President's message by NM Commissioner Ray Powell

The Western States Land Commissioners Associaton leadership has been very busy preparing for an exciting and interesting winter meeting in Jackson Hole.

Bob Olheiser and his crew in North Dakota set a standard of hospitality that will be hard to match. Many thanks to Jim Magagna, Steve Degenfelder and their fine staff for organizing our upcoming winter meeting. We're looking forward to productive meetings, informal gatherings and enjoyable outings in one of the most inspiring and dramatic regions of the west.

One of my priorities in my roles as New Mexico's Commissioner of Public Lands and as president of the WSLCA is to build bridges of communication, collaboration, information and trust among the people involved in and affected by the use and administration of the public lands of the west. This is a complex and time-consuming approach, but I am convinced our beneficiaries and our citizens will be better off in the long run.

Thanks to the leadership and organization of past presidents Jennifer Belcher (Washington) and Curt Johnson (South Dakota), I was able to get off to a fast start as your president.

In October, a group of WSLCA officers went to Washington, D.C. and met with Vice President Al Gore, members of Congress from various states, and key staff members of federal land agencies. We discussed numerous topics but focused on land exchanges under our authority as the Land Exchange Task Force created in Reno last year.

Commissioners Belcher and Johnson, Executive Officer Bob Hight (California), Director David Terry (Utah), and Leda Roselle (representing Texas Land Commissioner Garry Mauro) all returned with a positive sense about our ever-growing relationship with federal government.

With Bob Hight's leadership, we are encouraging the standing committees to develop strong agendas and work plans for the coming year. As we share information about our experiences and challenges, we become stronger as an organization. That will help us move forward in our never-ending goal of responsible and sustainable public land administration.

For our meeting in Jackson, we have a full slate of committee meetings scheduled, focusing on varied and imporant issues: federal land exchanges; federal land divestiture and control; federal oil and gas royalties; Endangered Species Act reauthorization; the "Urban West" -- commercial development of state trust land; and asset inventory and management.

I am optimistic, perhaps because of the truth of Leo Tolstoy's saying: "We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, but others judge us by what we have already done."

That quotation sums up the challenges we face as trust land and public land managers.

An organization such as the WSLCA is stronger than any individual member. I thank you and congratulate you all for your continued involvement and your service to your citizens and beneficiaries.