Easterners Posting Property
In Protest Of Eco-Overlords

(Editor’s note: To grasp the gist of the following story, it helps to understand that eastern landowners typically do not lease their property for hunting, nor do hunters expect to pay for its use. In that part of the country it is considered a courtesy for hunters even to inform landowners of their presence, and only the terminally polite would think to ask for permission. Posting land against hunting or trespass is thus as rare there as allowing the public to traipse willy-nilly over private property in West Texas.)

BARRE, Vt. — Property rights battles have been raging for years in the West, and now Easterners are beginning to join the fray. Vermont landowners are among the latest to fight back against laws and rules that restrict their rights to use their own land.

A property rights group is standing firm in its committment to keep members' land posted to vocalize their opposition to a new state law that limits some clearcutting of forests.

And the group, Property Owners Standing Together, agreed to campaign against any lawmaker or other public official who favors "taking rights away from the people."

The vote was 113-24 to keep the land closed to everyone, including the group's own dues-paying members, said Ken Davis of Hardwick, the president of POST.

The group hopes to send "a strong message to the Legislature that people are not going to tolerate trespassing on their property rights."

"There's a lot of debate about what will happen to the economy and things of this sort, but the fact is if the people in the Legislature aren't going to get behind people with property rights, maybe they're missing the train," Davis said.

The organization's board of directors is planning to "look at the political situation and look to throw some people out in 1998."

Davis said POST has about 1000 members with $15,000 in its treasury. The group is working to establish a political action committee funded, in part, with out of state money. The group has already collected some money from property rights groups in Maine, Oregon and Washington.

Davis said he was also in contact with Mountain States Legal Foundation in Denver, a public interest law firm specializing in property rights issues.

"They win, win, win all the time," Davis said of Mountain States. "They're what we call the environmentalists’ nightmare."

POST was formed earlier this year in response to new clear-cutting legislation which requires loggers to get a permit if they want to "heavy cut" more than 40 acres of land.

POST has particularly targeted Gov. Howard Dean. "He's what we call the crowned jewel," Davis said. "He's our number one man. Number two would be David Deen (a Democratic representative from Westminster). He's the one who was very politically motivated to have this bill passed."

Davis said POST would try to oust 30 to 40 state representatives.

The land posting could have the biggest impact on the upcoming hunting seasons and snowmobiling this winter.