Billings Gazette - July 18, 2001
Ambrose among friends of Breaks
Gazette Staff
As a House subcommittee considered a bill to require Congressional oversight in creating national monuments, nationally known Montana historian Stephen Ambrose Tuesday called upon Congress and Montana's elected officials to preserve the new Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument.
Randy Gray, mayor of Great Falls, and Dave Byerly, former publisher of the Lewistown News-Argus, joined Ambrose along the banks of the Missouri in Great Falls to support Friends of the Missouri Breaks Monument, a new group of citizens, businesses and community leaders formed to defend the monument.
The group said the bill being considered by the House and supported by Rep. Dennis Rehberg, R-Mont., would weaken the Antiquities Act and possibly rescind the monument designation for the Breaks.
"The Missouri River Breaks is an irreplaceable landscape in the history of Montana and the entire nation," said Ambrose, author of "Undaunted Courage," a bestseller about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. "Designation of the Breaks as a national monument is the best way to ensure that our children and grandchildren will be able to see the places that Lewis and Clark wrote about in their journals."
Considering the hundreds of thousands of people expected to visit the area during the upcoming bicentennial celebrations of the historic expedition, Ambrose said using the Antiquities Act to protect the area as a monument was appropriate. "It would be irresponsible to alter the boundaries or otherwise weaken the protections for this monument," he said.
Former President Clinton declared the Breaks area a national monument on Jan. 17, days before leaving office. While the designation was welcomed by many Montanans and conservation groups, others opposed it, fearing it would change traditional uses and bring more federal oversight to management of the lands.
Gov. Judy Martz blasted the designation as ignoring the work of a resource advisory committee. But Hugo Tureck, a Coffee Creek rancher and chairman of the committee, said the panel's recommendations will be the foundation for management of the monument by the Bureau of Land Management. Tureck said all traditional uses were grandfathered and that there would be no taking of private property rights. Tureck also is a member of the Friends group.
In Washington, D.C., the House subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands heard testimony on the "National Monument Fairness Act of 2001," which is being co-sponsored by Rehberg.
The bill would amend the Antiquities Act to limit the size of national monuments the President could designate and would require congressional approval for any monument designated within the past two years. The bill also would require the president to solicit public comment and to consult with the governor and entire congressional delegation of a state before issuing a national monument proclamation.
"The Missouri Breaks National Monument is good for Montana and good for local communities like Great Falls, which is why a majority of Montanans support the monument," Gray said.
Economic development is the most important issue facing Montana, said Byerly. "In central Montana we are experiencing a downward spiral in population and our economy. We will wither on the vine if we do not seize every opportunity and the Missouri River Breaks National Monument is a great opportunity for central Montana," he said.
Byerly said the Friends group is calling upon Rehberg, Martz, Sens. Conrad Burns, a Republican, and Max Baucus, a Democrat, and Congress to stop debating the Breaks monument. "It is time to embrace the monument as an invaluable addition to the Treasure State," he said.
More information about the Friends of the Missouri Breaks Monument is available at its Web site: www.missouribreaks.org.
