Great Falls Tribune - 10/25/05

Breaks plan scrutinized

By MICHAEL BABCOCK
Tribune Regional Editor

Roads, motorboats and airplanes are key issues in a just-released Bureau of
Land Management plan for Montana's Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument.

The plan's preferred alternative would close 216 miles of roads, restrict
travel on 171 more miles and change the use of motorboats on the Missouri
River.

The plan also would allow airplanes to land year-round at two backcountry
airstrips and land at four others seasonally. Four airstrips would be closed
altogether.

Those are just a few of roughly 30 issues raised over 2 1/2 years of work on
the plan by the BLM's Resource Advisory Council.

"Out of 30-some topics that the preferred alternative addresses, those three
we have heard quite a bit about," said Jerry Majerus, project manager for
the BLM. "Not that we haven't heard a lot about other topics, but those
three, people usually ask about."

The publishing of the plan opens a 90-day public comment period, during
which the BLM has scheduled 11 public meetings to gather input.

The Bureau plans to approve a final management plan in July of 2006.

President Bill Clinton proclaimed the scenic Breaks area, located downstream
from Fort Benton, a national monument in January 2001.

The draft plan looks at six alternative ways to manage the 375,000 acres of
BLM land within its boundaries.

Reaction to the draft was mixed Monday, but people on both sides of the key
issues said they were disappointed.

"A lot of this was done in a roundtable discussion and a lot was done in the
office," said Fergus County Commissioner Carl Seilstad, of Roy, who worked
on the core team that developed the draft.

"There are still a few things in there that need to be changed. There are
way too many road closures. It is going to make the unique experience of
hunting down there even tougher because of the distance.

Currently only about 15 miles of roads are closed and 73 roads are closed
seasonally. Some 506 miles of road are open year-round.

"If I was to shoot a big game animal and have to pack it across two ridges,
it is going be so difficult it might take a younger man to do it," Seilstad
said.

"And the part about the motorboats - I tried my darnedest to leave it was
the way before. It has worked since 1976, having motorboats on the river
with canoes, and I did not see the need to remove motorboats from the
river."

Dennis Tighe, president of the Friends of the Upper Missouri Breaks
Monument, said he was not surprised by the plan, but he was disappointed.

"We are disappointed that the BLM has determined that they don't need to
investigate cattle grazing as part of these alternatives," Tighe said.
"Cattle grazing was a big issue for a lot of people who were commenting
during the scoping process. Our other disappointment is the backcountry
airstrips."

Of the 10 backcountry airstrips within the monument boundary, two would be
open year round; three would be closed Dec. 1 to March 31 for big game
winter range use; one would be closed Dec. 1 to June 15 for winter range and
to allow bighorn sheep to lamb undisturbed.

Friends of the Monument believes that the airstrips in the monument never
were authorized in the first place.

"They never were authorized and never constructed with any public input,"
Tighe said. "They are proposing six within a relatively small area. That
doesn't seem like it is appropriate at all, if the mandate is to protect
this area."

Mark Good, field representative of the Montana Wilderness Association, said
the draft does not serve the monument mission.

"This national monument was created to protect wildlife, historic sites and
geologic features as well as scenic values and opportunities to experience
remote settings," Good said. "The test of this whole management plan is
whether it does that.

By allowing those backcountry airstrips "in some of the most remote areas in
the monument as well as this network of 378 miles of road, some of which is
in what has been defined as some of the wildest country in the Great Plains,
they are not honoring the intent of the monument and the values for which it
was created," Good said.

Good said he found one high point in the plan - the elimination motorized
boat traffic on the river from Holmes Council to Fred Robinson Bridge.

"At least there was some attempt to create a quiet, non-motorized stretch on
the river," Good said. "That is the only semi-wild stretch in the whole
2,300 miles of the Missouri."

Boating changes

The proposed plan also would revise current seasonal boating restrictions on
the Missouri River.

The recreation segments of the National Wild and Scenic River would be open
to motorized watercraft year round.

Float planes and personal watercraft, or Jet Skis, would be allowed only on
the river for three miles around Fort Benton.

On the Wild and Scenic Missouri from Pilot Rock to Deadman Rapids, only
downstream travel at a no-wake speed would be allowed from June 5 to Sept.
15.

On the river from Holmes Council Island to Fred Robinson Bridge, no
motorized travel at all would be allowed during that same period of time.

Currently, the dates of the restrictions are from the Saturday before
Memorial Day through the Sunday after Labor Day.

"It does allow another week to 10 days for motorized recreational use, but
it also extends the season restriction," Majerus said. "It shifts the whole
time period and allows more motorized recreation in the beginning but less
as we come to fall."

The BLM also would limit the number of commercial outfitters and hunting
guides to the current level of 14. The areas where they may take their
clients would remain the same.

The BLM says it would continue to collect and analyze visitor use data to
decide whether to issue additional permits or adjust use.

Oil and gas leases

There are 43 federal oil and gas leases in the monument that are considered
to have valid existing rights.

Clinton's presidential proclamation allows no new leases.

The existing leases total about 42,805 acres.

Seasonal or distance restrictions would be placed on oil and gas activities
to protect sage grouse nesting areas and winter habitat, active ferruginous
hawk nests, big game winter range and bighorn sheep distribution and lambing
areas.

Tighe said the BLM has never investigated whether the existing leases are
valid.

"There are certain regulations that the BLM has failed to follow to verify
that the existing leases deserve to continue," Tighe said. "The BLM has said
they are there, so they must be valid," Tighe said.

"We want to emphasize that the vision for management for the monument is one
that should outlast the short-term," Tighe said.

Get the draft

Hard copies of the plan were mailed last week from the printer in Salt Lake
City and were to be distributed by the BLM in Lewistown.

A limited number of the RMP/EIS are available from BLM's Lewistown field
office, 920 N.E. Main Street.

Review copies will also be available at most BLM offices in northern
Montana, plus the Blaine County, Phillips County, Havre and Lewistown
libraries.

After the comment period ends, a proposed Final RMP/EIS will be issued,
probably in July of 2006. That will be followed by the final step in the
process, a Record of Decision, expected in September of next year.

Go to News and Views Archive for years 2000 through 2003.

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