Alex Sienkiewicz

Removed as Yellowstone District Ranger on June 16, 2017
Due to public outcry & support - Reinstated October 2017

 

Alex Sienkiewicz was removed from his position as Yellowstone District Ranger mid June,
due to pressure from a small group of landowners in the Crazy Mountains National Forest who are also outfitters, members of Montana Outfitters & Guides Association, Montana Farm Bureau Federation and the Montana Stockgrowers Association. Those landowners did not like District Ranger Sienkiwicz doing his job, according to Forest Service Policy, managing for multiple use, which includes public access, on our historical prescriptive access trails and roads, to our federally managed public lands.

These landowners leveraged their organization positions and connections to Senator Steve Daines, US FS Chief Thomas Tidwell, Region 1 Regional Forester Leanne Marten and newly appointed Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, writing letters of complaint, including false allegations. No one did due diligence, to investigate the false allegations, before moving the lies up the chain of command.

Shortly after Ag Sec. Sonny Perdue was in Montana for an Ag Summit in May 2017, Alex Sienkiewicz was removed from his position as the Yellowstone District Ranger.

I requested a FOIA from the Custer Gallatin National Forest for documents relating to the public access situations in the East Side of the Crazy Mountains in the fall of 2016. I recently placed another one for the transfer situation of Alex Sienkiewicz, the former Yellowstone Ranger District, as a result of false allegations from the Montana Farm Bureau, Montana Outfitters and Guides (which land owner Chuck Rein is the Vice President of), a number of local landowners, including the Sweet Grass County Attorney Pat Dringman's wife, Page Carroccia Dringman to Senator Steve Daines and Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue.

As I get these and other documents and maps uploaded, I will add them, building the page properly, for now, here are the beginning documents. The screenshot of the PLWA Facebook post involved is below.

For additional information, please see the main Crazy Mountains National Forest Public Access page

 

Public Comments supporting Alex Sienkiewicz as Yellowstone District Ranger

 

Representative Pete Sessions (R-TX) Letter to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Purdue
requesting precluding the Forest Service from acquiring prescriptive easements and disavowing the Federal agency that manages our public trust lands and resources, from filing Statements of Interest for public access PDF

 

Enhancing Montana's Wildlife & Habitat

www.EMWH.org

Have you been in the Crazy Mountains?

If you have been in the Crazy Mountains... perhaps you received a citation when you were on a FS Trail on their map; perhaps you have been on one of these contested trail and you thankfully did not ask landowner permission or sign in and would like to add your account to the prescriptive easement history; perhaps you would just like to share your story and/or some pictures of what these particular public lands and access mean to you? If so, please contact Kathryn : kathryn@emwh.org 406-579-7748 Crazy Mountain Public Access Page

I beg you to show the same level of defense for our public access and Alex Sankiewicz's reinstatement as Yellowstone District Ranger, by raising your concerns to the same officials that the privatizers just did with false allegations. Because when you see the roll out of information to come and the players agendas, you will agree, this isn't just about one man and his job, it is about what he was doing as a steward of our public lands that others greedily desire for their own. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, DC 20250 (202) 720-2791 Forest Service Chief, Vicki Christiansen, vcchristiansen@fs.fed.us (202) 205-8439 Region 1, Regional Forester Leanne Marten, lmarten@fs.fed.us (406) 329-3315 Custer Gallatin National Forest Supervisor Mary Erickson, mcerickson@fs.fed.us (406) 587-6949 Senator Steve Daines, steve@daines.senate.gov (202) 224-2651 Even though Sen. Tester was not evident in the letters, please contact him as well. Sen. Jon Tester, senator@tester.senate.gov (202) 224-2644