Transfer of federal lands issues in Montana

The Nature Conservancy late last month closed an $85 million deal for 117,152 acres along the Blackfoot River, building on nearly a decade and a half of work securing long-term protections for parcels formerly held by Plum Creek Timber. Wildland advocates, sportsmen and elected officials hailed the purchase as a boon for conservation, public access and economic opportunity. But those same voices have grown increasingly concerned that a political movement gaining momentum throughout the West could result in a major backslide for public land ownership. Over the past few years, Republican lawmakers in a number of western states have expressed a desire to see Congress transfer tens of millions of acres of federal lands into state hands. The movement is spearheaded largely by the American Lands Council and its founder, Utah Rep. Ken Ivory, who in 2012 authored the first and so far only transfer of public lands bill to pass into law. In Montana, the idea has caught on not only among some county governments but a number of state legislators as well. The Montana Republican Party last year voted to include transfer of public lands as a plank in its official platform. “The folks that understand the issue support it pretty broadly,” says Sen. Jennifer Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, whose agenda for the 2015 Montana Legislature is in part focused on exploring the transfer of public lands. “There’s resource specialists, there’s county commissioners, there’s general citizens, sportsmen. We see what’s going on on the landscape out there and it’s not good. Federal lands are being locked up, they’re being mismanaged. The policies coming out of Washington, D.C., have basically failed.” The issue became a flashpoint for the legislature’s Environmental Quality Council over the past two years as it conducted an interim study of federal land management in Montana. Hundreds of state residents submitted comments expressing everything from outrage to embarrassment that a takeover of federal lands was even being considered. Fielder says the study highlighted a host of problem areas in federal management, from wildfire control to public access. She adds the study’s findings prompted her to request several bills in 2015, including a measure to launch another interim study, this one aimed specifically at transfer of public lands. In response to Fielder’s proposals and the movement in general, the Montana Wilderness Association plans to hold a rally outside the state Capitol Feb. 16 opposing the transfer of public lands. The nonprofit is one of many voices arguing that the financial burden resulting from such a move would inevitably force the state to sell off vast acres of property. U.S. Sen. Jon Tester stands firmly against the transfer idea for that very reason, as does Gov. Steve Bullock...