Photo Credit: Alexis Bonogofsky photo of Tongue River Valley
After decades of protest from ranchers, sportsmen, and conservationists, the Surface Transportation Board just denied the permit for the proposed Tongue River Railroad. The TRR would have fragmented some of the best wildlife habitat in the state to ship Montana coal to Asia.
The Surface Transportation Board decided to “deny TRRC’s request to hold this proceeding in abeyance and instead dismiss the proceeding without prejudice. At this time, there appears to be little prospect that Otter Creek Coal’s mine permit will be secured in the foreseeable future. Otter Creek Coal and its parent, Arch, have both filed for bankruptcy, and Otter Creek Coal has suspended its application for an MDEQ mining permit indefinitely.”
This is another huge victory in protecting the Tongue River Valley from development. This agricultural valley provides ranchers and farmers the ability to carry on the traditions of past generations. The Tongue River Valley also provides some of the best habitat in the country, with pheasants, pronghorn, and trophy mule deer calling the valley home. Hunters and anglers should rejoice to know that this valley will continue to be a paradise, where future generations will be able to wet their lines and chase game.
Over the last few years, a small group of politicians and ideological activists have been promoting the idea that national forests and other public lands should be handed over to state management. Their efforts attracted attention last winter, when the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was taken over by a group of armed activists who also called for all wildlife refuges, national forests, and other public lands to be transferred to states and sold off for private development.
Last week, MWF Executive Director Dave Chadwick was invited to participate in a debate over public land management with Ken Ivory, a state legislator from Utah who advocates the state takeover of public lands.
The debate spotlighted yet again the many reasons why handing national lands to state management is a fundamentally flawed, unworkable idea.
In calling for the state takeover, Ivory harshly criticized national public lands and suggested that national forests need to be managed like backyard gardens. He recommended that the federal government revive nineteenth century land disposal policies and transfer national public lands to state control. Under state management, these lands could be used to maximize revenue from oil drilling, logging, and mining in order to balance state budgets.
Offering a defense of national public lands, Chadwick focused on the many benefits that public lands provide for wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation, and the economy. He cited data on the economic benefits produced by both resource development and outdoor recreation on public lands. Finally, he noted the overwhelming public support for protecting public lands for all Americans and opposition to transferring lands to state management.
We’ve known for a long time that the state takeover of public lands would cut off public access and ruin wildlife habitat. Rejecting the multiple-use approach to public land management would be bad for hunters, anglers, hikers, bikers, and every other public land user. Budget realities would force states to manage lands for maximum revenue and ultimately sell them off.
In addition to being a bad idea, last week’s debate confirmed that the state takeover of public land is also completely unworkable. The whole concept is full of unanswered questions, empty promises, and speculative assumptions. During the 90 minute discussion, Mr. Ivory couldn’t answer the most basic questions from the audience about how state transfer or management would actually work, even if it were a good idea.
The state takeover of public lands has received more than its fair share of attention over the last few years – and it has been thoroughly rejected by the democratic process. It continues to move forward only because of the efforts of well-funded ideological lobbyists and headline-grabbing incidents like the takeover of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
Public land management is a complex issue that merits thoughtful action and bipartisan agreement. Reforming wildfire funding, supporting local collaboration, expediting timber harvesting and restoration to improve forest health, and fully funding federal land protection programs are all ideas that enjoy bipartisan support. Speculative philosophical debates about state management of national public lands do a disservice to the American people.
National Forest lands are vitally important not only to hunters, but to all Montanans and all Americans. They’re essential for wildlife, fish, clean water and ultimately to a high quality of life. That’s why it’s so troubling that the U.S. Forest Service is proposing severe cuts to the trails budget for the agency’s Region 1, which is based in Missoula and covers national forests in Montana, northern Idaho and the Dakotas.
The proposal in a nutshell would base funding for trail maintenance on a formula that considers user days. That might sound logical, but it’s not a good measure of the trail maintenance needs of a region or particular forest. And it would result in a 30 percent reduction in trail funding for Montana’s national forests over the next three years. That’s a drastic cut that would have devastating effects for the condition of our trails, and ultimately for public access to enjoy these lands for hunting, fishing, hiking and numerous other activities.
We simply cannot absorb those kind of cuts. It would not only hurt our access and quality of life, it would also hurt Montana’s huge – and growing – outdoor tourism economy, which currently generates $5.8 billion in economic activity and supports 64,000 jobs.
Everybody understands that we need to make some hard choices in government. Federal money isn’t flowing and we need to look for strategic places to save money. We also need to take a look at the way money is being spent.
But this isn’t an area to make cuts. And this isn’t just about Montanans. People from all over the country and the world come to the Treasure State to enjoy some of the most incredible landscapes on earth. These trails are essential to that.
The Montana Wildlife Federation recently wrote to both of Montana’s U.S. Senators, as well as Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell to express our concerns over the proposed cuts. We called for a look at other options and ultimately for proper funding for our trail system.
Fortunately, both Sens. Jon Tester and Steve Daines have spoken out against the new formula, and called for the agency to look at changes that doesn’t hit Region 1 so hard. Montana hunters, anglers and recreationists should weigh in as well.
Nick Gevock is the conservation director for the Montana Wildlife Federation.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has decided against a land exchange that would have resulted in the loss of public land known as the Durfee Hills. Billionaire brothers Dan and Farris Wilks were proposing to exchange their Anchor Ranch, which sits just north of the Missouri River in Blaine County, along with other lands, for the Durfee Hills, a landlocked parcel of BLM property which sits inside the Wilks’ NBar Ranch in Fergus County.
MWF had opposed the land transfer on the grounds that it was not a fair value trade. To lose Durfee Hills would have resulted in the loss of some of the best elk habitat in the state. The Wilks contended the land trade would open the Bullwhacker Road as access to the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument south of Anchor Ranch. However, that area is already accessible by boat on the river and from roads farther upstream. MWF believes that by partnering with sportsmen and other conservation groups, it can increase access to the monument without giving up public lands such as the Durfee Hills.
The victory can be attributed to local sportsmen of the Central Montana Outdoor group, along with the help of the MWF, both of whom worked tirelessly to stop the transfer. Doug Krings, speaking on behalf of Central Montana Outdoors said “you only get to keep what you are willing to fight for.”
Mark Albers, BLM’s Central Montana District Manager, said that the decision against pursuing the transfer was a result of competing priorities.
The Durfee Hills is one of many important BLM-managed lands in central Montana that rovide unequalled habitat for everything from sage grouse to trophy bull elk and are available for the public to enjoy. The value of this landscape to Montanans stems from its habitat which provides for world-class diversity and healthy populations of wildlife.
The BLM is currently working on a Resource Management Plan for the Lewistown area. As the BLM’s Lewistown Field Office prepares its draft Resource Management Plan, we as sportsmen and conservationists must ensure that the BLM recognizes this opportunity to protect these lands for their habitat and wildlife value. The BLM will be accepting public comment when the draft is released; it is our duty to tell them to protect this valuable habitat for us and future generations to enjoy.
John Bradley is Montana Wildlife Federation’s Eastern Field Representative. You can send him questions or comments at jbradley@mtwf.org.
Boating season is here; time to remember to help fight aquatic invasive species — non-native plants and animals that can cause harm to our waterways and fishing.
Yesterday I took my son, Cory to the Seeley-Swan valley to canoe and fish. On the way, we stopped at a mandatory boat check station run by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP).
It was a good reminder about invasive plants, such as Eurasion watermilfoil, and invasive animals, such as zebra and quagga muscles, that can have severe and negative impacts to our native fisheries. These invasives can “hitchhike” their way from one waterway to another on our boats, waders and other fishing gear.
The stop was very educational, with the main message being: Do your part to stop aquatic hitchhikers: Inspect. Clean. Dry. (Keep your boat and gear clean and free of debris; remove all mud, water and plants; and let your boat completely dry before using it in other waters.
The good, friendly folks from FWP gave us some informative brochures, a sponge to clean my boat with, and showed my son and I some actual zebra mussels so we know what they look like.
Dave Stalling is Montana Wildlife Federation’s Western Field Rep. You can reach him at dstalling@mtwf.org.
Jeff Lukas
Elk Campaign Manager
Jeff Lukas is a passionate conservationist who has been fishing and hunting his entire life. Whether it’s floating a small stream chasing trout, pursuing elk in the high country, or waiting in a blind for ducks to set their wings, Jeff is always trying to bring more people afield to show them what we are trying to protect. He loves being in the arena, and he will never shy away from conversations about the beautiful and unique corners of Big Sky country.
