks? If you Google "privatize BLM land" it sure sounds like public lands are being opened up more lately. Recently, I've read articles about how Trump is considering privatizing our National Parks. It may sound like fear mongering, but I'm from Illinois where almost the entire state is held in private hands. I'm hoping the public lands remain public for my grandkids to enjoy.

And there is this, from two weeks ago (also covered in the Washington Post):

There’s been 19% drop in the ranks of officers at the U.S. Forest Service between 2013 and 2018, according to GAO. The Bureau of Land Management saw a 9% drop and now has one officer in the field for every 1.2 million acres (1,563-square miles) the agency oversees.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/report-u-s-public-land-workers-assaulted-threatened-on-job

First starve funding, then seek to privatize?

 

[LoneRanger]

A very large portion of the negativity creating this kind of scare is coming from a few sources, such as this fellow:

"Little House On The Road" channel on YouTube specializes in hyping bad news under the guise of just embracing "reality". His titles are bad news click bait, and while he has a base of factual items, he builds on top of them to make it sound like the world is ending everywhere, and consequently, his productions are mostly depressing downers. For instance, recently, he implied that soon, based upon an upcoming supreme court decision upon a small issue, the various levels of government will be able to force all "homeless" people and nomads without actual addresses for homes they own or rent, into special bunking facilities provided by the government, which would mean all nomads would be forced to live in these facilities leaving their vehicles behind. He further speculated that there would be no guarantee married people would have adjacent bunks.

He has been repeatedly saying there soon will be no disbursed camping at all, and only designated parking spots will be available, and then the powers that oversee these will begin reducing the numbers of parking spaces and entirely closing whole areas due to overuse, which will cause further overuse of other areas, which will allow them to then close those also for the same reason, and said process will continue until there is no nomad life left, while further obstructing said nomad life by selling off large tracts of BLM and other lands to private individuals.

Further, if you enter this life, the odds are you are going to be killed, one way, or another! Or be stranded and loose everything.

As I said. The world is ending and nothing can reverse it. All is lost. You're going to die anyway. You might as well eat a bullet.

But, to be fair, on the positive side, recently he has been advocating that instead of the nomad life, (a life he is now sort of living) one should look at cheap homesteading....which, I have no objection to, as owning a piece of land isn't a bad idea, that is, if the local governments will actually let you construct a cheap dwelling or live in one's choice of RV on it, etc.

 

[highdesertranger]

I can't even watch that guy, for me it's like nails on a chalkboard. highdesertranger

 

[Qxxx]

A very large portion of the negativity creating this kind of scare is coming from a few sources, such as this fellow:

"Little House On The Road" 

Yeah, that guy is one of the lesser-liked RVer youtubers, at least around here. There are a few other misery and drama loving youtubers. Some people fall in the hole no matter where they are. You can find a lot more people with a positive outlook.

Camo Dave is another guy to avoid. He sits at home in his S&B house and pretends as is obvious to be, "Mr Backwoods Camo Guy". Yeah, right. He's just someone making money by playing up drama in RV people who are actually "being" RV people rather than just "talking" about being RV people.

 

[eDJ_]

I cosign with Orange Cloud's  post #9 regarding not leaving a trace behind and being good custodians of the camping sites.
(where ever they be)   

I live right on the Ohio River and they have been trying to blame boaters for trash in the river.  But that trash could come from anywhere especially after a flood or heavy rains washing stuff into the tributary streams and from there into the river. But for boondocking campers it may be a little easier to prove where the trash came from. 

There are lots of ways and places to dispose of garbage legitimately.  We've talked about that here in the past.   Ask yourself how long it will be before Drones are used to do fly overs and film camping sites ?   This could be yet another Govt. privatized small business contract made available by the BLM. (as Tech is ever encroaching)

 

[Qxxx]

Ask yourself how long it will be before ....

Ha, ha, it's always coming around yet again. Same old stuff. There was a thread a while back where the guy said the skies would be "blackened" by gobmint drones. LOL. Some day, after the robots take over, everyone "will" have jobs watching everyone else via drones. Each of us will have our own personal other person to watch. 

For now, just don't camp near the southern border with Mexico.

 

[crofter]

Just enough factoids to make the drama churn. True, areas get closed due to overuse;  you can buy land and be forbidden to live on it in your rv; the gov has compounds that are used to house people, for example immigrant detainees. 
In my experience, boondockers are not getting hassled as much as a couple years ago. Or maybe we are getting better at boondocking.  -crofter

 

[crofter]

For now, just don't camp near the southern border with Mexico.

Now what! How are you defining "near the border" South of Quartzite or South of Yuma?  -crofter

 

[Qxxx]

Now what! How are you defining "near the border" South of Quartzite or South of Yuma?  -crofter

The areas where the surveillance drones fly. Many areas where there are no fences, they use various electronic means to monitor the border.

 

[Qxxx]

Ummm, reference here to drone use.
https://gizmodo.com/u-s-border-patrol-flew-more-drone-missions-last-year-t-1829323612

https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2018-09/OIG-18-79-Sep18.pdf
" CBP guards nearly 7,000 miles of U.S. land border and 2,000 miles 
of coastal waters surrounding Florida, Texas, and southern California. 
To accomplish its mission, CBP uses a variety of aircraft to patrol the 
borders, conduct surveillance, and assess disaster damage. The air 
assets include helicopters, fixed-wing airplanes, and unmanned aircraft. 

In 2004, CBP conducted a pilot study to determine the feasibility of using
unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to patrol the southwest border of the United
States. The study concluded that unmanned aircraft could carry sensors and
equipment and remain airborne for longer periods than CBP’s manned aircraft.
Subsequently, CBP Air and Marine Operations (AMO) began UAS flight
operations in 2006".

 

[crofter]

I could not find recent mapping online, guess you just have to look for the big black fence and those white things in the sky. Too bad about the habitat fragmentation this is bringing on in the desert preserves along the border.   After further reading your link states they are free to fly the drone missions within 100 miles of the border, so I guess you might find them south of Quartzite. Better check outside and let us know. -crofter