Daines, Gianforte owe us a fair deal on public lands

Over the years we inhaled plenty of Montana wilderness trail dust. We’re a couple of long-in-the-tooth recreational horse and mule packers who enjoy wandering in our Montana public lands. We have a few bones to pick with Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Greg Gianforte. Mainly, we don’t approve of their land grab of the people’s Wilderness Study Areas, or WSAs.

Sen. Daines’ bill S2206 is titled, “The Protect Public Use of Public Lands Act.” Sounds benign right? It ain’t. It’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. This bill was introduced to remove the wilderness protection on 449,500 acres of Montana’s Wilderness Study Areas. Congressman Gianforte proposed a similar bill — H.R. 5148 — along with another bill — H.R. 5149 — that unlocks protection on 366,000 acres in 24 of Montana’s Bureau of Land Management WSAs. Together this legislation proposes to release 800,000 acres of Montana’s WSAs from wilderness protection.

Daines and Gianforte, along with their hired hands, jabber on claiming “local input” for their land grab coup d’état. What we know is they spoke with the presidents of the Montana Farm Bureau Federation and Montana Stockgrowers Association, eight or nine county commissioners and some motorized vehicle folks. Let’s be generous and guesstimate their idea of local input is about 200 people.

We’d be the first guys to tell you that our friends and neighbors who enjoy motorized travel certainly deserve a seat at the table. However, Steve and Greg forgot to invite the rest of us who prefer a quieter mode of transportation known as legs. Whether you travel on two legs or four, it’s still kinda hurtful not to be included in their get together.

The WSAs have many wonderful attributes like clean water, beautiful scenery, and amazing wildlife, one of our favorites is that they’re good for the state’s economy. Outdoor recreation is Montana’s second largest industry. According to a recent report compiled by The Center for Western Priorities, 17,287,676 visitors come here annually to enjoy Montana’s public lands. They generate $7.1 billion in consumer spending, which in turn provides 71,000 jobs and $2.2 billion in salaries and wages. Best of all, outdoor recreation is sustainable.

Obviously, the time our elected officials spend in Washington, D.C., discombobulates their thinking when it comes to Montana values. Montanans, above all else, value our public land heritage. Montanans don’t agree on everything but when we sit down together we will eventually agree on some things like The Rocky Mountain Heritage Act, The Scapegoat Wilderness, The Musselshell Watershed Coalition, and currently The Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act. We know how to get stuff done.

One last thing about Montana values, Montana folks put all the cards on the table. We have a disquieting hunch that the senator and the congressman aren’t on the up and up. Why else are they trying to ram this legislation through without inclusive public meetings? We think their scheme is to remove WSA protection then lease the land at bargain basement prices to some international saw, dig and drill moneygrubbers.

Our public land heritage is the signature reason we call Montana, The Last Best Place. What will we call our home after 800,000 acres of protected wilderness-worthy land is degraded?

Let Sen. Daines and Congressman Gianforte know they all owe us a square deal.

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James Haggerty, Ulm, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.

Patrick McGuffin, LIttle Belt Mountains rancher, Backcountry Horsemen and the Montana Wilderness Association