Senator Tester Opinion Piece on Land Access

[BigHornRam]

GUEST COLUMN: Access to land a concern for all Montanans - Monday, July 30, 2007
By JON TESTER



Over the last few months, I've been following an issue that strikes a chord with a lot of folks here in Big Sky Country. It's an issue that isn't going away. In fact, it's one that's getting bigger as wealthy out-of-staters discover Montana and decide to buy up huge chunks of it for exclusive getaway homes.

Let me be clear. Owning and caring for private property is one of our greatest American rights. It is the foundation of Montana's family farms and ranches, like the farm my grandparents homesteaded almost a century ago. I'm a big believer in private property rights. Where would we be today without that right?

But I, like many others, have a problem with folks from other places buying up agricultural land, fencing it off and locking it up forever. That land is available only to an exclusive club of elite and blocked to the workaday Montanan who pays his dues to the state and understands the Western value of sharing the landscape with fellow Montanans. What used to be traditional hunting and fishing grounds for generations are fast becoming off limits for ordinary Montanans looking to put some meat and fish on the table.


Out-of-state developers are buying up large ranches across our state with plans to subdivide them and sell lots as “trophy properties.” I can see why wealthy folks are intrigued by the idea of buying pieces of rural Montana for vacation getaways. I have to admit, the glossy pamphlets advertising those properties are nice.

But ordinary Montanans don't live in fancy log homes and properties showcased in glossy pamphlets. They work hard, build their communities, and put their kids through school hoping they can stay here to enjoy what is so special about Montana.

I want to extend a warm welcome to all people who want to call Montana home. We're among the luckiest folks in the world, and we're not an exclusive club. Enjoying, accessing and working the land is fundamental to our heritage.

Remember how easy it used to be to ask a landowner for permission to hunt and fish on private property? Even before Montana was a state, hunters and fishermen have respectfully used their neighbors' land. If you're lucky enough to take an elk from your neighbor's property, you might give him a backstrap. That's the Montana way.

Gallatin County, which has seen some of the fastest growth in the state, has a Code of the New West for folks who purchase rural land. The code is available online, and I encourage everyone concerned about this issue to read it.

The Code of the New West outlines the realities of living in the rural West. It reminds newcomers that Montanans are respectful of property, and that the great outdoors belong to everyone.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this issue. Feel free to give my office a call, toll-free in Montana, at 1-866-554-4403.

Jon Tester is a Democratic U.S. senator from Montana and a Big Sandy farmer.

 

[mtmiller]

I was hoping for a little more from our Senator. Code of the New West...wow.

 

[Nemont]

I was hoping for a little more from our Senator. Code of the New West...wow.

Why were you hoping for more? I couldn't find much of a record what Tester did in the Montana Legislature.

Imagine if ole Conrad would have just stayed in DC and not jump on firefighters for doing their job.

What is the Code of the New West?

Nemont

 

[MattK]

The "Code of the New West" was written by Zane Grey. It simply outlines what living in rural areas mean. It really has no effect on law but it is an interesting read. I'm not sure what Tester has done nor did I have a lot of expectations for him. I still don't like Burns and wouldn't vote for him. BTW Nemont, do you know where Burns is working now? Do you think it's fitting who he's working for now?

 

[Nemont]

BTW Nemont, do you know where Burns is working now? Do you think it's fitting who he's working for now?

Matt,

I haven't followed Conrad much since he lost. Last I heard he was working for Leo Giacometto in some lobbying firm. I think former congressmen and Senators should have at least a 4 year "cooling off" period before they can lobby. Isn't he still in hot water over Abramoff?

That is about all I know.

Nemont

 

[BigHornRam]

Here's an interesting rebut to Tester's article......

Guest Opinion
Time to stop blaming the outsiders; Montanans are destroying Montana
By BILL BAUM


A response to U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s guest column, “Access to land a concern for all Montanans,” dated July 30.

Jon Tester is very much like all native-born Montanans. They blame everything wrong on the “outsiders,” the “newcomers.” However, it is the long-established, multi-generational Montanans who greedily put their land up for sale to outsiders in the first place, in order to realize substantial profits, and then sit back and blame and complain about what those outsiders are doing with that land.

The very same people who bellyache the loudest about their land-use property rights being protected, then turn around and bellyache loudly about how the outsiders are using their newly purchased lands in the exercise of their own property rights. Well, duh! Don’t sell the land if you can’t stand how it will ultimately be used by the new buyers. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t demand your own property rights and then eliminate the next owner’s property rights. The land-use and property rights run appurtenant to the land.


As a recent new Montanan of five or six years, I find myself being the protector of the wildlife habitat. Who must I protect wildlife and their habitat from? The old Montanans who would destroy it for timber harvest and motorized vehicle access. We outsiders were once visiting tourists to Montana to view grizzly bears, fell in love with it, retired here, and are fighting to keep it as it was, in defiance of the “locals” who want to destroy it all for their personal profit. To conceal what is really happening, they squeal that it is the outsiders ruining everything. Who do they think they are kidding?

I look forward to the day when Montana follows suit with Colorado. To when the outsiders outnumber the locals and “take over” the vote to elect all the government officials so we can save Montana from itself. I want Montana to remain ecologically pristine and scenically beautiful, with zoned, biologically adequate setbacks from lake and stream shorelines in place, preserving ponds and wetlands, with relief for residential neighborhoods from gravel pits, with clear-cut logging outlawed, with designated roadless areas in national forests remaining roadless, with more established national forest areas being redesignated as wilderness areas in order to protect wildlife habitat as their sanctuary, with grizzly bears and bald eagles and wolves placed back on the Endangered Species List so they can never go extinct, with the re-institutionalization of the solitude of a quiet, serene place to, fish, hunt, hike, backpack, climb, cross-country ski, snowshoe, kayak, canoe, sail, and horseback trail ride without the damaging noise and air and water pollution to people and wildlife from the racket and fumes and toxic waste created by motorized recreational vehicles.

Montanans just don’t get it. And that includes Jon Tester. Quit selling the lands to developers. Find solutions with farm subsidies and environmental easements and keep the land from being developed. Quit destroying wildlife habitat. It is what 10,000,000 annual tourists come to see. Tourism is our number one industry. Quit blaming and take responsibility. It is Montanans who are destroying Montana, not outsiders.

Bill Baum lives in Badrock Canyon in Flathead County and is a retired aerospace engineer and computer scientist.

 

[IDHunters]

Interesting reply. In a nutshell, what I heard was, "don't worry, those of us with money made outside of MT are going to come save it from you rednecks that have to make a living here-hopefully, there will soon be more of us than there is of you and then watch your traditional lifestyle go away"

Hope he stays out of Idaho.

 

[ringer]

What an arrogant asshole! Get the rope and hang that pompous ass. Sounds just like the people who have moved to Arizona and the big stink over coyotes. A couple of poodles got munched and now we have weekly editorials about how ridiculous Game and Fish is to refuse to exterminate wild animals who encroach on the Biltmore golf course neighborhood and it's multi million dollar homes. Welcome to the desert and kiss my ass.

 

[BigHornRam]

Asshole? What do you mean Ringer? The dude is a rocket scientist and obviously knows a lot more about what Montana needs than you!

I kinda thought Billy Baum sounded a bit like Ithaca 37.....anyone else?

 

[Bambistew]

grizzly bears and bald eagles and wolves placed back on the Endangered Species List so they can never go extinct

I particularly liked this little tid bit.

What a douche.

 

[schmalts]

Bottom line, it is hard to stop progress of development anywhere. Farmers and ranchers are all land rich and money poor and when they decide they want the cash, they sell out. Hey, this is America and it is their property to do as they wish as long as it is within the law and zoned as such. It sucks, but this is how it works and Maybe Montana is behind the rest of the country and just getting a taste of reality. Harsh, but still reality. Maybe the higher interest rates and slowing housing market will slow it a bit but US residents are always looking to go where they can buy a piece of land cheaper than where they live already.
The only thing Montanans can do is pass zoning laws that limit the size of lots that can be made. Besides that, you can't stop progress as long as the US population is increasing.