Protect Montana's Wild Public Lands!
Central Montana’s Russell Country is characterized by varied, rugged landscapes. One of the last places to be settled in the West, this sparsely populated section of the country remains almost as remote and wild as it was over 200 years ago.
The BLM has just published for public comment the long-awaited draft plan for managing some of this wild country. The draft resource management plan, developed by the Lewistown field office, sets out recommendations for 650,000 acres of public land across Cascade, Chouteau, Fergus, Judith Basin, Meagher, Petroleum, Pondera, Teton, and Lewis and Clark counties. It is through this planning process that BLM can balance conservation with development in managing these public lands for the next quarter-century.
Unfortunately, the BLM’s recommendation continues the current administration’s unprecedented pattern of eliminating protections for special areas in the region.
All existing Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs) across the planning area are proposed for elimination. There are currently eight ACECs in the Lewistown planning area, located in three regions along the Rocky Mountain Front—the Judith Mountains, Square Butte, and Blacktail Creek. These areas are safeguarded for their wildlife, cultural, scenic, geological, and paleontological values. Removing the ACECs will open these special places to oil and gas development and other uses that threaten those values. In addition, none of the 200,000 acres identified as containing wilderness character would be protected in the current preferred alternative. In other words, the BLM’s preferred alternative would eliminate all conservation protections from these public lands.
Your voice can truly make a difference for wildlife and wildlands in the BLM’s final plan.
Please ask the BLM to take a balanced approach and protect some of these wild remote public lands from future development. Submit your comment today!
https://act.pewtrusts.org/fDdKNG2?utm_campaign=AA+-+ENV+-+USPL+-+Montana+Lewistown+BLM+Comments+July+n2019&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Pew
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