Tensions are high over the fate of more than 3 million acres of public and private land in northeast Montana. Two groups have very different views on the future of this vast area. Alison Fox is head of an effort to turn it into the largest nature reserve in the nation. She’s the CEO of American Prairie Reserve, known as APR, a project backed by Silicon Valley funders who have spent millions of dollars buying up private land with the intent of creating an American Serengeti. This requires removing the livestock that have grazed the area for more than a century and replacing it with species like elk, antelope, prairie dogs, pronghorn and bison — animals that once roamed the land. Montana’s temperate grasslands are just the place for a reserve because of its biodiversity, Fox says. Grasslands are also impeccable carbon sinks, she says, because of their ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Her goal for the APR is to restore and preserve the land’s ecosystem for years to come. “We will ensure that the species that were once home there can make their homes again,” she says. “We have a conservation herd of bison, and that's been one of the important species restoration efforts that we've led.” But for longtime rancher and landowner Deanna Robbins, a third generation Montanan and a member of the United Property Owners of Montana, the reserve is non-negotiable. “We don't just occupy this land, and I think that's what a lot of people don't understand,” she says. “Our life's work is growing food, and this is a hungry world.” Robbins feels the APR's vision of an American Serengeti is an assault on her business, culture and those living and working within the bounds of the planned reserve. She’s now leading an effort called “Save the Cowboy” to halt the project. Through water developments in the region, the area’s grasslands are perfect for cattle ranching and hunting because the grass is high in protein and minerals, she says. “It's good for growing production livestock,” she says, “and it's been considered the highest purpose of the land for over 100 years.”...MORE
1 comment:
The Pre-Columbus crowd is back with their old proposals. Let them tell the state how this proposal will pay the taxes ranchers pay when they run livestock on that land. Tell the citizens of the state how this will benefit them personally. Tell the children of the state how their parents will make a living when the land is taken away from their parents for a utopian experiment. Tell the citizens of the state who will pay for the management, repair and maintenance of the support logistics needed for the utopian experiment and who will return things to how it was when this all falls apart as it will.
This is all used grass from bulls thinking.
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