The specific parcel, once a private inholding, became public via the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). America’s most important conservation and recreation program, LWCF has saved places in nearly every state and every county in the U.S. LWCF will expire on September 30, 2018, without action from Congress. MWF and Keep It Public are working hard to get LWCF fully funded before the program expires. Montana’s hunters, anglers, and wildlife are depending on it.
“It’s unfortunate that it took this long, but we’re glad Gov. Bullock, his staff, and Montana FWP got this deal done,” said Nick Gevock, MWF conservation director. “It’s vital that we continue to move forward with quality Habitat Montana projects that maintain our ranching economy, protect important wildlife habitat and open up hunting access to private lands. Montana’s hunters are extremely lucky to have such great partners like the Stenson family who generously open up their land for quality hunting opportunity.”
The Horse Creek Easement came before the State Land Board in February after unanimous approval by the Fish and Wildlife Commission. State Auditor Matt Rosendale, State Superintendent Elsie Arntzen, and Secretary of State Corey Stapleton forced the Land Board to indefinitely delay the project, despite widespread public support and the landowners’ wishes.
After legal review, the Governor’s office determined that the Land Board’s approval isn’t required for these conservation easements, just as no other easement in state statute is required to go before the Land Board.
The Horse Creek doubles the acreage of land in Wibaux County that is open to public hunting and protects some of the best mule deer hunting in eastern Montana.
Stone-Manning said: “In Montana, our love for our public lands brings people of all stripes together to find solutions to the thorny issues, but in this case, Rep. Gianforte has short-circuited the process and cut out the public. These bills strip protections from public lands that contain exceptional wildlife habitat and clean water that supplies water for both our communities and world-class trout streams. The lands support hunting, fishing, and recreation that contribute to the state’s $7 billion outdoor recreation economy. Congress should step back until a community-driven solution can be put forward, based on the values Montanans share and what makes sense on the ground.” Here is Stone-Manning’s written testimony.
Dave Chadwick, executive director of the Montana Wildlife Federation, added “All over Montana, people are rolling up their sleeves and working together to develop local plans to designate some areas as wilderness while setting aside other lands for other uses. Rep. Gianforte’s bills are not resolving the question of what to do about wilderness study areas, they are blowing up the local conversations underway to resolve that question.”
A poll by the Montana Wildlife Federation earlier this year found that 75% of Montanans are more likely to support forest management plans developed through local collaboration by conservationists, snowmobilers, loggers, hunters, landowners, local businesses, and other stakeholders.
The House Subcommittee on Federal Lands hearing starts at 10 a.m. ET, 1324 Longworth House Office Building.
Yesterday the Senate Agriculture Committee passed its 2018 Farm Bill out of committee with strong conservation provisions. The bipartisan bill maintains overall conservation funding on private lands and strengthens conservation compliance that will help protect soil, water, and wildlife. The bill also fully funds the Voluntary Public Access program that helps to enhance public hunting and fishing access on private lands.
Currently, provisions in the House Farm Bill do not match the Senate version. MWF and our conservation partners will continue to work with Congress to build a bipartisan conservation title that pulls the best features from the House and Senate bills into a Farm Bill that that will help protect soil, water, and wildlife on private lands for years to come.
Read MWF’s letter to Senator Daines regarding the June 2018 Farm Bill Markup
They are trying to include a “rider” in the bill that would block the Interior Department from making an Endangered Species Act determination on the greater sage-grouse for ten years. This would undermine cooperative federal and state agreements and tie the hands of people working on the ground to protect sage-grouse habitat. It would threaten implementation of sage-grouse conservation plans developed by states and the federal government in 2015 after years of extensive local collaboration with conservationists, ranchers, the energy industry, and other stakeholders.
In response to this effort to hijack the national defense bill, the Montana Wildlife Federation joined our colleagues from eight other Western states in a letter to Congress to remove this rider, noting that the Defense Department has clearly stated that the 2015 sage-grouse conservation plans would not impact military training, operations, or readiness and the provision is not needed.
The anti-sage-grouse rider is unrelated to military readiness and unnecessarily complicates both sage-grouse conservation and our national defense. Congress should move the national defense bill forward without the sage-grouse rider. This will ensure our national defense while allowing conservation to move forward. Guaranteeing functional sage-grouse habitat across the West, a strong outdoor economy, and provide stability to industry and local ranching communities.
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.
