MT Legislature back at it - Public Lands

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water....

MT Leg is looking to go down the same route as Utah, Idaho and Wyoming in declaring public lands worthless unless drilled, grazed, logged and mined. The survey (link in the article) mentions hunting only in terms of motorized use. As in: has road closures reduced your opportunity to harvest wild game.

The legislature is wuick to ignore the $2 billion a year that hunters and anglers bring into MT's economy. They ignore the billions spent by tourists visiting our state (10 million of 'em last time I looked). They ignore your hunting opportunity in the process.

http://www.mtbullypulpit.org/2013/07/stacking-deck.html

Yeah, what a joke. As if the only people who know anything about public lands or have any interest in public land policy are the three county commissioners in each county. Seems it would be useful to actually ask for opinions from all people for whom public lands are an important issue, not just county commissioners.

It would not surprise me if the end result of this survey is that the County Commissioners and the fringe operators who have been stacked on the Legislative EQC Committee decide we need to follow UT and CO and sue the Federal Government to turn control of Federal Lands over to MT. I notice the furthest fringe are put on thsi SJ15 committee and they are public outspoken in their belief about public lands being a liability.

Here is a link to the survey. Wonder why they don't have listening session throughout the state that is more reflective of what the population of the state is? Because they don't want their opinions to be influenced by the testimony of people who actually understand what a value public lands are to the economy of this state.

http://leg.mt.gov/content/Committee...ings/July-2013/county-commissioner-survey.pdf

Not only is the is a waste of taxpayer money, but it is just one more thing that is going to result in more struggles between public land users and the fringe operators who have small minds and big egos.

Go look at this list of SJ15 working group members and you will instantly see where this is going.

http://leg.mt.gov/content/Committees/Interim/2013-2014/EQC/Meetings/July-2013/SJ15-members.pdf


Let's see, we have Senator John Brendon who is the self-proclaimed PITA to FWP. Then you have Rep. Kerry White, the guy who introduces the most communist bills in all of the legislature and happens to be on the board of a motorized access group.

For the Republican leadership to put those two guys on FWP and F&G Committees in the legislature shows just how far the leadership of the Party has degraded. And now, to have those two guys on this very small committee on a topic that is so important to the economic engine that is driving Montana, is even worse.

These guys want to talk about the economics of public lands. I say we give them what they want.

$2 billion in hunting and angling. Toursim is MT's second largest industry and it is heavily predicated upon access to public lands, lots of public land.

A diverse economy is the best bet against recession and economic hardship. Forcing your economy down a route like WY simply provides for increased profits for a few people at the expense of everyone else.

So yeah, let's talk economics.

So to combat this we need LTE's throughout the state preparing people for the certain outcome.

shoots-straight said:

So to combat this we need LTE's throughout the state preparing people for the certain outcome.

Click to expand...

LTE's and club involvement to help ensure that the subcommittee, and EQC as a whole, hears from us.

There are some good folks on that EQC Committee, including Chairman Welborn, Rep Leiser & Rep McChesney.

...sic em Ben:

Already had a call from press on it. Keep hammering.

[/Cam Hanes]

http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/county/article_42b3ae60-f80a-11e2-a55b-001a4bcf887a.html

Laura Lundquist of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle is tracking the issue.

Time to speak up and voice your support of including all aspects of public lands management in this study.