Rocky Mountain Front bill remains priority for Baucus

Passing legislation that would protect federal land in the North Fork of the Flathead and along the Rocky Mountain Front will be priorities for U.S. Sen. Max Baucus in his remaining months in office, the Montana senator said Tuesday, when he announced his retirement. The North Fork Watershed Protection Act would protect federal land on the American side of the North Fork drainage from new oil and gas development and mining. A second Baucus bill would preserve 275,000 acres of land along the eastern Front as either conservation management areas or wilderness. “I will double down on legislation to permanently protect the American side of the North Fork watershed and keep the Rocky Mountain Front the way it is for future generations,” Baucus, a Democrat, said in a statement...more