Putting
the "Public" Back In "Public Trust"
"FWP’s
Wildlife Management Areas
(WMAs) are managed with
wildlife
and wildlife habitat
conservation as the foremost
concern.
WMAs protect important
wildlife habitat that might
otherwise
disappear from the Montana
landscape."
-
The 2015 special interest legislators put a
stranglehold on FWP from purchasing land, except
what was already in the pipeline under HB
403 - "Section 4. Land access
appropriations. The following money is
appropriated to the department of fish, wildlife,
and parks in the indicated amounts for purposes of
land leasing, easement purchase, or development
agreements and may not be used to purchase land
except in cases where the department is currently
negotiating such purchase:"
SB
230 was also enacted which states, "Montana
Fish, Wildlife and Parks is required to conduct
public scoping for certain land acquisition
projects. The new public scoping language in MCA
87-1-218 reads as follows: (4) For all land
acquisitions of 640 acres or more proposed
pursuant to 87-1-209, the department shall: (a)
conduct a public scoping process to identify
issues and concerns as the initial phase of an
environmental review pursuant to Title 75, chapter
1, part 2; (b) provide the public with sufficient
notice of the proposed acquisition and an
opportunity to provide input on reasonable
alternatives, mitigation alternatives, mitigation
measures, issues, and potential impacts to be
addressed in the environmental review; and (c)
respond to comments received during the public
scoping process as part of the environmental
review document. "
So heres where this is a perfect example of how
mucked up this legislative stranglehold is.
Right now the DNRC has acreage within 3 of our
Wildlife Management Areas. They are putting all
the parcels they hold within those 3 WMA's up for scoping
process for sale (PDF). But, DNRC cant outright sell the land to FWP
because the law requires that they put it up for
public auction - 77-2-321,
"Sales to be at public auction. All sales
of state lands shall be only at public auction
held at the county courthouse of the county in
which the lands are located. In case no suitable
room can be found in such courthouse at the time
for holding the sale, then the sale may be
transferred to a more convenient place within a
reasonable distance of such courthouse by public
announcement made at the courthouse at the time
fixed for beginning the sale. "
Because of SB 230, this has to undergo a scoping
process now.
The DNRC has never sold lands in a WMA before,
lands are being bundled in an all or nothing
package, per WMA. There is only seasonal access
through each WMA, which helps in this case as far
as curtailing others that might want to bid
against FWP. I called FWP lands division to see if
this was in the "Pipeline" and thankfully it is. But
can you imagine if it had not been? To
present, FWP has been leasing this DNRC land. For
example, the Sun River parcels have been about
$9000 at grazing lease price, but that is now
going to be at regular leased land prices, making
the lease closer to $36,000. So we need to
purchase these parcels to consolidate our WMA
public land holdings, allowing FWP to own and
manage all properties within WMA boundaries.
There are - please see maps in the scoping
process for sale (PDF)
639.48 acres in the Blackleaf WMA,
Teton County;
8,208.78 acres in the Sun River WMA, Lewis &
Clark County;
640 acres in the Beartooth WMA, Cascade County
The DNRC is in the
scoping phase of the project.
The Montana DNRC invites written
comments and suggestions concerning
this proposal. Please respond by
June 15, 2015 to:
Department of Natural Resources and
Conservation
Attn: Hoyt Richards
8001 N Montana Ave
Helena MT 59602
hrichards@mt.gov
406-458-3501
Thanks to Jack Jones from Butte on the DNRC
scoping process heads up.
Thank you,
Kathryn QannaYahu
406-579-7748
www.emwh.org
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