The next steps for the Gallatin Crest

Windy Pass in the Gallatin Range is a place of spectacular beauty.

Trying to explain it, Roger Jenkins recently recalled the opening scene of “The Sound of Music,” when Julie Andrews twirls in a grassy mountain meadow singing “The Hills are Alive.”

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Sage Grouse habitat is a tool used by federal land managers to restrict access for recreation, resource development, and ultimately the taking of private property rights. Land management agencies fueled by a takeover from well funded environmental groups are portraying these actions as partnerships and cooperative agreements when in fact these are planned and predetermined agendas focused on removing people from the land and their property.

Two such meetings in Lewistown and Dillon have been scheduled to present their plans.

As part of a national strategy to evaluate greater sage-grouse conservation measures in land use plans, the Bureau of Land Management’s Dillon Field Office is asking the public to help identify issues to be addressed in an environmental impact statement and land use plan amendment.

A scoping open house will be held

Jan. 12, 2012, at the National Guard Armory  

in Dillon from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.  

Members of the public can drop into the open house at any time between those hours.  The armory is located at 1050 Montana Hwy. 41.

The Dillon meeting is one of 26 being held across the Western Region.  Scoping meetings allow attendees the opportunity to review posters and other informational materials, talk with project team members, and submit comments on the project.

Bureau of Land Management Begins Scoping for Greater Sage-Grouse Planning Strategy

As part of a national strategy to evaluate greater sage-grouse conservation measures in land use plans, the BLM Lewistown Field Office is asking the public to help identify issues to be addressed in an environmental impact statement and land use plan amendment. A scoping open house will be held January 10, 2012, at the Yogo Inn in Lewistown from 5 to 8 p.m. Members of the public can drop into the open house at any time between those hours. A short overview of the sage-grouse planning strategy will be presented at 5, 6, and 7 p.m.

The Lewistown Field Office will be amending the Judith Valley Phillips Resource Management Plan to apply greater sage-grouse habitat conservation measures to land use activities.

Based on ongoing threats to the greater sage-grouse and its habitat throughout the West, as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2015 deadline for making a decision whether to list the species under the Endangered Species Act, the BLM will be incorporating consistent objectives and conservation measures into relevant resource management plans by September 2014.

For those unable to attend the scoping meeting, scoping comments may be submitted by a variety of methods. More information on how to submit comments can be found at http://www.blm.gov/mt/st/en/prog/wildlife/mtdksplanning.html.

The scoping period began December 9 and ends February 7, 2012.

For more information on the scoping process and greater sage-grouse habitat conservation measures, visit the BLM’s greater sage-grouse website at http://www.blm.gov/sagegrouse.

Contacts: Craig Flentie, 406-538-1943

or Mary Apple, 406-896-5258

Lolo Pass Recreation to be Considered During Plan Revision Release

CBU commentary: The original plan of presently closing this road to snowmobiling was met with strong resistance from CBU and its members including other groups and individuals from across the state. CBU will be  keeping an eye on this down the road to insure multiple use access to all forest users. Good job to all those who commented.   

 Date: Jun 13, 2011 Missoula, MT. –

 The Missoula Ranger District will consider recreation experience and opportunity in the Lolo Pass area when the Lolo National Forest goes through its Forest Plan Revision process. The Forest is likely to begin Forest Plan Revision in 2-3 years.

 The District will also consider the proposal to close roads that access two popular recreation back-country skiing and snowboarding areas known as “Crystal Theater,” and “The Spot” at that time. The decision to consider the proposal under Plan Revision was made so that public comments can be analyzed with the additional staffing of a Forest Plan revision team. The district so has received about 60 comments on the proposal.

Lands acquired in the Lolo Pass area during the 2010 Legacy Acquisition will also be reviewed and analyzed for recreation experience during Plan Revision. The Lolo National Forest acquired 39,249 acres of former Plum Creek Timberland in the Lolo Creek drainage south of Missoula in 2010.

Talk of plowing Beartooth fizzles for lack of funding

The discussion of whether a six-mile stretch of the Beartooth Highway should be plowed in winter or left as a snowmobiling playground has fizzled less than a month after a meeting was held on the issue in Cooke City.

Commissioners from Park counties in Montana and Wyoming, along with officials from the states, the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service, attended the meeting in May to discuss the Beartooth Highway and how it should be managed during the winter season.

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