Letter to the Editor - An open letter to Interior Secretary Zinke

Dear Secretary Zinke:

Landowners in the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument area were somewhat perplexed when you announced your “likely” decision on the monument on June 27 at Whitefish, Montana. Because the public comment period did not close until July 10, landowners rightfully believe your announcement was premature and that you did not consider those comments that were still en route to you, including a June 30 letter signed by 17 members of Congress.

More importantly, you have been sent comments from monument proponents, preservation acolytes and Gov. (Steve) Bullock who claim that 130,000 people visit the monument and spend $10 million a year in the area — claims that are just not true. Those beliefs appear to be based on a 2015 report developed by a Denver economic research firm that made an economic assessment of the monument with wildly inaccurate BLM projections that 1.8 million people would visit the monument during 2001-2013 — a number that does not reflect reality and is just patently false; the BLM knows it but has made no effort to correct the record or address the issue.

Secretary Zinke, it is imperative that you delay your decision on the monument until you have ground-proofed the visitation and economic assertions attributed to the monument and investigated other dubious statements about the local area’s dependency on the monument. Your final decision should be based on facts, not on claims by those who would rewrite the history of the monument.

Respectfully,

Ron Poertner

Winifred