GREAT FALLS — Republican Montana Sen. Steve Daines introduced the “Protect Public Use of Public Lands Act” to remove more than 700 square miles (1,819 square kilometers) from the state’s Wilderness Study Areas.
The Great Falls Tribune reports Daines describes the act as an effort to follow bottom-up requests from the state legislature and local communities.
The Wilderness Study Areas included in Daines’ proposed legislation are the same areas included in Republican Rep. Kerry White of Bozeman’s House Joint Resolution 9, which asked Congress to address Montana’s seven Wilderness Study Areas on National Forest System Lands.
Daines describes the West Pioneer Wilderness Study Areas, Sapphire Wilderness Study Area, Middle Fork Judith Wilderness Study Area, Big Snowies Wilderness Study Area and the Blue Joint Wilderness Study Area as “improperly managed public lands.”