Page 24 - Flathead Beacon // 2.25.15

24 | FEBRUARY 25, 2015 OPINION
LETTERS
MONTANA CAN MANAGE LAND BETTER THAN FEDS
“Keep our public lands public” is a catchy phrase but it has nothing to do with reality. Instead, this phrase was carefully crafted by liberals to deceive and mislead the public in the debate over the bill sponsored by state Sen. Jennifer Fielder that would allow Montanans to regain our land from the federal government. The phrase implies our state government might sell off some of our public land to private entities even though the bill now expressly forbids such action.
The actual fight is between the far left who want to keep our public lands locked up and those of us who think they should be managed correctly for the benefit of all Montanans not just a few rich liberals. Secondarily, this is about which entity can manage our public lands the best, the federal government or the state of Montana. And it is about jobs and a decent economy.
Gov. Steve Bullock and his far left cadre are supporting the feds, which is hard to believe since the feds have difficulty managing anything well. The ironic thing is the feds have locked up millions of acres of our public land from use or access by Montanans. The real message is, “public property, no trespassing allowed.” Our timber is dying, jobs have been destroyed and critical habitat for our wildlife is overgrown and ripe for a catastrophic fire. You call that management? I call it neglect.
And why would Bullock support the feds instead of Montana? Don’t forget the power wielded by the far left environmental movement, which has copious amounts of money to fund elections for those that support them. Contrary to Bullock’s mantra, Montanans can do a much better job managing our land than the feds. We can make certain we have access, support jobs, promote and maintain a healthy ecosystem, take care of our wildlife and hunting and create wealth for our schools, our communities and our citizens. But to do such we need elected officials who support Montana not the federal government. We will remember Bullock turning his back on Montana in the next election.
Mark Agather Kalispell
LEGISLATURE GETTING GOOFY
I love Montana. It’s a beautiful and healthy place to live. Most of the time, most of the people are kind and friendly. I’m just puzzled about why all the normal, sensible people I encounter every single day in all aspects of my life don’t seem to have comparable representation in
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our state Legislature. Recently we have all been reading about a bill to allow young, boisterous, often drinking and partying way too much college students to have guns in their dorm rooms and around campus. And also a bill that would arrest those students for wearing tight pants. Does anyone else think that this is just totally goofy? I can’t help but wonder if some of our legislators have been taking field trips to Colorado to conduct “research” on the new booming recreational economy there.
Leslie Beard Kalispell
PROTECTING WATER A NO- BRAINER
Over the past 60 years my professional attention has been focused on the two most immediate and required prerequisites for life: air and water. All else is “et cetera.” We humans have not taken care of our Earth’s air and water, which is a tragedy in and of itself. As our population continues to increase (growth is good, right?), we will be in a constant panic mode and fighting to protect what we need to if we are to survive.
Now comes a request to increase our resort tax a pittance of 1 percent to protect our own and future generations’ water resources here in the valley. It’s a no-brainer. When critical needs require action, thank goodness we have leaders like Mayor John Muhlfeld and his council to step up to the plate. This increase will not change shopping habits.
We must have the financial means to provide the most basic of life’s demands. Ask everyone you know to push the public policy makers to always protect as much water as possible, not just “now and then.”
If anyone needs detailed data on the condition of waters in the Flathead, contact the Whitefish Lake Institute, Whitefish High School Free Flow Program or the University of Montana Biological Station.
As to the protection of our air, remember that you breathe 24/7.
R. A. Solberg Whitefish
WHY COMMISSIONER HOLMQUIST IS WRONG ABOUT THE WATER COMPACT
Flathead County Commissioner Pam Holmquist wrote in the Flathead Beacon (Feb. 11: “We Have Much to Lose if the Compact Passes”) that the Montana CSKT Water Compact “will be the most significant and far-reaching decision this Legislature has ever made.” That part of her statement is correct.
Her reason for opposing the Compact is, “The one thing that the attorneys seem to agree on is that off-reservation water rights have never been granted before.” Here, Commissioner Holmquist isincorrect.
Attorney Duane Mecham is very familiar with the Idaho Snake River Basin Adjudication. He was an attorney and a chair of the federal team in the Nez Perce Tribal water right negotiations the comprehensive settlement in 2004. He provides the following information for Holmquist and those who oppose the Compact.
In Idaho, unlike in Montana, federal agencies and Tribes had to file claims before they began negotiations toward a compact. The United States filed off- reservation instream water right claims for only the Nez Perce Tribe because only the Nez Perce Tribe, like Montana’s CSKT, has a Stevens Treaty like the Hellgate Treaty that gives off-reservation water rights.
Idaho first objected to the off- reservation claims but after reviewing the law, the State of Idaho recognized the Nez Perce 6,000 off-reservation claims were valid and set aside vast amounts of water flow to settle these claims. The Idaho settlement gave the Nez Perce Tribe considerably more off-reservation instream flows than the Montana Compact gives the CSKT.
Attorney Mecham wrote, “The Nez Perce settlement represents a treasure trove of lessons-learned that should be considered in the Flathead context.”
Holmquist must now recognize the truth and change her position. Otherwise, she will damage Flathead County citizens because the CSKT will win their off-reservation water rights claims if Montana rejects the Compact.
Ed Berry Bigfork
Medicaid expansion is without a doubt the most important issue of the session. It has a broad range of support across our state. To boost our economy and help our hospitals, we need to provide everyone caught in the gap with affordable health coverage – not just the ones some Republicans consider deserving. Is a woman who can only work half time because she is taking care of a sick family member deserving? Yes. Is a man suffering from a long-term illness and cannot work full-time deserving? Yes. Is someone working two jobs at a low wage deserving? Yes. Everyone deserves to be as healthy as they can be and have the health care coverage to pay for it. It helps them, it helps hospitals, it helps business, and it helps us all. We need to pass a Medicaid expansion plan that helps everyone stuck in the coverage gap.
Randolph Kosted Kalispell
MONTANANS DESERVE MEDICAID EXPANSION
LETTERS
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CORRECTIONS
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