CBU Note: The Montana House of Representatives Natural Resources Sub-Committee recently tabled House Resolution HJ 8, which opposed Sen. Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act. It was our opinion then, that there would be little to stop the FJRA and that Sen. Baucus would resurrect his Rocky Mountain Front bill. It did not take long for Sen. Baucus to capitalize.

The plains meet the mountains on the Rocky Mountain Front near Augusta, shown here on Oct. 26, 2011, with Sawtooth Ridge at fthe ar right. Sen. Max Baucus has reintroduced the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act. TRIBUNE PHOTO/RION SANDERS.

U.S. Sen. Max Baucus of Montana is taking another run at getting a bill passed in Congress that would increase protections for 275,272 acres of public land on the Rocky Mountain Front west of Great Falls.

The announcement, which came Wednesday, was timed with the 100-year anniversary of the state Legislature’s creation of the Front’s Sun River Game Preserve, Montana’s first game preserve. Today, the reserve, located in the Bob Marshall Wilderness adjacent to the Rocky Mountain Front, is managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

The bill creating the Sun River preserve, passed in 1913, was crafted at the grass-roots level, just like the Heritage Act, Baucus, a Democrat, said.

“We owe it to our kids and grandkids to protect unique treasures like the Front that make Montana the greatest place on Earth,” Baucus said in a statement. “On top of that, protecting the Front is good for business and good for Montana jobs, with more than $10 million spent each year in the Front during hunting season alone.”

The legislation would designate 208,160 acres as Conservation Management Area, which Baucus refers to as a “home-grown designation” limiting road building but protecting current motorized recreation and public access for hunting, biking, forest thinning and grazing.

Supporters of the new CMA designation say it’s necessary because the current status of the land, while largely protected now, could be changed in future forest management plans. They say the bill addresses the threat of future expansion in motorized uses.

The legislation also would add 67,112 acres of new wilderness to the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex

“It’s not an earth-changing piece of legislation,” said Dusty Crary, a Choteau-area rancher who testified in favor of the Heritage Act when it was heard in the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forest last March. “It says, ‘We like the Front the way it is,’ and unless you put it in writing there’s no guarantee it will stay that way.”

Crary, who is in Washington, D.C., on other legislative business, said all the talk in D.C. is focusing on the financial issues facing the country, but he’s still raising the bill when he speaks to staff members of lawmakers, who are in recess.

“It’s not that controversial of a bill,” Crary said of the Heritage Act. “It doesn’t have a fiscal note to it. It’s not a really hairy bill as far as some things, and I hope they get to it.”

Baucus first introduced the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act in 2011. Most of the land is in Lewis and Clark National Forest but some is managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

It needed reintroduction because the 212th Congress, which adjourned Jan. 3, didn’t vote on it.

Baucus plans to try for another hearing in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and a vote to clear the panel. In past years, various land bills have been combined into one public land bill.

There are a couple of changes in Heritage Act that the 213th Congress will consider.

Baucus said he worked with ranchers from Augusta to strengthen protections for responsible grazing practices within the lands designated as Conservation Management Area. The new bill also ensures that the Benchmark airstrip within the CM will remain open.

In reintroducing the legislation, Baucus cited a recent study by the Outdoor Industry Association that found that outdoor recreation supports 64,000 Montana jobs and results in $5.8 billion in consumer spending, $1.5 billion in wages and salaries in addition to $403 million in state and local tax revenue.

The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks estimates that there were 90,000 hunter days on the Rocky Mountain Front in 2010, the senator said. Sportsmen spent $10 million annually from 2006 through 2010 during hunting season on the Front, he said.

Montana Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, is co-sponsoring the bill.

Baucus also wrote a provision that passed in 2006 that permanently protects the Rocky Mountain Front from oil and gas development. In January 2011, he worked to secure a voluntary agreement from five energy companies to relinquish oil and gas leases on nearly 29,000 acres of Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front adjacent to Glacier National Park.

Baucus said the Heritage Act will not affect oil and gas development on private or state land.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20130220/NEWS01/302200017/Baucus-reintroduces-bill-protect-Front?nclick_check=1

ARRA Partners Promote OHV Recreation to House Subcommittee

Yesterday, June 22^nd the House Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands held a hearing titled “Opportunities for Outdoor Recreation on Public Lands.” The focus of the hearing was on access to federal lands for recreational use and the economic benefits of recreational activity on federal lands.

OHV leaders from several ARRA partners testified about the economic benefit of motorized recreation, while others focused on specific access issues. Testimony was provided on H.R. 1581, which would release all Wilderness Study Areas and Inventoried Roadless Areas that have been deemed not suitable for wilderness designation for management for multiple-use, and on the closure of the Clear Creek Management Area in California.  A full witness list and the written testimony for each witness can be read here.  An archived webcast of the hearing can be viewed here.

ARRA would like to thank Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) and the Subcommittee for holding this important hearing, which showcased many of the positive benefits of OHV recreation on public lands, particularly the positive economic impact that motorized recreation can have on neighboring communities.  Dick Lepley, who testified on behalf of the Pennsylvania Off-Highway Vehicle Association, summed up one of the major themes of the hearing when he said, “If I could deliver just one message today it would be that OHV opportunities equal jobs. Where trail systems exist, the powersports industry and dealerships thrive, and local communities flourish.”

Outdoors groups urge Congress to defend Clean Air Act

CBU opinion: The story below talks about mercury contamination in our waters, and how the high water runoff will pull mercury off the land scape into the water ways. The only part the do not mention is the high amounts of mercury emissions released during uncontrolled” let it burn policy” forest fires that release tremendous amounts of mercury emissions into our environment that far exceed any emissions released from all of the industry combined.   

 About 330 sporting, hunting and angling organizations, including 30 from Montana, have sent a letter to Congress urging its members to oppose any effort to weaken the Clean Air Act.

In the letter, the groups note that the Environmental Protection Agency is poised to cut pollution that causes toxic mercury contamination and set standards to limit carbon emissions.

The federal agency is taking public comments on proposed amendments to the act and expects to issue them by next year.

To read the full story click here

Schweitzer tells land managers issues remain

CBU opinion: The Gov. and the feds have been at odds for years against the majority of Montana’s wishes of how public lands are managed. The AGO was shelved for the moment due to the large opposition recognizing this was a land grab of public and private lands access and rights.  The issues mentioned in this story are all threats to Montana’s historic heritage, and present day viable economic base.    

Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Monday told federal land managers looking for ways to work with Montana on the Obama administration’s land conservation plan that he was interested but skeptical given the state’s lingering problems with the federal government.

The governor met with administration officials from several agencies who were pitching the “America’s Great Outdoors” initiative, more than a year in the works and the product of public meetings around the country.

To read the full story click here

On June 22^nd the House Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands will hold a hearing titled “Opportunities for Outdoor Recreation on Public Lands.” While the final witness list has yet to be released we anticipate that motorized recreation will be represented on the panels. 

The Hearing, which will be held in Washington D.C. in 1324 Longworth House Office Building, will be webcast starting at 10:00 AM on Wednesday, June 22^nd on the Committee’s website here:

http://naturalresources.house.gov/Live/

ARRA is excited that this hearing will provide a valuable opportunity for the Subcommittee to hear about the value of outdoor recreation and about some of the threats to access.

Stay tuned for additional alerts to keep you up to date on details as they become available.

Montana Supreme Court denies climate petition

The Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a petition filed by attorneys seeking state regulations to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Siding with Attorney General Steve Bullock, justices wrote in their order that the case raised too many questions about Montana’s contribution to a global problem

To read the full story click here

Utah, Alaska and Wyoming to pursue wild lands lawsuit

Utah officials said Tuesday they will continue to pursue a lawsuit against the federal government over a public lands policy the U.S. Interior Department withdrew last week.

Also Tuesday, the governors in Alaska and Wyoming said they won’t withdraw a request to join the lawsuit until the policy is formally rescinded by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Click here to read the full story