Page 31 - Flathead Beacon // 7.15.15

CLOSING RANGE DAVE SKINNER REDACTED
GUEST COLUMN RANDY NEWBERG
CONGRESS MUST GET SERIOUS TABOUT FUNDING GREAT OUTDOORS
HE CLOCK IS TICKING. SOON 200,000 acres of accessible public lands we lose a program that has acquired and improved by LWCF. All shaped outdoor access and rec- who hunt and fish across our state can
LAST TIME I DISCUSSED THE latest legal maneuverings con- cerning the decades-delayed Solenex petroleum lease on Marias Pass. Since 1998, most of the delay can be pinned on the National Historic Pres- ervation Act (NHPA) of 1966. NPHA birthed our National Register of Historic Places – those locations of “historical significance” that matter to our shared heritage.
NHPA’s rubber meets the road in Sec- tion 106, which requires federal agencies to “consult” in order to make sure fed- eral actions avoid or minimize “adverse” impacts to historic places or items. In 1992, NHPA was amended to add places of tribal historical significance to the preservation mix, in the form of “Tra- ditional Cultural Districts,” TCDs for short.
As a result, the federal government and the tribe began a series of ethno- graphic studies, not on the Reservation, but on the neighboring 130,000-acre Badger-Two Medicine (B2M) segment of the Lewis and Clark National Forest.
Significantly, the B2M is referred to as the “ceded strip” because in 1896, the Blackfeet sold 800,000 acres of what became Glacier National Park east of the Continental Divide as well as the Bad- ger – for $1.5 million while retaining the right to hunt, fish, and collect timber as long as the land stayed public – with the hunting and fishing in accordance with Montana game laws.
Of course, Glacier became a national park in May 1910, no longer “public land.” In the 1920s, the Blackfeet sued regard- ing the loss of those rights for $250,000 (not restoration of those rights) and lost. Plaintiffs failed to prove the extent of actual use of their park rights in the 15 years prior to park establishment.
The first studies led to 90,000 acres found “eligible” for TCD designation by the “Keeper” of the National Register in 2002, but didn’t include the Longwell lease site. Oops. Subsequent work aimed to render the remaining 40,000 acres of “increase area” in the B2M eligible.
While “eligibility” is not formal desig- nation, under the law, “106 consultation” is triggered once items are found eligible for the Register.
Places where “significant traditional events” occur are eligible, as are “cultur- ally significant landscapes.” Items must make a “significant contribution to the
broad patterns of our history;” be asso- ciated with “persons significant in our past;” “embody distinctive characteris- tics;” and yield “information important in prehistory or history.”
Great, but has any of this ethnographic work found “historically significant” items deserving of National Register status?
Well, at the Solenex hearing June 10, Judge Richard Leon asked, “What’s this cultural stuff consist of, interviewing some folks?” Solonex attorney Steven Lechner responded the cultural studies had been “redacted, so I really don’t know what’s in them.”
The Court: “Excuse me? Redacted?” Mr. Lechner: “Redacted.”
The Court: “National security pur-
pose? What’s going on?”
It so happens under Section 304 of
NHPA, the Secretary of Interior can withhold disclosure if doing so causes a “significant invasion” of privacy, risks exposure and harm to historic resources, or impedes traditional uses.
Thanks to that fine East Side journal- ist, Darryl Flowers of the Fairfield Sun Times, I have copies of the “increase area” studies, both redacted into utter gibberish. Here’s a typical sentence from the older copy: “It is generally believed that the XXXXXXXXXXXXX is such that resources like XXXXXXXXXXXX are more powerful than those XXXXXXX. That is why certain XXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXX require that people go to Two Medicine Ridge to XXXXXXXX.”
The newer version, apparently rewrit- ten from the first for submission to the Keeper, is 205 pages. From Page 39 to the end, all but three pages are utterly blacked out. The attached 124-page Appendix has pages 47 to 102 (Tradi- tional Use Areas and Resources) com- pletely blacked out, followed shortly by another 18 pages of solid black.
If these studies involved Blackfeet antiquities on Blackfeet lands, such secrecy would be acceptable. But last I checked, the B2M is National Forest. Clearly, the TCD process will affect the value of these lands to average Ameri- cans, right?
Yep – so why in tarnation aren’t aver- age American citizens entitled to access and study the facts on which these desig- nations may be made?
The answer to that, my fellow peas- ants, is redacted.
reation in Montana, yet Congress seems content to let public land access whither on the vine of political posturing.
I was almost a year old when Con- gress created the Land and Water Con- servation Fund (LWCF). A new idea to invest a small royalty revenue from off- shore oil and gas leases into land, water and recreation areas for the public. A creative conservation idea that’s not used a single dime of taxpayer money. An obvious need 50 years ago is even more critical today. As America grows its economy and develops its natural resources, rank-and-file Americans are losing traditional access to the great outdoors.
A half-century track record shows how the Land and Water Conserva- tion fund has become more effective than anyone could have ever imagined. LWCF provides options for solving diffi- cult access issues by purchasing inhold- ings, fishing access sites, land consolida- tions, easements, and all tools needed in today’s complex world.
When I talk with hunters across the West, the No. 1 concern they see for the future of hunting is access; with LWCF being the biggest access tool hunt- ers have. That concern is supported by studies from the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Over 70 percent of hunters in Rocky Mountain states list public lands as their primary access for hunting. Pretty easy to connect the dots that the future of hunting is connected to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Yet, Congress lacks the ability to connect those dots; or maybe it’s a lack of priority.
It’s unacceptable that Congress occu- pies itself with petty issues, while defer- ring reauthorization of a known work- horse; the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Any congressional delegate want- ing to demonstrate their support for hunting, fishing, and recreation access has been served up a home run pitch with LWCF.
LWCF has done so much in Mon- tana, it is hard to imagine a world with- out it. In my back yard of Bozeman, the Gallatin National Forest has had over
probably find a similar LWCF story in their backyard.
Anyone thinking access is tough today, think of what it would be like if LWCF hadn’t allowed us to acquire and conserve millions of acres. Without this program, fishing access sites all along our famous trout streams, and thou- sands of acres of hunting ground, would be guarded with “No Trespassing” signs.
LWCF makes good business sense. It’s not coming from tax revenue, rather resource royalties. It’s a fiscally conser- vative method to protect our heritage and boost our multi-billion dollar out- door economy dependent upon public land. Being a CPA, we call that an invest- ment, not an expense.
With all the good that comes from this program and clear support from groups as diverse as timber companies to conservation organizations to conser- vative sportsmen groups, you’d think it this would be a slam dunk for Congress. Well, you’d be wrong.
The clock keeps ticking down and we see Congress doing the partisan polka; one step forward and two steps back, while they dance to the music of D.C. powers. I’ve gone back to D.C. several times to promote the value of LWCF and counter misinformed ideas that drasti- cally reform LWCF, or worse yet, defund the program and turn it into something it was never intended to be.
We can’t let “D.C. dysfunction” ruin a good thing for Montana. Fortunately, Montana’s lawmakers represent the best chance to rise above the morass and renew the Land and Water Conservation Fund before the clock expires in Septem- ber. But they need your encouragement.
If you’re reading this, call Sens. Jon Tester and Steve Daines and Congress- man Ryan Zinke today. Send them a clear message – Renew the Land and Water Conservation Fund, NOW! Play- ing political poker might work in D.C., but Montana’s conservation legacy did not come about by gambling with our recreation businesses and the public access that makes Montana all that it is.
Randy Newberg is the televsion host of Fresh Tracks with Randy Newberg. He lives in Bozeman
Mike (Uncommon Ground) Jopek and Dave (Closing Range) Skinner often fall on opposite sides of the fence when it comes to political and outdoor issues. Their columns alternate each week in the Flathead Beacon.
JULY 15, 2015 | FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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