Montana's wild lands in the crosshairs of federal policy | Hal Harper

Alarm bells in Montana are ringing loudly over the Washington, D.C. threat to develop and then sell our public lands, and our own congressional delegation is involved in it.

With a growing federal debt now the largest in history at $39 trillion, think what a great federal budget balancer public land sales could be … just Montana lands could bring in trillions.

Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill included a mandate to sell 2 to 3 million acres of national public lands, but public outcry and our Rep. Zinke thankfully got Montana and that provision excluded. We are now in the crosshairs again.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Rollins has announced intent to repeal the entire Roadless rule to allow for commercial logging, leasing and road building. Our Sen. Daines has a bill to allow this development in three Montana wilderness study areas, so Montana lands will be under immediate threat. He names this with the misnomer “the Montana Sportsmen Conservation Act, S.3527.”

Recently 23 of Montana’s true state conservation elders pointed out that these areas contain incalculable watershed, habitat, and recreational value, and that responsible stewardship of these lands is impossible without consideration of future generations. These areas are the very best wild areas of habitat and recreational solitude that remain undeveloped, and have been used, hunted, fished, and cherished for decades by Montanans. Their value grows constantly into the future. These elders’ should be listened to: lose it now, it’s gone forever!

Our own congressional delegation has already voted to allow mining in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness.

The Trump administration isn’t even waiting for Daines’ bill, and is forging ahead with executive orders that declare that “emergency” rules are needed to enter and “develop” these last public lands; ostensibly to simply thin or mitigate wildfire danger, which can already be done. Their new plan is to totally “reorganize” the entire Forest Service, consolidate headquarters in Utah, and cut management, research and firefighting funding. Orders affecting Montana’s forests will soon be coming from D.C., then Utah, then both. Couple that with the recent appointment of Stevan Pearce, from the oil and gas industry, to head the Bureau of Land Management. He has pledged that selling off public land would “pay down the deficit and reduce spending,” and it is clearly part of the administration’s coordinated effort not only to lease and develop roadless wildlands, but also to eventually sell millions of acres of public lands.

Forest Service reorganization itself is troubling, and repeal of the entire Roadless Rule can rapidly change U.S. and Montana public lands forever in ways no generation has yet imagined.

For over 30 years I have been honored to work with great legislative leaders of both parties that understood the irreplaceable value of public lands for this state’s present and future, guided by a Constitution that guarantees a clean and healthful environment. Sure we argued over taxes, funding, and cultural issues, but state support of public lands, especially the last remaining wildlands, has always been bedrock. Any Montana politician seeking a forever legacy regarding public wild lands will find it only in conservation, not in loss and development of them.

I call on all true Montanans to become first responders concerning this single most important land emergency our state has faced. Each of us can demand accountability to stop the Roadless Rule repeal and public land sell-off, and support the folks and agencies that are fighting these “emergency” rules. Registering and voting at both state and federal level seems to be our only recourse at this point, and it is imperative! Help pass on the Montana we love so that our hunters, anglers, outdoor lovers, and especially our youth will at least be given some say over public land habitat, recreation opportunities, and outdoor blessings we had growing up.