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The Biden administration has nominated Tracy Stone-Manning to head the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) despite the fact that she was once connected to ecoterrorism groups, doesn’t believe in letting livestock graze public lands, and once said that America must “breed fewer consuming humans.”
Quick Facts
Most Americans would assume that being involved in ecoterrorism would bar one from having control over more than 150 million acres of public land, but to the Biden administration, that is not an issue.
In 1993, Tracy Stone-Manning, under promise of legal immunity, testified to her involvement in a tree-spiking incident. Tree-spiking is the practice of lodging metal spikes or nails into a tree so that when loggers harvest the tree, the metal turns into a projectile. Stone-Manning, who was part of a radical activist group known as Earth First, sent an anonymous letter warning that if the trees were cut down “people could get hurt.”
Stone-Manning also informed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that she had never been the target of a federal investigation, but numerous reports, including her own quotes, say otherwise.
For example, a retired federal agent said that Stone-Manning was an early target of a federal probe into the tree-spiking investigation, and she was even subpoenaed for fingerprints, hair samples, palm prints and handwriting samples as part of a grand jury impaneled for the case. He added that Stone-Manning “absolutely refused to do anything” to help with the investigation at first and only complied with law enforcement after “she was caught.”
Stone-Manning even admitted later that she had been targeted by federal law enforcement during an interview with local press, explaining, “It was degrading. It changed my awareness of the power of the government. Yes, this is happening to me and not someone in Panama. And yes, the government does do bad things sometimes.”
Two of her activist friends, who she testified against as a result of her immunity deal, were tried and convicted for tree-spiking.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., has called on President Biden to withdraw the nomination, saying, “It’s clear that Ms. Stone-Manning was intentionally trying to deceive the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. She told the committee she had never been the subject of an investigation and yet complained about being investigated in the press.”
Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan said, “Here is something that should be very simple for all of us. No matter how young, no matter how naive, the director of the Bureau of Land Management for the United States of America should not — and I repeat, should not — have ever been involved in eco-terrorism.”
It isn’t just her involvement in tree-spiking that has some concerned. The Biden nominee created an ad for her graduate thesis in which she called a child “an environmental hazard.” She wrote that overpopulation is a problem in the United States. “The earth is only so big, and we can tap into it only so often. In America, we tap in often and hard. When we overpopulate, the earth notices it more. Stop at two [children]. It could be the best thing you do for the planet.”
She added, “The point is a simple one. Harshly, the ads say that the earth can’t afford Americans. More softly, they ask people to think about how their family planning choices affect the planet.”
As head of BLM, Stone-Manning would oversee 155 million acres of land for livestock. “It is overgrazed.” Stone-Manning stated. “Most likely, the grasses won’t grow back, because the topsoil took flight. Worse still, the government encourages this destruction. It charges ranchers under $2 a month to graze each cow and its calf on public land — your land.”
Despite concerns, the Biden administration stands by its nominee. “Tracy Stone-Manning is a dedicated public servant who has years of experience and a proven track record of finding solutions and common ground when it comes to our public lands and waters,” the White House said. “She is exceptionally qualified to be the next Director of the Bureau of Land Management.”
President Obama’s first BLM leader Bob Abbey commented, “BLM needs a really strong leader. To put someone in that position that has this type of resume will just bring needless controversy that is not good for the agency or for the public lands.”
It’s important to remember that the ecoterrorist groups of the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, were not benign protesters who chained themselves to trees to try to save forests and endangered species. Earth First and the Environmental Liberation Front (ELF), which grew out of Earth First, put lives at risk and caused tens of millions of dollars in property damage through various violent attacks, including tree-spiking; burning down newly constructed houses, BLM facilities, car dealerships, SUVs, and military recruitment offices; and sabotaging nuclear energy plants.
Biden’s nomination of a former ecoterrorist shouldn’t surprise anyone. The left continues its war on land usage, wanting to force humans and livestock off of millions of acres of land.
Radical environmentalists like Stone-Manning not only see humans as parasites harming the planet, but they see Americans as the worst parasites of all.
A person who favors telling Americans how many children they are allowed to have — a belief that is reminiscent of communist China’s devastating one-child policy — and other population control measures has no business overseeing public resources and complex public land management policies that impact our food production and the livelihoods and quality of life for ranchers, farmers, loggers, miners, and other hard-working rural Americans.
One can only hope that Congress will stand against this radical nominee. Of course, Biden’s next nominee could be equally radical — and, if so, that one should be rejected as well.
