HELENA — Montana Republicans are seeking to retake control of the discussion over public lands access by touting their legislative agenda on the subject.
During a Capitol briefing with reporters Wednesday, the party’s legislative leaders showcased five pieces of legislation that they hope will better position themselves with hunters, outdoor enthusiasts and voters concerned about public access.
Democrats said they welcomed the Republicans’ embrace of the issue that their own party has long championed.
While some six dozen environmental bills have been introduced during the current session, Republicans sought to bring attention to five proposals with GOP sponsors, including bills that would expand land available to hunters, improve wildlife habitat and widen cooperation with private land owners.
“These five bills, this package of bills, are conservative bills, yet they help protect and they expand access to public lands for everyone to enjoy,” said Senate Majority Leader Fred Thomas, a Republican from Stevensville.
Republicans were careful to cast the press availability as nonpolitical, but it was nevertheless an obvious attempt to recast themselves as being more sympathetic to the issue of public lands and providing access.
Public access is particularly important in a state with some of the country’s most expansive wildlands and most pristine rivers and lakes
The subject is already a key talking point in the special congressional election underway, as it was last fall in the governor’s race.
“It is still the most robust issue in this building in terms of number of bills, emotions around bills and this diametrically opposed vision of how we manage wildlife,” said Ben Lamb, a lobbyist for the Montana Wildlife Federation.
The federation, he said, supports the majority of the proposals put forward by Republicans, although he said one proposal still being drafted could weaken the authority of the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department by creating a new public lands access advocate.
“The first thing we need to do is thank the Republicans for finally buying into or adopting the Democratic platform of public lands access,” said Rep. Tom Jacobson of Great Falls, a leading voice among Democrats on public lands access issues.
Rep. Zach Brown, a Bozeman Democrat, said it was disingenuous for Republicans to carry the mantle of public lands access.
“I don’t want to takeaway anything from the bills they are promoting because I’m a co-sponsor of several of them — so they are good bipartisan bills,” Brown said.