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Sage Grouse Conservation

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Sage Grouse

Once numbering in the tens of millions, sage-grouse populations today have decreased drastically as a result of development and habitat loss.

In recent years, the sage-grouse was proposed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. A historic conservation effort across 11 Western states is helping reverse the decline and keep the species from becoming endangered. That effort is threatened by politicians who want to hijack the sage-grouse conservation plans and transfer control of public land to states.

Sagebrush Steppe: Good for Sage-Grouse, Mule Deer, and People

The sage-grouse depends on large expanses of healthy sagebrush steppe. This habitat dominates much of the West’s countryside, thriving in the arid deserts through dry, hot summers and cold winters. The sagebrush is one of the dominant plants in the steppe and provides food and shelter for many species. Besides the sage-grouse, the sagebrush steppe provides habitat for 350 other species including mule deer, pronghorn antelope and elk, and numerous nongame animals. These lands also provide a significant public opportunity for hunting and other recreational activities like hiking, biking, and camping.

States & Federal Government Work Together to Protect Sage-Grouse

In order to keep sage-grouse off of the Endangered Species List, Western states and the federal government worked together to conserve the species and its habitat. The ten states in sage-grouse country adopted plans at the state-level to adopt conservation actions on private and state land and provide funding to protect habitat private land. At the same time, the federal sage-grouse plan was created to establish protections for the species on Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service lands.

The state and federal plans were written through an unprecedented effort by land managers, conservationists, hunters, landowners, and other stakeholders to work together and find common ground. This coordinated effort being fully implemented was key to the Department of Interior’s determination that the sage-grouse did not need to be listed under the Endangered Species Act in 2015.

Needed Now: Implementing the State & Federal Sage-Grouse Plans

The State of Montana is leading on many aspects of sage-grouse conservation on private and state trust land. However, the state plan does not account for the roughly 35 percent of sage-grouse habitat that is on federal public lands. Sage-grouse conservation is not an either-or choice between federal plans or the state plans: it will take aggressive effort and full funding for both state and federal plans in order to succeed.

The Risk: Politicians Trying to Throw Out the Plans and Take Over Public Land

Some in Congress have seized the sage-grouse issue as a way to push an extreme agenda to transfer public land management away from the federal government. Bills have been introduced in Congress that would remove protections for sage-grouse and allow state governors to invalidate federal land management plans with the stroke of a pen. Multiple-use land management that protects public input, wildlife habitat, and public access would get thrown out.

Now is the time for hunters and hikers, backpackers and mountain bikers, ranchers and farmers, and all who value our public lands to draw a hard line and let those our elected officials know that the sage grouse shouldn’t be used to score political points.

 

Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act Heard

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Paradise Valley Mule Deer
Paradise Valley Mule Deer

This morning Senator Tester’s bill, the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act, was heard in front of the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Sub-Committee. The bill would permanently withdraw federal mineral rights on 30,000 acres of public land in the Custer Gallatin National Forest adjacent to the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness and Yellowstone National Park. The bill would also eliminate the ability for proposed mines to expand onto unclaimed public land. Tester said “responsible natural resource development plays an important role in Montana’s economy, but there are simply some places where you just should not dig or drill, and the doorstep of Yellowstone National Park is one of those places.”

Thank you Senator Tester for bringing this bill which will ensure cold, clean water for trout and anglers, healthy habitat for elk and hunters, and sustainable economic activity for Montana’s communities.

MWF Comment Letter – Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act
MWF Comment Letter - Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act_Page_1

We Can Protect Private Property Rights and Public Land Access

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Nick Gevock with antelope taken on block management
MWF Conservation Director Nick Gevock took this nice antelope buck on a Block Management Area in southwestern Montana that opened up thousands of acres of private and public land to public hunting.

Two core values that Montanans share make our state great: a deep respect for private property rights as well as a dedication to public land. Defending both of these values is essential to our way of life.

Montana is blessed with 28 million acres of public land that supports hunting, hiking, camping, and countless other outdoor pursuits. However, the majority of Montana’s land is in private ownership. Unlike some Western states that are a majority public land, and Eastern states that are all private, Montana enjoys a mix. This balance of public and private land is crucial to our outdoor traditions and our farming and ranching heritage. Generations of Montanans have hunted both private and public lands. Our livestock industry, and the communities that depend on it, also rely on public and private land. Montanans deeply respect private property and at the same time are dedicated to protecting public access to public land.

According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, more than 60 percent of Montanans hunt on private land. It is in everyone’s interest to provide incentives and financial support for landowners who wish to allow access to their land. This provides opportunity for hunters, and it benefits landowners by controlling the damage that elk, deer and other game cause to crops and fences.

In fact, Montana has a suite of solid programs for private landowners who want to allow public access. The Block Management program provides cash compensation to hundreds of landowners for hunter access. The Unlocking State Lands program gives a tax credit for access across private land to landlocked state parcels. Numerous locally-based collaborative efforts such as the Devil’s Kitchen Working Group near Cascade bring landowners and hunters together to forge access agreements for private land.

Last legislative session, the Montana Wildlife Federation worked with other sportsmen’s and agricultural groups to increase compensation to landowners in Block Management and renew the Unlocking State Lands program. MWF and other groups are also working together to forge better relations between landowners and hunters to open up more private lands to hunting.

Even as we work to support private landowners who provide access to their land, we also must maintain a strong defense of public access to public land. This includes protecting legally recognized public roads and trails and defending access to public streams.

It’s unfortunate that there are people who want to limit the ability of Montanans to access our public lands, often so they can profit personally from that access. Because private property rights are such an important Montana value, people sometimes claim them as their excuse for blocking access to public land. It’s a distraction. Illegally blocking legal access to public property is not the same as deciding what happens on your private property. It’s an affront to legitimate property rights, and it’s unfair to all Montanans to play private property rights against public land access.

Montanans need leaders who will support private property rights and public access rights. This means continuing to provide incentives and support for private landowners to expand access to their land. It also means standing up for public land managers who defend public access, and not just talking the talk about access. The current controversy surrounding public access in the Crazy Mountains illustrates how important it is that we support and defend the professional employees who are working to protect public access and private property.

Working together, and being honest about private property rights and public land access, is the best way to protect our Montana values and outdoor heritage.

Nick Gevock is the conservation director for the Montana Wildlife Federation.

MWF 2017 Legislative Voting Record

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MWF 2017 Voting Record_Page_1
MWF 2017 Voting Record

The Montana Wildlife Federation 2017 Legislative Voting Record is a compilation of how state legislators voted on key issues during the 2017 Legislative Session. It is meant to provide information for the public on where legislators stand on issues that affect wildlife, habitat and public access. Votes were identified by a committee of MWF volunteers to provide a spectrum of high profile issues. Data were compiled by MWF staff from official Montana Legislative records.

This report uses the vote on a given bill that is most reflective of a legislator’s stance on the issue. MWF has compiled a Legislative Voting Record at the conclusion of each Legislative Session for more than 20 years. This report is produced for nonpartisan informational purposes so that MWF members can understand how lawmakers voted on issues of concern.  Support for or opposition to any given bill or resolution is not intended to provide an endorsement or rejection of any state legislator.

MWF 2017 Voting Record

MWF depends on your support to defend wildlife, habitat, and public access at the Capitol.  Make a donation today!

Easements Benefit Agriculture and Wildlife

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Mule Deer on Montana Ranch CC by Scott Akerman
Conservation easements mean more access. Mule deer by Scott Akerman.

The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission recently gave the go ahead for the state to pursue three large-scale conservation easements in the eastern part of the state that will open up tremendous hunting opportunity.

Taken together, the Ponessa Ranch, DeCock Ranch and Horse Creek Complex easements will permanently protect more than 39,000 acres of private ranch and crop land. It’s an incredible conservation achievement that will benefit wildlife, keep traditional farms and ranches in operation and provide more hunting opportunity. And the reach of these easements extends well beyond the deeded acres that will be protected.

That’s because these lands adjoin in several cases state and federal lands, as well as other private land that is open to the public for hunting under the state’s popular Block Management program. It’s like a giant jigsaw puzzle that, once fully finished, helps maintain our Montana outdoors heritage, rural agricultural economy and ultimately our way of life.

Take the DeCock Ranch near Hysham. It borders the Isaac Homestead Wildlife Management Area. But it also adjoins state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation lands that are open the public, and private lands that are enrolled in Block Management. Taken together, this block would be more than 250,000 acres of contiguous land open to the public hunter.

It’s an example of an incredible public-private partnership. It’s also one that is often the case with easement projects that use Habitat Montana program funds. Habitat Montana uses a small portion of hunting license fees to pay for conservation easements as well as targeted land purchases to protect important wildlife habitat and grow public access. That includes access to adjoining public and private lands that builds up public hunting opportunity.

The other two easements, Horse Creek Complex near Wibaux and Ponessa near Miles City, are also large-scale land protection projects. Both would help working agricultural operations while opening up hunting access to private lands. And these type of arrangements are good for hunter-landowner relations, because they illustrate that we have far more in common than we do differences when it comes to protecting our way of life.

Habitat Montana came under fire in the 2015 Legislature, when its use for land purchases was restricted. While big land buys get a lot of attention, the three easements proposed this month show that the conservation easements funded by Habitat Montana are just as important for wildlife, habitat, hunters, landowners and all Montanans.

Nick Gevock is MWF’s Conservation Director. You can reach him at ngevock@mtwf.org.

Jeff Lukas – MWF Elk Campaign Manager

Jeff Lukas

Conservation Director

Jeff Lukas is a passionate conservationist who has been fishing and hunting his entire life. Whether it’s floating a small stream chasing trout, pursuing elk in the high country, or waiting in a blind for ducks to set their wings, Jeff is always trying to bring more people afield to show them what we are trying to protect. He loves being in the arena, and he will never shy away from conversations about the beautiful and unique corners of Big Sky country.