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PO Box 1175 (5530 North Montana) •
Helena, MT 59624
406-458-0227 (phone) • 406-458-0373 (fax) •
www.montanawildlife.com
Breaks
Monument Resource Management Plan Process Marches Forward
By Larry
Copenhaver, Conservation Director
From: Montana
Wildlife
A Publication of the Montana Wildlife
Federation
Volume 27 • Number 6• October/November 2003
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) process for developing
a Resource Management Plan for the Upper Missouri
Breaks National Monument is proceeding with plenty
of help from sportsmen, sportswomen, and recreationists.
Eleven open houses were held in communities surrounding
the Breaks to gather specific management concepts
to incorporate into management alternatives throughout
July.
MWF members and other sportsmen contributed many
well-developed ideas and suggestions into a total
pot of approximately 7000 letters received by the
end of August at the Lewistown office of the BLM to
augment those collected during the open houses. After
compiling and analyzing these many contributions,
the BLM has begun developing five alternatives that
will encompass many concerns expressed in these letters
and the open houses held in Breaks communities.
Three seminars sponsored and presented by MWF entitled
“ The Future of Hunting in the Missouri Breaks”
were specifically designed to draw sportsmen into
a conversation with BLM, US Fish and Wildlife Service,
and Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks. Held in Great
Falls, Billings, and Kalispell, up to 68 attendees
listened to agency employees and other hunters, and
then shared their concerns about future management
of the new monument and current management regimes
on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Federation
Refuge.
In the final analysis, sportsmen had much in common
in regard to management of our public lands:
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retain public access to our public
wildlife and public lands or find solutions to access
problems;
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disallow outfitting permits where
the public has no equitable access emerged in agreement
with MWF’s policies; and finally,
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responsible travel plans/responsible
motorized use of public lands.
All agreed that the Breaks are a wildlife paradise
and demanded assurances from the agencies that it
will remain so. BLM representatives were certainly
presented with the sportsmen’s focus for consideration
in the upcoming Alternatives deliberations.
Well within the second part in a 6-phase process,
the BLM has begun discussions to develop management
alternatives. Next summer, everyone will have the
opportunity to review and comment on these alternatives
in more open houses throughout the Breaks area. Watch
your local papers, this newsletter, and the Federal
Register for schedules, and plan to attend the upcoming
meetings so that the final Plan protects our wildlife
legacy and our hunting heritage in the Breaks.
If you say nothing, you are making a statement, but
a statement that may not lead to management policies
that ensure a wildlife legacy.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact Larry
Copenhaver at (800) 517-7256 or by email to lcopenhaver@mtwf.org.
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