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Proclamations signed today by the President to remove protections from national monuments is being criticized by the Montana Wildlife Federation (MWF) as a dangerous precedent that calls into question the future of other protected areas across the west.

On Monday, December 4, President Donald Trump ended several months of secrecy and announced that several protections will be removed from the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument and Bears Ears National Monument.  This action by the President ignores overwhelming view by the majority of American’s who have stated that these places should be left alone. Last May, MWF conducted a scientific poll of Montanans which found that 58% of respondents said that we should leave national monuments the way they are, with an additional 16% calling for more land to be protected through more monument designation rather than less.

In response to the announcement, Montana Wildlife Federation executive director Dave Chadwick said:

“We are extremely disappointed in the President’s decision to ignore the years of local discussions by local residents, Native American tribes, conservation advocates, and other stakeholders that went into designating these national monuments.   This decision calls into question the security of all public lands, including Montana’s Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument.  Unilaterally shutting down and repealing national monuments sets a precedent that will forever leave our Breaks and all public lands vulnerable.  This decision shows that the Administration is willing to listen to a handful of extreme voices over the majority of Americans when it comes to our public lands.” 

The Montana Wildlife Federation is concerned these recommendations create an atmosphere where future administrations could continue to attempt to shrink public lands and the budgets that maintain them.  Actions such as today’s and bills like HR 3990 — supported by Montana Representative Greg Gianforte — are evidence that, if passed, our public lands are under dire threat. If the Department of Interior can roll back monument protections in any monument, nothing prevents future administrations from undertaking the same in other places, including the Missouri River Breaks.

Bill Geer, a resident of Lolo and president of the Montana Wildlife Federation, said:

“Instead of trying to redraw national monuments from the top down, land managers should be working with local communities to develop smart management plans.  We know that approach works, because it is what we’ve done here in Montana at the Missouri Breaks.  This entire national monuments review process has just been a distraction from the real work of working together to protect public access, wildlife habitat, and multiple use public land management.”

John Salazar, a resident of Livingston and a board member of Montana Wildlife Federation, says today is a defining one in the Trump administration’s attitude towards public lands and public opinion:

“The history books are being written. Today President Trump and Secretary Zinke ignored what the vast majority of Americans want and showed that he is not a good steward of our country’s public lands. Today the government broke ranks with the majority of Westerners who said shrinking or eliminating national monuments hurts our way of life and the outdoor economy.”

The Department of the Interior received over 2.8 million public comments on the Interior Department’s monument review. Independent analysis has found more than 99 percent of the electronic comments received express support for protecting monuments and maintaining them at their current sizes. Montana’s Fort Peck Tribal Executive Board established a tribal resolution affirming support for the Bears Ears National Monument which is on President Trump’s chopping block. Secretary Ryan Zinke is an adopted member of the Tribe. In recent months, over two dozen religious leaders in Montana called Secretary Zinke to make no changes to any national monument. This plea was ignored today.

In a world where advances in hunting technology seem to be never ending, some of us are experimenting with going in the opposite direction. A small but dedicated group of Montana’s archery enthusiasts are learning and applying skills to make their own primitive archery equipment. There is both challenge and satisfaction in creating our own archery equipment similar to those used by our native Americans and early European ancestors.

Last summer, some volunteers from Traditional Bowhunters of Montana (TBM) organized its first Montana Selfbow Jamboree held near Three Forks. Along with some skilled Montana bow-makers, volunteers from Missouri, Oklahoma, and other states came to help at least 50 of us less skilled or total newcomers in selfbow making. A selfbow is the simplest bow of just a stick of wood fashioned into a bow and an accompanying string. While most of us chose to use the extremely tough osage orange wood native to Midwest, other native Montana woods such as pacific yew, juniper, chokecherry, and serviceberry have been used successfully.

After a selfbow is completed, it can become a goal to use it successfully to harvest an animal. In that case, the next step is fashioning arrows and arrowheads.  To replicate Native American equipment, creating a straight shaft from a shrub shoot may be the most challenging step. Straight, rather straight shoots or branches from rose, chokecherry, red osier dogwood need to be cut and dried for months. Once dried, they can be stripped of bark and further straightened by bending over heat. Then notches for fitting onto the string and to accept the points are cut and fletching is attached using sinew from elk or deer hamstring tendons. Again, to be authentic, wing primary feathers from wild birds need to be obtained and modified to be fletching. Legally obtainable feathers can be gathered from your harvested geese or turkeys. Arrowheads can be fashioned from numerous kinds of rock (obsidian, chert, flint) or can be shaped from bone or even hardened wood.

Broadheads made from sharpened bone on arrow shafts from chokecherry shoots.

Making your own primitive archery equipment helps acquire knowledge of using Montana’s plants and animals, as well as giving us a better understanding of how our ancestors were able to develop their hunting tools from materials found in their surroundings. The hunting experience is greatly extended in the lengthy process of making your own equipment and potentially using it to harvest an animal.

Hunting with a primitive bow and arrows also requires the ultimate in getting close to your quarry. A twenty yard shot is likely the furthest most of us would feel comfortable with our primitive equipment. However, some of us love the challenge of self-limiting our hunting effectiveness, forcing us to fully utilize our hunting skills to have close encounters with Montana’s wildlife.

Editor’s Note:  This fall, Greg Munther completed his decades long quest of harvesting a big game animal with self-made primitive archery equipment.