No monuments, Malta crowd tells BLM’s leader

Planning document that raised fears is dead, agency boss says

No monuments, Malta crowd tells BLM’s leader
Associated Press | Posted: Thursday, September 16, 2010 10:58 pm

MALTA — The director of the Bureau of Land Management told a packed forum in northeastern Montana that there are no plans for presidential monument declarations in the region, but it did little to ease the fears of ranchers and many others that the federal government may sweep in and bar them from the land.

Bob Abbey acknowledged to the crowd that he cannot rule out future discussions about land protections. However, he promised the more than 1,500 people who descended on Malta for the forum that local comment would be key to any future decisions.

“Folks, there is no plan for a national monument in Montana. I want you to know that,” Abbey said. “I want to get the message right out front. There is no proposal for a national monument in Montana.”

Ranchers, oil men and others have been suspicious of federal plans since leaked memos revealed that the Obama administration was considering 14 sites in nine states for possible presidential monument declarations. That included 2.5 million acres of northeastern Montana prairie land proposed as a possible bison range.

Also included in the memo were sites in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon and Washington.

Even after Abbey’s clarification that no plans are in the works, the large crowd remained unconvinced.

“I know you said you don’t have any monument plans, but what does Obama have for plans?” said rancher Nick Schultz of Grass Range.

Many in Eastern Montana still harbor bitter feelings over the 2001 creation of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, a Clinton-era move made using the Antiquities Act of 1906 that lets the president unilaterally designate national monuments without approval from Congress.

“The Antiquities Act is a gross abuse of power,” rancher Vicki Olson said to loud applause.

One person out of a long line that took the podium to address Abbey spoke favorably of land protection, a Wilderness Society employee who said the group hopes that Thursday’s meeting is the start of ongoing dialogue on the issue.

Some of the BLM land in the area is leased to ranchers for grazing, while other parcels are sometimes leased to oil and gas use. Some is set aside for recreation, hunting and other uses — while some is protected from development.

Locals worried that taking the BLM land out of production would kill rural economies that rely on ranchers and the Eastern Montana oil and gas business. Yard signs across town, bumper stickers on cars and billboard all declared opposition to monument designations.

“We do not think economic activity from a monument designation would come anywhere close to the loss of ranching and oil,” said David Reinhardt, a Valley County commissioner from Glasgow.

Ever since the initial planning memos were made public earlier this year, Democrats have been unable to dampen fears that sweeping federal land protections are coming.

Earlier in the summer, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited the state to emphasize that its land protection initiative would rely on local ideas gathered in a nationwide listening tour. The state’s U.S. two senators, both Democrats, have also come out against any notion that the Obama administration should create monuments in the state.

Abbey stressed to the crowd that the planning document that scared everyone is dead, and should not be a worry.

“Any decision we make is going to reflect your input and your wisdom,” he said.

Rancher Greg Oxarart raised the crowd to a loud ovation by declaring that Eastern Montana doesn’t want any more land protections but thinks that Washington, D.C., will figure out a way to do it anyway.

“I don’t believe this monument deal is dead. You are a smooth talker,” Oxarart said. “I don’t know if it’s something in the air or water or what, but we send perfectly smart people back there and they come up with stupid ideas.”