Page 27 - Flathead Beacon // 7.30.14

FLATHEADBEACON.COM OPINION CLOSING RANGE Dave Skinner
Why Land Transfer Might Work
JULY 30, 2014 | 27
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TWO WEEKS AGO, THE BEACON featured “The Fate of Federal Lands,” exploring a question more and more Montanans are asking: Should federal lands become Montana trust lands?
This is a serious question. 25 years ago, it wasn’t. Why change? Federal pub- lic lands were ours to use and enjoy, for play and work. “Land of Many Uses,” the signs said. Remember? Remember what real multiple use was like?
Then along came spotted owls. Griz- zly bears. Shuttered mills. Endless liti- gation. Gates everywhere. Astroturf “wilderness for logging” bills. Bugs ga- lore. Dead trees for miles. And the fires?
So many – Moose, Robert, Fool, Ahorn, Wedge, Skyland, Doris, Jocko, Chippy, Brush – I can’t remember them all. So many – burning more ground in 15 years on the Flathead than was ever harvested in the century since 1910. Just wonderful.
So, by an 81-19 vote in the House, and a46-4voteintheSenate,the2013Mon- tana Legislature passed a joint resolu- tion (SJ-15) authorizing an interim com- mittee study of the “management of cer- tain federal lands, assessing risks, and identifying solutions.”
After a year of preparation, hearings and scads of paper, the Environmental Quality Council released a draft (and ap- pendices) of “Evaluating Federal Land Management in Montana,” which you can find at the link posted at the bottom of this column. Comments are due Aug. 16.
However, the draft was almost killed in committee. EQC Democrats pounced on those parts of the document dis- cussing the possibility of the respective states gaining ownership of federal pub- lic lands, except national parks, wildlife refuges and wildernesses, of course.
I watched the final EQC hearings and found the histrionic hypocrisy im- pressive. For example, after Miles City representative Bill McChesney (D) de- clared, “we’re not gonna go there,” on a transfer, he conceded federal manag- ers are “hamstrung by laws that don’t work.” Yep, laws that don’t work because Congress won’t fix them.
Matching the blather were Sen. Jon Tester (D) and Gov. Steve Bullock (D). In a widely-run op-ed, they claimed state control would blow Montana’s budget to smithereens, forcing wholesale sell- offs “barring access to anglers, hunters,
mountain bikers, backpackers and hik- ers” while not mentioning loggers, OR- Vers, campers, cowboys or Sunday driv- ers.
Never mind that nobody is “barred” from Montana state lands today, at least if they help pay the recreation freight with a conservation license, which is only eight bucks for Montanans and ten bucks for visitors.
Bullock and Tester also implied that a transfer or sale to Montana would lead to “strip malls and condos along ridge- lines and streams.” Oh, sure, the bull- dozers will be on top of Columbia Moun- tain minutes after the transfer takes place.
Now, I can understand why Greens want the status quo at all costs. Status quo gives even the worst radicals vast and unaccountable veto power. Because greens are so vital to the electoral hopes of Montana Democrats – well, Demo- crats want the status quo, too.
Hype aside, a transfer of multiple- use federal lands to Montana might work, and well. Between robber-baron leveraged speculators, the corporate REIT slick-it-off-for-cash philosophy of large timber companies and the burn- it-flat reality of current Forest Service management is a proven middle ground – Montana state trust lands.
Montana DNRC’s mission is to pro- duce revenues (actually profit) from its holdings for schools, within a strong mandate to not overharvest. More im- portantly, DNRC’s timber program is overseen by people Montanans elect. Do Tester and Bullock seriously believe Montana voters would ever allow the Land Board to approve massive sales of lands managed of, by and for Montana?
Can you imagine if Congress got off its dead fanny and reformed some of these crazy federal land and environ- mental laws? Congress could – if the states most negatively affected by fed- eral land management dysfunction pass legislation calling for a transfer.
Can you imagine if the voters of those states decided to elect Congress- critters who will stonewall, filibuster and wrangle all of Congress in order to either change the federal laws – or as a last resort, offer these lands at fair mar- ket value to the states that want these lands as their own? Environmentalists can, and that’s why they’re saying Mon- tanans shouldn’t.
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Mike (Uncommon Ground) Jopek and Dave (Closing Range) Skinner often fall on op- posite sides of the fence when it comes to political and outdoor issues. Their columns alternate each week in the Flathead Beacon.