By Amy Robinson, Dave Chadwick and Kt Miller
On Aug. 15, Congressman Greg Gianforte hosted an invitation-only roundtable discussion in Lewistown with representatives of 11 organizations to discuss his two bills that would strip protections from 29 wilderness study areas (WSAs) comprising 800,000 acres of prized public lands in Montana.
As participants in the roundtable, we advised the congressman that the only course of action he should be taking on these two divisive bills is to withdraw them so that Montanans can have a say on the future of our WSAs.
Following the lead of Senator Steve Daines, who introduced his bill in December 2017 stripping protection from five WSAs comprising 450,000 acres, Gianforte introduced his bills in March without holding a single public meeting or giving Montanans any opportunity to shape the legislation. Gianforte’s and Daines’ bills fail to include the interests of hikers, hunters, anglers, backcountry horsemen and women, backcountry skiers, and many other public land users – that is, the majority of people who use these 29 WSAs. These bills also dismiss the importance of WSAs for healthy fish and wildlife populations, our $7 billion outdoor recreation economy, and our drinking water. Lewistown, the site of Gianforte’s meeting, has some of the purest water in the world, water that flows from the Big Snowies WSA.
It’s no wonder that 81 percent of Montanans oppose Daines’ and Gianforte’s legislation and a scant 11 percent support it, according to the 2018 bipartisan University of Montana Public Lands Survey.
The legislation has also resulted in:
• More than 2,700 Montanans signing on to a letter to our Congressional delegation calling for a different approach to WSAs than the one pursued by Gianforte and Daines (see the letter at ourlandourlegacy.org).
• Nearly 2,000 Montanans calling Gianforte’s and Daines’ offices in opposition to their anti-WSA legislation.
• More than 100 op-eds and 100 letters-to-the-editor published in Montana newspapers opposing the legislation.
We appreciated and accepted Gianforte’s invitation to his roundtable because it offered our organizations the first opportunity we’ve had to speak to him directly about his legislation. The congressman has described this invitation-only meeting as a public event, even though he announced it would be open to the public just 24 hours before it started. Only six members of the public showed up because it was so poorly noticed.
Gianforte also failed to invite a number of groups with decades-long interests in Montana’s WSAs, including the Back Country Horsemen of Montana, The Wilderness Society, National Wildlife Federation, and other groups representing tens of thousands of Montanans who expect to have a say on the future of our public lands.
Despite these limitations, the roundtable did at least include groups that disagree with Gianforte’s WSA legislation. Daines has yet to hold any such meeting in regards to his anti-WSA bill.
These bills take a sledgehammer approach to our WSAs, leaving them vulnerable to oil and gas leasing, which is already slated for public lands adjacent to WSAs in southwest Montana and along the Big Hole and Beaverhead Rivers. These bills would reject public land planning discussions currently underway in favor of 40-year old recommendations. They would enable hard rock mining and expanded motorized use in areas that provide essential, secure habitat for elk, deer, and bighorn sheep.
These bills offer no room for compromise, balance, or collaboration, which is what everyone at the roundtable agreed our WSAs need. Instead, they drive Montanans apart and polarize different interests when we should be coming together to find common ground.
Daines and Gianforte need to withdraw their bills and start over by engaging Montanans and working with Senator Tester. Only after removing the threat of these bills can we begin to assess each of our WSAs individually and, through collaboration and compromise, find bipartisan, balanced solutions that benefit the full spectrum of public land users in Montana, not just a few special interest groups.
Amy Robinson is Montana Wilderness Association’s interim conservation director. Dave Chadwick is Montana Wildlife Federation’s executive director. Kt Miller is an ambassador for the Winter Wildlands Alliance.