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Majority of Montanans Oppose Changes to the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument

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Two people look out over the Upper Missouri Breaks NM. - CC License - Bob Wick
Two people look out over the Upper Missouri Breaks NM. – CC License – Bob Wick

A survey of Montanans released today by the Montana Wildlife Federation showed strong support for protecting the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument and clear opposition to any attempts to reduce its size or change its management.

Last month, the Interior Department initiated a review of national monuments designated over the last 20 years to determine if monuments designated by previous presidents should be eliminated, reduced, or altered. The review includes the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument in central Montana.

  • When asked about the Administration’s national monuments review, 59% of poll respondents said that they oppose eliminating the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument or reducing its size, with only 28% supporting such changes.
  • Fully 49% of respondents strongly opposed reductions in the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument.
  • Speaking about national monuments in general, 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 the designation rather than less.

“The Missouri Breaks include some of the richest wildlife habitat in the entire Great Plains, supporting trophy elk, deer, bighorn sheep and countless other species. This landscape has supported Montana’s hunting heritage for generations and created jobs in local communities,” said Dave Chadwick, Executive Director of the Montana Wildlife Federation.

“This survey confirms how much Montanans want to keep the Missouri Breaks the way it is now, so that future generations can continue to experience this important part of Montana’s natural history and cultural heritage,” he continued.

The Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument was designated in 2001 after two years of discussion by local communities, conservation advocates, ranchers, and other stakeholders. The monument protects 377,000 acres of public land under a management plan developed by Montanans to protect the Breaks’ natural resources, ensure public access, and maintain grazing and other traditional land uses.

“If the Department of Interior concludes its review and recommends reducing the size of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument or eliminating it entirely, the federal government will be at odds with a majority of Montanans,” said Andrew Maxfield, the researcher who conducted the survey.

The poll follows the release of an analysis earlier this month by Headwaters Economics which showed that communities near national monuments experienced population growth and economic expansion after the designation.

“Hard data on key economic indicators show that the communities around the Missouri Breaks saw continued economic growth after the designation of the national monument,” said Chris Mehl, with Headwaters Economics. “This confirms what we’ve seen across the West: that national monuments are consistent with economic growth in adjacent local communities.”

The poll was conducted by Maxfield Strategic Communications Research, a national public opinion research firm. The results are based upon 702 random telephone interviews among likely 2018 voters in Montana. Sample was obtained from a list of active voters in Montana. Interviews were conducted by live interviewers reaching land lines and cell phones from May 21-25, 2017. This random sample of 702 has a worst-case 95% confidence interval of ±3.7% about any one reported percentage.

Share your voice, and speak up for the Missouri Breaks!

Results from a Survey on the Breaks National Monument_MSCR_MT_May 2017
Headwaters Economics Missouri Breaks NM Summary

Western Governor’s agree, Sage Grouse shouldn’t be managed based on population number

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Sage Grouse. Photos by Bob Wick, BLM
Photos by Bob Wick, BLM. Sage Grouse.

INCYMI: Last week, Interior Secretary Zinke ordered a review of the greater sage grouse conservation plans. The 60-day review by the Interior Department team could upend plans that are based on science, conditions in individual Western states, and the overall threats to sage grouse, including the loss and degradation of its habitat.

Zinke is considering directing the Department to change its approach to sage grouse, moving from a habitat management model to one that sets population objectives for the states. Western Governors believe this is a mistake. In a letter sent to the Secretary, Governor Mead (R, Wyoming) and Governor Hickenlooper (D, Colorado) said that population management ignores the scientific view that habitat is critical to the sage grouse’s long term survival.

Western Governors are also concerned that the order by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review and perhaps significantly alter the greater sage-grouse conservation plans would risk and derail the years-long effort to save the bird and a landscape that supports 350 other species. The secretarial order could create more delay and impede what Montana and other western states want – growing, healthy sage-grouse populations and the conservation of an iconic landscape. Stepping back and re-debating will only delay and undermine the restoration of the sage brush steppe landscape and sage grouse. The Secretary should listen to the original stakeholders who spent years debating, finding compromises and working to create a plan that was good for sage grouse and our western way of life. Any review or changes to the plan should be made with the original goal in mind – avoiding further declines in the sage grouse populations to the point where drastic measures like an Endangered Species Listing will be required to save it.

John Bradley is the MWF Eastern Field Representative. Contact him at jbradley@mtwf.org

Wildlife Federation Urges Secretary Zinke to Release Wildlife Funds

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Elk_shutterstock_457334638

The Montana Wildlife Federation, along with wildlife federations from 34 other states and the National Wildlife Federation, have called on Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to ensure that the department’s recently-announced review of grants doesn’t impair state wildlife management and hunting access programs.

Last month, Secretary Zinke announced a freeze on all Interior Department grants over $100,000 while the agency reviews its budget.  Unfortunately, this freeze has caught up the Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson Wildlife And Sport Fish Restoration Program.  These funds are crucial to  management of fish and wildlife, and providing hunting and fishing opportunities. In Montana, the delay in funding has already caused the cancellation of a statewide Hunter Education conference and instructor training. A prolonged delay could result in the missed opportunity of the Grant Marsh WMA in eastern Montana, as well as other long-term conservation projects.

Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson are not “grants” in the traditional sense, because they are directly funded from excise taxes that are paid by all of us hunters, anglers, recreational shooters, and boaters and put into a special Trust Fund to enable our state fish and wildlife agencies to carry out their conservation and management missions. Senator Jon Tester has also asked the Interior Secretary to release wildlife management funds.

We hope that Secretary Zinke will honor our request and allow these crucial funds to move forward without delay.

Read the Wildlife Federations Letter to Zinke.

ICYMI: Tester’s Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act

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Tester’s recently announced Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act aims to permanently withdraw federal mineral rights on 30,000 acres of public land in the Custer Gallatin National Forest adjacent to the Absoraka Beartooth Wilderness and Yellowstone National Park. It also eliminates the ability for proposed mines to expand onto unclaimed public land.

Tester’s bill expands the Interior Department’s two year prohibition on new mineral right claims on public lands just north of the Yellowstone National Park.

Yellowstone National Park visitors spent an average of $196 million in Park County in 2014. With more than 4 million people have visited the national park this past year, the ecosystem sustains nearly 3,000 jobs. Senator Tester understands that a clean river is worth a whole lot more to Montanans than a little bit of gold. Visitors come from around the world every year to the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem to experience the pristine land and water, and marvel at the abundance of fish and wildlife. Sen. Tester’s bill will help ensure that future generations will be able to have the same experience.

“This bill means cold, clear water for trout, boaters and irrigation. It means elk and bighorn sheep can keep migrating in and out of the park. It recognizes the Yellowstone River as the pulsing, living main artery of Paradise Valley,” said John Salazar, Livingston resident and MWF Board Member. “Our ranches, our recreation, our families, our jobs, if not our very souls rely on clean water and access to our public lands.”

Senator Tester deserves a thank you for standing up for Montanans and preventing an unwanted gold mine. To learn more about the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act and the businesses that are involved, click here.

Missouri Breaks Still Worthy of Protection

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Upper Missouri Breaks NM - CC License - Bob Wick
Upper Missouri Breaks NM – CC License – Bob Wick

President Trump’s executive order last month to review all national monuments established over the past 21 years is an exercise in government inefficiency.

Over the next six months, the Interior Department is going to review every national monument designated in the last 21 years. This review will find that each one of them is worthy of protection – for the incredible scenic, wildlife and cultural values that they were originally set aside for. In almost every case, these monuments were the result of lengthy discussions by local officials, conservationists, area ranchers and tribal interests as they worked to hammer out agreements to preserve multiple-use public lands and waters in special places around the nation.

That was certainly the case with the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, an expanse of incredible country in the rugged breaks that rise off of the Missouri River in central Montana. The monument was established in 2001, when President Clinton used the Antiquities Act to protect this remarkable landscape.

It’s a law passed in 1906 and signed by President Theodore Roosevelt, and since then eight Democrats and eight Republicans have used it to protect some of our most treasured cultural and scenic areas. The list includes the Grand Canyon and Zion national parks, as well as cultural sites like the Statute of Liberty and Pompey’s Pillar.

The Breaks monument didn’t happen until there were public meetings, discussions with local interests and a visit from then Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. And while not everyone supported the monument designation – never is there full agreement – the end product drew broad support from Montanans.

What we’ve seen since then is that the monument works. Hunters have still had access to pursue big game and birds on the monument. Ranchers with grazing leases have maintained those. And floaters who enjoy the river that Lewis and Clark came up two centuries ago still float this waterway. The monument designation kept this important area in the heart of Montana from being altered, developed, or taken away from the public for years.

That is all at risk now. The President’s executive order was shrouded in language about local control and state management, but that’s just a political talking point by anti-monument politicians who have already made up their minds. The Breaks, and all national monuments, are multiple-use public lands, and local voices have always had tremendous say through Resource Advisory Councils and other means.

The Upper Missouri River Breaks shows exactly how a national monument is supposed to work: it keeps our public land as it is: open to hunting and fishing, livestock grazing, and other traditional uses, rather than locking our lands up for large-scale oil and gas, mining, or other development activities that close off public use. That is good for hunters and anglers, good for ranchers, good for our Montana way of life.

Nick Gevock is the conservation director for the Montana Wildlife Federation.

Jeff Lukas – MWF Elk Campaign Manager

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.