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NEWS
Oregon Stando Highlights Rift Over Federal Land Control
While some in Northwest Montana express support for local control of federal lands, they say Oregon militia group has gone too far in armed takeover
BY JUSTIN FRANZ OF THE BEACON
More than a week ago, a group of armed ranchers and self-described patriots took over a federal wildlife reserve in rural Oregon to protest the imprisonment of two men convicted of burning govern- ment land.
While the imprisonment of father-and- son duo Dwight and Steven Hammond proved to be the spark that lit the powder keg for a vocal group of anti-government protestors, the Hammonds represent only a small portion of the dispute over federal land control across the American West.
The leader of the Oregon occupation, Ammon Bundy (son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who forced a stando with federal agents in 2014), has called for the federal government to hand over control of its land to state and local governments. Bundy believes that the federal govern- ment frequently harasses private land- owners, users and ranchers. Others share his opinion across the West, including in Northwest Montana.
“The current system of federal land management is failing America in every regard and something must be done,” said state Sen. Jennifer Fielder, a Republican from Thompson Falls who has been an outspoken proponent of transferring land from the federal government to the states.
Fielder notes that in the eastern part of the country, states control 95 percent of public lands, but west of the Rock- ies, states only control 50 percent. She believes Montana could do a better job
of managing public lands while o ering more access. During the last session, she introduced legislation to study the trans- fer of public lands but Gov. Steve Bullock vetoed the bill.
Prior to Bullock vetoing Senate Bill 215, it was the subject of a contentious debate in Helena, with many conserva- tion groups opposing the e ort. Critics of land transfers said its supporters were oversimplifying the issue. State Rep. Ed Lieser from White sh worked for the U.S. Forest Service for 30 years and called the transfer of public lands a “reckless” and “radical” idea that would never succeed and could actually result in a loss of pub- lic access.
“The people behind these e orts don’t understand the challenges faced by fed- eral management agencies,” he said. “I believe if they did understand the chal- lenges there might be greater empathy.”
Lieser said that regardless of who was managing the land the costs of doing so would remain the same and that in some cases a single state may not be able to cover it. He said he worried about the possibility of public lands being sold o to private owners, thus reducing access even more.
One group supporting the e orts to transfer federal lands to the states is Montanans for Multiple Use, led by Clar- ence Taber, a former U.S. Forest Ser- vice employee. Taber believes the state could do a better job of managing pub- lic lands and points to Forest Service e orts to ght larger wild res. Statistics
show ghting larger wild res are chew- ing through more of the federal agency’s budget every year. Taber said the Forest Service should manage the forests more aggressively with more timber and thin- ning projects.
“Everything is so overregulated today and agenda driven. They don’t do any actual forest management these days,” Taber said.
State o cials have said Montana could not bear the nancial burden of managing federal lands.
Local supporters of transferring fed- eral land are sympathetic toward the militia group in Oregon, but question the way in which they are trying to be heard.
“The Hammonds have been tried as terrorists and it’s unbelievable. That’s why you’re seeing an uprising like this,” Fielder said. “But I don’t agree that taking over a federal building is the right way to go about this. I think there are other solu- tions here. I don’t believe what they’re doing is going to resolve any issues.
“I wish they would focus their energy in the policy arena rather than taking the extreme actions that they’ve taken,” she added.
Regardless of how the situation unfolds in Oregon, both sides of the federal land debate agree that it’s an issue that will not fade away anytime soon.
“We’ll always see discontent with how federal lands are managed,” Lieser said. “Some people will like how it’s done and some people won’t.”
jfranz@ atheadbeacon.com
JANUARY 13, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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