Montanans take their public land seriously

One Montana Senator, Republican Conrad Burns has already vowed to kill Bush's proposed sale of hundreds of thousands of acres of public land. (Not coincidentally, Burns is up for re-election this year.) The other Montana Senator, however, isn't getting complacent.

Democrat Max Baucus held a townhall meeting Thursday—a "call to arms"—to urge citizens to stay vigilant and make sure Bush and his cronies don't sneak this unpopular proposal through the back channels of government.

As the Missoulian reported, Baucus said, “My experience in Washington is that it's never over until it's over and even then it's not over. You can't assume anything.”

Indeed. A nation-wide uproar killed the Pombo-Gibbons plan to sell public lands, yet here we are fighting virtually the same battle barely two months later.

Some highlights from Baucus' call-to-arms meeting from the Missoulian:

Dave Stalling of the Hellgate Hunters and Anglers Association said proposals to sell public lands bring Montana's sportsmen together like nothing else.

In a time when this country loses about 1.5 million acres of wildlife habitat a year to development, Stalling said, sportsmen don't support any proposal that culminates in a net loss of public lands. They do support exchanges which block up tracts of public lands, he said.

Ron Moody of Lewistown said it's time for Montana sportsmen to change from their traditional defensive posture to something more assertive in protecting public lands.

“Sportsmen should be working to not only keep what they've got, but working to make it bigger and better,” Moody said.

Moody said he's forming a political action group for Montana sportsmen that will work to hold politicians accountable for their stands on public lands. He wants to see a day when politicians don't use the gun card to placate Montana sportsmen.

“We don't have to give up our lands in order to keep our guns,” he said.

...

If public lands are sold, [Mineral County Commissioner Judy] Stang said, it's doubtful that anyone local would be able to afford to buy them. Instead, the lands would be sold to the wealthy and the impact to county coffers would be negligible, she said.

“No one is going to be able to afford to buy these tracts except developers,” Stang said.

...

A member of the Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Anna Marie Rider of Missoula, asked Baucus to carry a message back to Washington, D.C., to those proposing the sale of public lands.

“Ask them would they rather be hanged or sentenced to 20 years in Leavenworth?” Rider said. “I'd be willing to swat the horse ... just tell them to keep their paws off of our land.”

Baucus had some advice for how to make sure our public lands remain in public hands:

He suggested that people call each representative weekly. They needed to ask to speak directly to the legislator and not be put off.

“You’re to say I’d like to talk to him right now,” Baucus instructed.

If they’re asked to leave a message, he told the crowd to inform the secretary they expected a call back.

“Then mark it on your calendar and call him back the next week,” he said.

Baucus encouraged them to keep it up until they spoke directly to the legislator.

“I can’t overemphasize how effective that is,” he said. It’s this type of grassroots movement that will change the mindset of those in Washington who want to sell off public land, he said.

They're talking a lot of sense up there in Montana.