Ollin Magnetic Digiscoping System

Episode 23 : Greg Gianforte

I really want to vote for Greg but every time I have talked with him he has shown a complete lack of understanding of wildlife management. When Greg spoke at my office he tried to win me over by telling me he would work to reopen the forest service roads that have been closed or gated so that we could have better spring bear hunting. Most of the bills Greg referenced Bullock vetoing in the podcast I didn't agree with significant portions of either and am glad they were vetoed. sportsman's issues will force me to vote D at least in state elections at some point I am afraid. I appreciate Randy's ability to interview without leading the subject.
 
I really want to vote for Greg but every time I have talked with him he has shown a complete lack of understanding of wildlife management. When Greg spoke at my office he tried to win me over by telling me he would work to reopen the forest service roads that have been closed or gated so that we could have better spring bear hunting. Most of the bills Greg referenced Bullock vetoing in the podcast I didn't agree with significant portions of either and am glad they were vetoed. sportsman's issues will force me to vote D at least in state elections at some point I am afraid. I appreciate Randy's ability to interview without leading the subject.


First, you make some very good points and observations, I'd just like to expand a bit on some of those and offer my 2 cents.

Why is it when a road is closed it seems the right can't resist howling about how we are blocking and denying access? Have they ever heard of walking? There are more roads in the public land landscape currently open than most of us can drive in a lifetime if all we did was road hunt 24/7. More should be closed in my opinion, do we honestly need a road in every coulee, on every damn ridge top? For those who say yes, check out Google Earth and tell me there are not already enough accessible roads in the forest service and BLM. It's damn near impossible to walk more than a mile in any direction from a road without hitting another road which means you can never get more than 1/2 mile (7.5 minutes of walking) from a road, that to me is sad. If you're that damn lazy, stay home.

I have no problem voting D in state elections either, however it's not something I reluctantly resign myself to. I look all issues but especially in regard to sportsmen and public land issues, from my lens it seems crystal clear it's the right thing to do. I guess we'll just agree to disagree if others don't see it that way.
 
First, Mr. Gianforte seems like a nice guy. He comes off as someone who genuinely loves the outdoors and loves Montana. I appreciate Randy's ability to interview him cordially and to have a productive discussion with him.

I was glad to hear him support Stream Access.
I was glad to hear him say he does not support the transfer or public lands (sort of) and in a recent statement outside of this podcast said he does not support the transfer, "right now."
I like his attitude of focusing on ideas and common goals as opposed to labels.

That said, he could not be more wrong on so much. He is not alone in this, and I'm sure his opponent, Steve Bullock will say things I disagree with too. My thoughts:

1. Complaining about Federal Management of lands without addressing the funding shortages federal agencies face is disingenuous.

2. In spite of the fact that Region 1 met it's timber harvest goals in 2014, discussing the loss of logging jobs and implying it is the government's fault without even bringing up the expiration of the Softwood Tariff reeks of agenda. Also, all this talk of timber treatment is a bunch of wonderful feel-goodery but no one ever addresses the chief concern - Who will pay for it?

3. Logging/thinning/treating the backcountry will do little to reduce the amount of acres burned every summer. Contemporary Forestry Science and Statistics back this up. Just ask Canada about the country that burned up there in 2015.

4. He says that people in charge of State Agencies are driven by ideology - he has said he will change this by appointing a head of industry as director of the DEQ, a landowner in charge of DNRC, etc. When a fox guards a hen house, does it have an ideology?

5. The primary driver of where Elk winter at our latitude is elevation. There is a strong correlation between elevation and aspect and private vs public ownership. Higher = more likely to be public, and less likely to be wintering grounds. Let's be honest about that fact.

6. He claims FWP doesn't care about landowners. There are about 100 pages of discussion on Hunt Talk that are incredibly convincing that they care too much about land owners. He is under the impression that our EMP objectives are based on science, which is utterly false. According to him, if I think Shoulder Seasons are unethical I am an environmental extremist. He said that. Who knew Hunt Talk was so full of environmental extremists.

7. Lastly, because my lunch break is nearly over and I need to get back to my culture of enforcement and not customer service, I think this entire attitude that public employees revel in inefficiency and enforcement stems from an ignorance about what we do.

Thanks for doing the podcast.

All of this. As a former Forest Service employee this guy is really pissing me off so much so that I may have to turn the podcast off at half way through. Nothing he is saying suggests that he is for federal managagement.
 
Are you only concerned about frat boys exercising their constitutional rights on campus, or would you suppress the right for all students? :)

Nowhere in the Constitution doesn't doesn't guarantee unlimited access to carry guns around anywhere you please. Not sure why all you Second Amendment Scholars can't understand that
 
Nowhere in the Constitution doesn't doesn't guarantee unlimited access to carry guns around anywhere you please. Not sure why all you Second Amendment Scholars can't understand that

Shall not be infringed...that's pretty clear right?
 
Shall not be infringed...that's pretty clear right?

My apologies I guess I understood the interpretation as not including a unregulated free-for-all of citizens running around with Firearms. Is that what you think "shall not be infringed means?"

From former Supreme Court Justice, Scalia:
Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited. From Blackstone through the 19th-century cases, commentators and courts routinely explained that the right was not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose… …Although we do not undertake an exhaustive historical analysis today of the full scope of the Second Amendment , nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.”

I guess he wouldn't agree with your interpretation of shall not be infringed
 
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I haven't seen a thread yet regarding Fin's interview with Governor Bullock, but after listening to that interview this weekend it was a pretty stark contrast between him and Gianforte.

Bullock definitely said a lot of cringeworthy things (especially with regards to the elk shoulder seasons that he loves so much), but it's refreshing to hear a politician with some power speak so adamantly in favor of public land.
 
Obviously I don't have a vote, but if I did, that lawsuit would cost him my vote.

I do have a vote and Bullocks got it, not that Gianforte had a snowballs chance in hell of ever getting it. Gianforte and his commercials creep me out.
 
This is the article the Chronicle did on the story back in 2009. At that point, FWP had not been served yet and it had not gone to court.

I tried finding the district court case online, but nothing, so tomorrow morning I will see about getting a copy to see the exact language in it.

The Gianforte camp is really working on damage control. What is it with rich out of state people who move here and then want to change things, kind of like Jennifer Fielder, how do we keep electing these people.
 
The Gianforte camp is really working on damage control. What is it with rich out of state people who move here and then want to change things, kind of like Jennifer Fielder, how do we keep electing these people.

I think it has a lot to do with their stance on the 2nd Amendment. Regardless what their stance is on Public lands, hunting access, stream access, habitat, etc. all they have to say is (I'm a lifetime members of the NRA) and in Montana, they're elected, unfortunately.
 
I just got home from work, stopped by the District Clerks Office and bought myself a copy of the filing. I will get this scanned, loaded to the website and posted for y'all this evening.

I first have a call into a county office to clarify some information my spidey senses are wondering about.

edit: it was suggested that I wait to put this online until I have the other documents I am picking up tomorrow morning.
 
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Well, my suspicions were correct. The Gianfortes owned the land before they created the East Gallatin LLC. They bought it in 2005 under trust names, then in 2006 transferred it to themselves by individual names, created the LLC in 2008, transferred the land to the LLC in Oct. They filed against FWP in May 2009 stating they just found out about the easement in 2008. In the online Lee article, Gianforte is quoted as saying, "his family first learned of the state easement when they received a FWP letter in 2008 and subsequently discovered that the title company had missed it when preparing the deed for his family's purchase of the property."

I personally dont see how that is possible. I went to the courthouse this morning and bought copies of their deeds, the 1993 FWP Recreation Site Easement, the following 1997 Certificate of Survey which has a blow up of the easement. No way they could have missed that, nor the fact the public was accessing that easement for 3 years before they filed against FWP.

Detail%20A.png


The Complaint filed states:
"12. FWP refuses upon demand to voluntarily extinguish the easement."
and sought to
"extinguish all improperly conveyed property rights and to achieve clean title to the property without burdensome encumbrances, such as this alleged Easement."

All the Gianforte documents and maps are linked here for you to see for yourselves.
 
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Well, my suspicions were correct. The Gianfortes owned the land before they created the East Gallatin LLC. They bought it in 2005 under trust names, then in 2006 transferred it to themselves by individual names, created the LLC in 2008, transferred the land to the LLC in Oct. They filed against FWP in May 2009 stating they just found out about the easement in 2008. In the online Lee article, Gianforte is quoted as saying, "his family first learned of the state easement when they received a FWP letter in 2008 and subsequently discovered that the title company had missed it when preparing the deed for his family's purchase of the property."

I personally dont see how that is possible. I went to the courthouse this morning and bought copies of their deeds, the 1993 FWP Recreation Site Easement, the following 1997 Certificate of Survey which has a blow up of the easement. No way they could have missed that, nor the fact the public was accessing that easement for 3 years before they filed against FWP.

Detail%20A.png


and sought to

All the Gianforte documents and maps are linked here for you to see for yourselves.

This is great information Kat. Nice work!
 
This is great information Kat. Nice work!

Thanks Ben. Hope it helps to show yet another attempt to wrest the public trust from the public. In my opinion, not the kind of person we need as governor of Montana or any public office, for that matter.

Gianforte said, "his 'opponents are not encumbered by the truth.' " Truth? I personally like to free the documents and let them speak for themselves.
 
Thanks Ben. Hope it helps to show yet another attempt to wrest the public trust from the public. In my opinion, not the kind of person we need as governor of Montana or any public office, for that matter.

Gianforte said, "his 'opponents are not encumbered by the truth.' " Truth? I personally like to free the documents and let them speak for themselves.

Kat,

These documents blow a pretty large hole through the campaign's spin on what happened, what the Gianforte's knew, and what fabrications their lawyer spun up around the issue. It's incredibly damning stuff, especially about the existing easement being listed in the survey, which Gianforte & Wittich claimed didn't exist. I don't think I can understate how much this informaton changes the tone of the conversation.
 
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