American Prairie - 88,000 acres of access

[Raisin Bran]

1. Wealthy people arent inherently evil. I guess im still "old school" republican to believe that.
2. No org thats doing controversial work (conservation, i guess?) wants to knee cap future donations by political hacks gaining a list of "boogeymen" who donated to it.
3. Non - profits dont pay income tax. Color me shocked thats news to you.
4. No idea how an award/prize is worth scorn - but it checks out with rest of your logic.

Im curious - what is the worst that could happen? What would they - lobby for all out war on elk or something? Perhaps the "worst" thing theyd do idealogically would be take some of the existing agriculture out of production - but thats hardly unique to billionare ranch owners.

Anyway, raisin bran cereal always gave me the shits and now i get why.

Your anxiousness in being wrong gives you the bowl problems.

 

[Raisin Bran]

Thank you for circling back. I’ll just agree to disagree.

Thank you!

 

[Raisin Bran]

Your numbers are incorrect. From the AP website…

Since 2004, we have completed 43 transactions to build our habitat base of 526,959 acres. Of that total, 140,443 acres are private lands owned by American Prairie and 386,516 acres are leased public lands (federal and state).

They own 140,443 acres. There are many individuals in MT and throughout the west that own more than that. And those privately owned ranches most likely don’t allow public access.

Thank you for the updated numbers.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Once again “just like a dog will eat its own vomit”, here you are.

'Not sure what that means, but it rings disrespectfully. If it implies consistency, then yes ... just as the consistency of facing truth not wanting to accept, results in vile response.
BTW, the falsehoods and misconceptions in your post above are merely regurgitation of whatever UPOM passed to you. You provided no seriously researched factual information.

 

[atlas]

In one of my earlier posts I made this statement, “Not misinformed. I know more & different information than you do.”

I mis-spoke with that statement. In fact I wasn’t informed enough and had been given bits and pieces of mis-information twisted together to create a narrative that was not correct. I cannot say that I know more or different information than anyone else within this forum and again, I mis-spoke.

Sooo…..
After hours and hours of research on both parties along with sifting through endless amounts of documents I have learned A LOT more! I find that I can confidently say I am informed enough now to back my stance.

I fully support the UPOM and do not support APR. FULL STOP!

I am surprised by a few things.

1. APR has the backing of some of the top 10 wealthiest families and individuals in the world. From an investing standpoint point thought: Why would the average, middle income person donate any money at all to APR? There is no need to! The wealthy will do it even if you don’t. Stop donating and ride the gravy train.

2. Financial transparency is really, really bad or non-existence on APR’s side. They in fact say that their donor list is private. Huge red flag in my book!! Especially when they are shown to have donations come from over 40 countries!

3. Why does APR not have to pay income tax in Montana? Glamping excursions are super expensive (only for the oozing wealthy to afford) and they don’t have to pay taxes on that money? You and I cannot do that.

4. APR gives out an annual Ken Burns American Heritage Prize in New York to a person they think that has done something special in the APR eyes.

Why New York if the actual trophy represents Montana land grab profits? Shouldn’t they celebrate it in the communities that they have started buying land up in? The trophy is simply a representation of Montana as a “thing” a wealthy person in New York or a foreign country can sit on their mantle and brag amongst their groups as their accomplishment conquest.

I did reach out to UPOM and had a nice email exchange. What I learned was way different than what a lot of you have described or snarkliy commented on here about them. I would encourage all of you to reach out and get to know them better if you really want to be informed correctly. You can reach out and talk to a representative at the Montana Legislature.

Here is my synopsis for what it is worth:

I have never, ever hunted on APR property. I will never, ever donate to APR BUT I will explore their properties in my selfish pursuit and most favorite thing to do, hunt. Here is why.

The Wolf (APR) isn’t just at the door of land grabbing in Montana. The Wolf (APR) has breached the door of the house of Montana, scaled the stairs 2 at a time to the bedrooms of our children to devour their Montana futures. Acquiring 460,000 acres and counting is a mind blowing number. I don’t see it stopping and I realistically don’t think we can stop it. It is not a matter of “IF” but rather a matter of “WHEN” our children, grand children, great grandchildren will no longer have these opportunities because of the Great American Serengeti Experiment. Seems like the Hunger Games. This is sad to me.

I appreciate “access” just as much as the next hunter and cannot afford a lot of hunts but I can use the rich in this case to allow for me to have those hunts. Call me a hypocrite or a realist or whatever but it is mine to decide & act.

The heart of my 4th generation Montana values fall with UPOM and their cause.

There is a lot more that I have to say and have found out in my research but I know how to read the room of this thread. The “jackals” of HT are circling, drooling, screaming and ready to unleash so…….. Let’s do this!

MIND BLOWN!! Thanks for opening my mind. Did you go straight to AP's website for these secrets?

 

[Elky Welky]

The heart of my 4th generation Montana values fall with UPOM and their cause.

Fortunately, the heart of my 4th generation Montana values, and many others here, falls against UPOM and their cause. Whatever values you seem to espouse, they certainly don't seem very Montanan. Have you ever heard of confirmation bias? Doesn't sound like you approached this research project with much of an open mind.

A better resource for you would not be reaching out to UPOM directly, but asking the ranchers in the area they purportedly represent. I went to a BMA landowner appreciation dinner in Roundup in 2023 shortly after UPOM filed their lawsuit to take ownership over the public's wildlife, and asked many of the landowners there that directly border the Wilks' ranch if they had ever heard of UPOM. No surprise, they hadn't ever even heard of UPOM; and many of them are ranchers struggling to manage the large elk herd the Wilks are fostering. If UPOM really was "property owners of Montana" then why aren't these folks even aware of their existence?

You seem to think the people here are somehow uninformed, but you are sorely mistaken. Given your interest in reading though, I would also recommend reading the decisions issued by Judge Todd last year in their spurious lawsuit against Montana values, attached.