True to MWF’s mission to protect
and enhance Montana’s public wildlife, lands,
waters and fair-chase hunting and fishing heritage,
two very prominent landscape issues rate high in the
top-five priorities for MWF: The Rocky Mountain Front
and the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument.
Although a distinct contrast can be drawn between
the lofty escarpments typical of the Rocky Mountain
Front with the water carved formations of the Missouri
River Breaks, one aspect joins the two issues with
a common bond; both the Breaks and the Front would
easily be recognized if people of the distant past
were to visit them today. Native Peoples and explorers
of European descent would find landscapes largely
unchanged; few places can claim that virtue today.
Hunters and anglers have worked hard to preserve these
wild lands; MWF wants to ensure that these priceless,
beyond-financial-worth, quality landscapes that sustain
a diversity of wildlife continue to be respected and
their integrity preserved against forces that strive
to exploit them.
Upper
Missouri River Breaks National Monument
The Upper Missouri River Breaks National
Monument encompasses a hauntingly beautiful fantasy-land
of eroded coulees, deep canyons and sculpted, delicate
sandstone “hoodoos”, and “Breaks”
through which flows the Wild and Scenic Missouri River.
Biologists have called the Missouri one of the most
productive, diverse inland fisheries in the world.
Concurrently created with 15 other new
monuments, this Breaks landscape replete with 6 Wilderness
Study Areas, and the second largest Bighorn sheep
herd in Montana became the “crown jewel”
in the BLM’s National Landscape Conservation
Service (NLCS) in 2001.
Because of its new management role,
BLM’s focus on multiple uses like livestock
grazing and mineral development needs to evolve into
one of managing areas that prioritize wildlife, public
recreation and landscape values. BLM land managers
are challenged by off-road enthusiasts, backcountry
pilots and privatization schemes to exploit the resources
instead of protecting the landscape, wildlife and
cultural “objects” specified in the Monument
Proclamation. Sportsmen have been key to keeping the
BLM focused on these important aspects of this Monument
throughout the management planning process.
Four years have been invested into
the Resource Management Plan (RMP) and the accompanying
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) developing five
alternatives; options that will steer the management
direction for the monument. BLM had planned to release
this document to the public in the summer of 2004
but a lawsuit on the validity of oil and gas leases
slowed the process. Additional public open houses
followed and the RMP is due to be released for a public
comment period in mid-August 2005. Currently, a BLM
internal review and the required Governor’s
review are underway. The August release will allow
the general public 90 days to review and present comments,
criticisms and options. Federal law requires the release
to be publicized in the Federal Register and in Federal
News Releases. Public meetings are scheduled throughout
the comment period starting sometime in late August
in ten Monument gateway communities and in the municipalities
of Great Falls, Billings and Kalispell.
Whether by design or coincidence, the
RMP process will follow the celebration bicentennial
of the Lewis and Clark (L&C) Corps of Discovery
travels through the same countryside. L&C events
begin in Fort Benton on June 1, 2005 then proceed
to Great Falls with reenactments, presentations and
all kinds of opportunities to revisit the events that
lead to the settling of the West. Tourism in the Breaks
area will ride a wave of popularity.
MWF will remain engaged in protection
of the “Breaks” and we will keep you informed
on the progress of the management planning process
but we need your help. Without question, hunters,
anglers and outdoor enthusiasts must participate in
the RMP public comment process. Hundreds of comments
will be needed if we hope to influence the management
plan and we are counting on the readers of this newsletter,
hunters and anglers to submit comments. For more information
on MWF’s work in the Breaks contact Larry Copenhaver
at (800) 517-7256 or lcopenhaver@mtwf.org.
Rocky
Mountain Front
Spring is in full swing on the Front
with bears out rolling rocks, rivers running full,
antlers growing in velvet and newborn elk calves struggling
with their first steps. The grass is green and high
with all the spring rain, making now a perfect time
to visit public lands in the area and the communities
that border them. After glassing the hills for wildlife
viewing opportunities take some time to stop in at
the museum in Bynum, the Ice cream parlor in Choteau
or have a brew at the Buckhorn in Augusta and let
them know you’ll be back in the fall. If you
would like to learn more about recreation opportunities,
hunting and fishing in the area, call MWF’s
office and we can point you in the right direction.
Here is a quick update on the issues.
The comment period for the US Fish
and Wildlife Service’s Rocky Mountain Front
conservation easement Environmental Assessment and
Land Protection Plan closed on May 27. The document
is still available for review on-line at http://bentonlake.fws.gov
or by calling 406-727-7400. The agency is proposing
to establish the Rocky Mountain Front Conservation
Area, a 918,000 acre landscape consisting primarily
of private land. Within this area the Service hopes
to acquire conservation easements for up to 170,000
acres from willing land owners whose property is thought
to be critical wildlife habitat.
At the time of printing this issue
of Montana Wildlife, we expect the Lewis and Clark
National Forest to release its Draft Environmental
Impact Statement (DEIS) for Travel Management some
time in early June. In this lengthy document the agency
describes five proposed alternatives and the potential
environmental impacts associated with each. Under
all alternatives wheeled motorized travel would continue
to be allowed for at least part of the year on existing
main access roads to trailheads, developed campgrounds,
recreational cabins, and other facilities, as well
as on most short spur roads leading to dispersed campsites.
The agency is taking public comment
for sixty days beginning at the time of release and
will host 7 open house meetings in Choteau, Great
Falls, Cutbank, Browning, Augusta, Heart Butte and
East Glacier between June 15 and 30.
Like the Resource Management Plan for
the Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument, it is
critical that hunters, anglers and MWF members comment
on the DEIS.
The other habitat integrity and wildlife
sustainability issue for the Front, oil and gas/energy
development, is still up in the air. The Bush administration
reprieve suspending drilling plans last fall, in response
to pressure from the Campaign to Protect the Rocky
Mountain Front and allies, is only temporary. The
administration announced that in 2007 or 2008 the
federal government will conduct a “landscape
level analysis” of the entire Front landscape
(including the Badger-Two Medicine, where there are
numerous energy leases). However, the administration
was vague about the purpose of the larger landscape
analysis and long range energy development plans.
The lease suspension offers a window of opportunity
to work for a buyout or exchange of the leases along
the Front (including mineral withdrawal).
In July a contingent of hunters and
anglers from along the Front will be heading to Washington
D.C. to visit with Montana’s congressional delegation.
The message they will be delivering is one of cooperation
and support. Preserving the hunting tradition, protecting
world renowned wildlife habitat, and helping to support
a sustainable local economy is not a partisan issue.
If you would like your name and message
of support for preserving the Rocky Mountain Front
delivered to our congressional delegation or if you
would like to help support our coalition of conservation
hunters working to protect the Front, please contact
Nathan Birkeland by calling or emailing: (800)517-7256,
nbirkeland@mtwf.org.
