Use of public lands should be balanced

As the Bureau of Land Management updates its management plans for central and eastern Montana, some people have expressed opposition to applying any conservation measures anywhere. But the discussion needs to focus on how the various uses on our public lands will be balanced.

The BLM is a “multiple-use” land management agency, meaning it manages our public lands and their various resources so they are utilized in the combination that will best meet the present and future needs of the American people. That doesn’t mean all uses can occur in all places at all times. To the contrary, the law governing BLM’s multiple-use mandate specifies that use of some land will be for less than all of the resources. So some BLM-managed lands have commercial development, while other BLM-managed lands emphasize wildlife, wilderness, recreation and historic/cultural values.

In Montana, most private lands are already managed for agricultural, commercial, residential or industrial use. This makes undeveloped public lands and the noncommercial values and uses they provide all the more important to conserve. This is especially true of prairie landscapes which have become increasingly threatened as they are broken up. Whether you hunt, view wildlife, or appreciate the solitude that comes with primitive wide-open spaces, you benefit from the conservation of our public lands.

Montana will continue helping to meet the energy needs of our generation, but there also need to be places managed solely for conservation values. These places will be our gift to future generations.

Dave Mari, Lewistown