Commentary: Maintain public lands, for the sake of freedom
In 1217, two years after England's King John signed the Magna Carta, King Henry III agreed to a companion document, the Charter of the Forest. Royalty, nobles and the clergy were at odds over claims to land that had once been shared by all. The charter intervened, codifying the concept of public lands - the commons - as foundational for "free men." Among the rights spelled out was access for all, not just the 13th century's 1%, to the kingdom's forests, to gather wood for fuel, graze livestock, forage plants and more.
For those who scraped together a living off the land in
