WHEATLAND — In the name of conservation, climate change, population control, and alternate energy sources, the livelihood and very fabric of ag and ranch communities are at stake, according to Jerry Cundall, lifelong rancher, Platte County resident, and chairman of the Platte County Republican Party. 

Cundall, a passionate advocate for natural resources, grassland cattle grazing, and farming is talking about the 30 x 30 program, instituted by the Biden Administration in 2021, with the intent to have permanently “protected” 30 percent of American land and oceans by 2030. Many opponents of this program refer to it as a federal land grab based on the hype of climate change and global warming.

“If you go back to the Agenda 21 program, the 30 x 30 program is an off-shoot driven by the same group that organized Agenda 21,” Cundall said.

Agenda 21 is comprehensive plan of action to be exercised and accepted globally, nationally, and locally by organizations of the United Nations System, governments, and major groups in every area in which humans impact the environment. Human impact would, by Agenda 21 definition, include farming, mining, drilling, fishing, hunting, and cattle that are common industries in states such as Wyoming. 

“The group has decided that our human population is ‘too high’ and use the climate lie to instill fear and drive the whole scheme.” Controlling the population is another method of controlling human impact. “We need to do our research,” Cundall added. “There will be a major effect on communities like ours. Population control means government control,” he said, citing the book Hot Talk, Cold Science, written by astrophysicist S. Fred Singer, who lays out the scientific case against the likelihood of imminent catastrophic global warming. Singer’s book focuses on exposing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) instituted by the UN to propagate fear and misinformation (according to climate change opponents). 

“These federal programs to conserve land, such as national parks and forests are targeting places like Wyoming and Montana: states that have a lot of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land and forest services,” he explained. “If the federal government can get control of those areas, they can control everything. They can say what does and does not happen on those lands. For instance, a cattle rancher may not be able to run his cattle over certain BLM areas that he has access to now if the 30 x 30 program succeeds.” 

According to Cundall, agencies will implement non-use clauses. “The government will have complete control of it,” Cundall said. “I’m afraid that our way of life has sort of made us naïve to these things. It’s hard to think that these things could really happen here. Our naiveté will help them propel the agenda. If 30 x 30 is successful and gets control of BLM land, they will shut down grazing.” 

And grazing is only one component at risk. Harvesting natural resources (such as coal, oil, or minerals) is also at risk, and is a high area of revenue for the state and its residents.

Cundall encourages those living in rural areas where agriculture, ranching, and/or mining are the main industries to do their own research; to contact state government leaders, such as congresswoman Harriet Hageman to become better informed regarding the potential danger of programs such as 30 x 30. In a recent visit to the Platte County Commissioners, Hageman denounced the hype of climate change and clearly championed Wyoming’s rich natural resources and generations-long way of life of farming and ranching. 

“There is a lot of information out there,” Cundall concluded. “It can easily be found, and there is plenty of proof that it’s hype. Becoming better informed instead of buying the media and government agenda wholesale is in our best interest.”