Resolution Seeks to Release Thousands of Acres of Wilderness Study Areas from Preservaion
Proponents of Senate Resolution 14 said it would open up the areas to more uses, like ranching and logging
A Senate joint resolution urging Congress to release over a million acres of wilderness study area in Montana from consideration of inclusion into the National Wilderness Preservation System brought significant opposition this week.
Montana lawmakers can only urge federal action on these parcels of land since only Congress has the authority to classify the land.
The National Wilderness Preservation System protects about 111 million acres of land across the country. No action has been taken yet on the measure, Senate Resolution 14, which was brought by Senator Tony Tezak, R-Ennis.
Proponents of the resolution said it would open up the areas to more uses, like ranching and logging. Opponents argued the resolution was a full-fledged assault on public lands.
The resolution would involve a little more than a million acres.
The Wilderness Study Area Act was passed in 1977, and none of the land under consideration has been formally designated as wilderness.
Tezak believes the land should be, “returned into public lands management decisions of our local forest service and Bureau of Land Management districts, rather than their current state of being managed as a wilderness study area dictated by Washington, D.C.
The 1977 law requires a review of potential wilderness areas within five years. The resolution addresses this specifically, as well as a 2000 law that created more study areas on Bureau of Land Management land.
“The vast majority of Montana lands identified in the Montana Wilderness Study Act have never been formally recommended by the Secretary of Agriculture for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System and no law has been signed by the President to designate these lands as wilderness,” the bill reads.
Opponents of the bill included Wild Montana, Montana Chapter of Back Country Hunters and Anglers, Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund, Montana Audubon, Trout Unlimited, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and many individual residents. The Blackfeet Tribe, Fort Belknap Indian Community and the Chippewa Cree Tribe of Rocky Boy also opposed the resolution.
“We see this as a destructive attempt to undermine the hard work the localized community, including the Blackfeet Tribe, has done to protect these areas,” said Patrick Yawakie, who was representing multiple tribal communities.
Proponents for the bill included the Montana Stock Growers Association as well as several ranchers.
“We are supporters of multiple use of public lands, and know that management of WSAs can curtail livestock grazing, something our organization cares deeply about,” said Ellie Brighton, who was representing the Montana Stock Growers Association. “Many existing WSAs did not have substantial support from livestock producers, and we support a collaborative approach.”
Opponents of the bill pointed to the slow pace of the federal government for not resolving the issue.
“The problem with creating lasting solutions for WSAs is not with the locally developed collaboratives or the balanced proposals that they’ve developed,” said Noah Marion, representing Wild Montana. “The problem is with Washington, D.C., and their inability to pass legislation in a timely manner. There have been many bills in DC to resolve the status of WSAs, including one in the late ‘80s that resolved many of them. That was pocket vetoed.”
By Jordan Hansen for the Daily Montanan
At least now we clearly know who the enemies of our public lands are.