NEWS RELEASE  September 1, 2010 

6-county stakeholders group Winnett, Montana (Not in Monument)

A new 6-county stakeholders group has been formed in Eastern Montana. This will include issues in the area bordered by highway 191on the west, hwy 2 on the north, hwy 24 on the east and hwy 200 on the south, which include parts of Fergus, Petroleum, Garfield, Valley, Phillip, McCone counties.

This 2nd meeting of the citizens group was held in Winnett. 35 people came an average of 100 miles, (one from Missoula 350 miles/one from across the street). There were county commissioners, Missouri River Conservation District Councils members, wildlife groups, NRCS, conservation groups, farmers and ranchers from both sides of the Missouri River.

The immediate concern of the group is the 1.1 m acre Charles M Russell National Wildlife Refuge comprehensive conservation plan EIS (CCP). The Refuge Draft EIS plan will we released September 7 with a 60 day public comment plan. There will be 7 public meetings, Billings 9/28 7:00 to 9:00pm Billings Hotel and Convention Center, Bozeman 9/29 6:30 to 8:30 pm Holiday Inn, Great Falls 9/30 7:00 to 9:00 pm

Best Western Heritage Inn, Lewistown 9/12 7:00 to 9:00 pm Yogo Inn, Jordan 9/13 2:00 to 4:00 pm VFW, Glasgow 9/14 1:00 to 3:00 pm Cottonwood InnMalta 9/14 7:00 to9:00 pm Malta High School. EIS Draft comments should be sent to Lorie Shannon P.O. Box 25486 Denver Colorado 80225-0486, by November 16, 2010. The entire schedule is listed http://www.fws.gov/cmr/planning/index.html. The next stakeholders group meeting will be in Lewistown, October 4, 2010, Fish Wildlife & Parks Building, 10:00 to 3:00 pm. Lunch may be purchased at meeting at about $6.00. You may call Laura Riley (406-454-0056) for more information on the 6-county stakeholders group.

Management Issues and Threats to Your National Monument

The Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument needs commitment by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to manage this landscape as a special place. The monument contains a 149-mile Wild and Scenic River, it is the most remote stretch of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, the Nez Perce National Historic Trail passes through the monument, there are 6 Wilderness Study Areas and one Area of Critical Environmental Concern which contain some of the best preserved expanses of a prairie ecosystem. The area has been described as the "best of the best" remaining habitat for the threatened sage grouse. Restoring and conserving this unique expanse of Central Montana is paramount.

All Americans expect this landscape to have a high level of stewardship that restores and preserves the fragile environment of the Missouri Breaks. But there are abuses that threaten the vegetation, wildlife, soil, and water quality. Listed below are various issues and threats to the monument that are of concern to the Friends of the Missouri Breaks Monument.:

Cattle Grazing

The resource management plan itself does not address livestock grazing. Presently there are thousands of cattle grazing the monument. Upland grasses must be shared with native wildlife. Cattle are allocated 40% and wildlife and the watershed 60% of the vegetation. . Fragile riverbank vegetation communities (riparian areas) do not contain the healthy cottonwood galleries with understory subspecies (woody shrub species that sustain wildlife, such as chokecherry and red-osier dogwood common to a working riparian system). It is estimated that today's aging cottonwood groves amount to only fifty-percent of what Lewis and Clark saw. The BLM states that within the next couple of decades, "... paddlers on the river will need to carry artificial shade with them. The Resource Management Plan (RMP) contains no plan to restore natural vegetative communities to this fragile and important ecosystem, although the associated watershed plans do. Learn More ...

Airstrips

Six airstrips are not an appropriate feature in a National Monument. They have the potential to disturb wildlife, can be used by hunters to gain a technological advantage that is a deviation from the hunter's "fair chase" ethic, and detract from the "remoteness and solitude" for which the Monument was designated. Within all the other BLM national monuments put together, there is only one other airstrip.

The BLM plan authorizes six primitive, backcountry airstrips within the monument. The BLM expects that these "airstrips" will be used by fixed wing aircraft, hot airballoons, helicopters and ultra light aircraft. The rationale for having "airstrips" in the Monument is to provide "diverse recreational opportunities." Although the BLM asserted that authorizing six airstrips is a reduction from the ten strips in the Monument, the fact is, that none of the airstrips should have been considered as compatible with the preservation and protection of the wild breaks country.

The Friends raised serious concerns about the appropriateness of authorizing any aircraft landings in the Monument. Six "airstrips" is more than has been authorized in all the other BLM monuments combined (only one other monument has an airstrip, and it is on the monument boundary near a town). Most of the newly authorized "airstrips" are in the heart of the Bullwhacker area, which the Proclamation describes as containing "some of the wildest country on all the Great Plains". Allowing low level flights from aircraft hopping from one strip to another does not preserve this wild character.

The Friends repeatedly pointed out that the existence of these airstrips was never brought to the attention of the Resource Advisory Council by BLM or the public in the 5 months that the RAC wrestled with making recommendations to the Secretary on whether or not there should be a special designation for this area. In addition, the BLM never apprised the Secretary of their existence all during the year that he deliberated on whether or not to recommend this area to the President for special designation as a Monument. There is a reason for that. Even though the BLM had been managing this area for decades, almost no one in BLM knew these "airstrips" existed. This speaks to the level of use they were getting prior to designation.

None of the airstrips are legally registered with the Federal Aviation Administration, as required by FAA rules, and they do not appear on FAA maps. Most of these airstrips were put in by the BLM decades ago for administrative purposes, fell into disuse, and were all but forgotten. Some were developed by trespassers and illegally maintained when overgrown by sagebrush. The BLM long ago stopped using them and still has no need for any of them. They have no value for fire suppression, and they have no value for emergency rescue (if aviation can be used to evacuate someone from the monument in an emergency, it will be a helicopter). Finally, the BLM has undertaken no studies about the impact from the noise of multiple types of aircraft on wildlife and on the public which seeks a primitive, quiet experience in the breaks.

Roads

The Monument contains a multitude of roads that were never constructed nor authorized. Some came into being as a result of traffic driving cross country to an overview, checking for livestock, game or just to observe the scenery. Some were shortcuts. Some roads were authorized for a specific purpose, for example, to access a mineral prospect, and should now be closed if the activity for which they were originally authorized is no longer occurring. Far too many of these roads appear to have remained open.

 

Wilderness Areas

There are substantial areas of public land within the Monument which have wilderness values and potential. These include sixWilderness Study Areas (WSAs) and the rugged expanse of the Bullwhacker, said to have "some of the wildest country on all the Great Plains." Strong protection for these core lands is needed. The BLM should manage them in a manner that protects their natural values. Building roads, reservoirs, and pipelines in and near a WSA, diminishes wilderness qualities. To read the BLM's description of these areas, and their explanation for not protecting them click here.

 

Mineral Exploration

There can be no additional leases within the Monument. However, the leases which are valid grant the right to drill. Gas development brings seismic work, thumper trucks, compressors, roads, well pads, pools of water (some toxic to animals) and water trucks driving frequently between the wells and the disposal sites. These are not small impacts. All phases of development must be inspected, monitored and regulated. A major increase in development is expected immediately outside the Monument. Impacts on mule deer, pronghorn, sage grouse and other species caused by this expanding footprint of gas drilling are significant, and will affect the Monument.

 

River Use

With 149 miles of a Wild and Scenic River as the core of the Monument, at least one section without motors would be expected. But there is only designation of a short section for a few days a week during the summer. For hunters who want the opportunity to experience a motorless pursuit, for summer floaters who want the opportunity to experience some of our country's last areas of real solitude and remoteness, and for a primitive excursion into another era, this is it, a very brief section for a very brief period of time.

 

The Monument Boundary

Have you ever heard of an agency map depicting a national monument that did not show the boundary of the monument? That is what we have here in central Montana. After the breaks monument was designated in 2001, some people protested that the official map of the Monument included private land within the boundary of the monument. The private land was still private and not part of the land managed by the BLM. It is not uncommon for private land to be included within a boundary just like all land designations are included within a state boundary, but some people complained to Gayle Norton, former Secretary of the Interior, and it came to pass that the BLM erased the boundary from all its maps. The only "official" map with a boundary is the one attached to the original Proclamation.

The Friends has repeatedly protested the deletion of the boundary. The Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument Proclamation states that the designation applies to "All Federal lands and interests in lands within the boundaries of this monument," and not to private land. The elimination of the boundary was a silly gesture and a futile act that accomplished nothing positive. The failure to keep the boundary and show, rather, a "planning area," detracts from the purpose of designating this rugged landscape as a monument. Without a boundary on the maps, the public does not realize that there are additional private lands within the monument boundary which could become part of the monument if the government purchased or traded the land after negotiating with a willing seller.

The Friends has produced a mapFriends Map, and it has a real boundary.