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Bill seeks to protect 24M acres
By ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian
After years of inattention, wilderness advocates hope a new federal bill will finally win national support.
On Wednesday, representatives Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., introduced the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act, which would protect 24 million acres in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, eastern Oregon and eastern Washington. Nearly a third of the total - about 7.5 million acres - is in Montana.
The 149-page bill encompasses all inventoried roadless areas, along with large chunks of Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. It would also add several hundred river miles to the nation's Wild and Scenic River program, create jobs to restore old clearcuts and remove logging roads, and halt logging plans pending in some roadless forests.
Areas affected in Montana include the Greater Glacier/Northern Continental Divide ecosystem, Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, Greater Cabinet/Yaak/Selkirk ecosystem. It puts large additions into the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness and Great Burn Wildlands Complex.
The Badger-Two Medicine area southeast of Glacier National Park would become a Blackfeet Wilderness area.
Those lands are now supervised by the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management. Acreages were chosen in part to create or maintain biological corridors between major habitat areas.
Parts of many rivers in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming would be added to the Wild and Scenic River program. They include reaches of the Smith, Yellowstone, Madison, Yaak, Kootenai and Sun rivers, as well as Rock Creek and many of its tributaries.
Other proposed wilderness areas in the legislation include the Greater Hells Canyon ecosystem, Greater Salmon/Selway ecosystem, and the Islands in the Sky Wilderness.
Maloney has introduced similar bills since she came to Congress in 1993, according to her spokesman, Jon Houston. The 2007 version got a subcommittee hearing in the House but progressed no further.
This bill has 41 co-sponsors in the House, but none from the five affected states. One name noticeably missing is Montana's sole congressman, Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg.
In a statement Wednesday, Rehberg criticized the bill as a “top-down approach” that didn't account for local economies or protect access for hunting, fishing and other recreation activities.
“When similar legislation was introduced in 2007, I heard from thousands of Montanans over the course of just a few days, and they told me loud and clear that Montana doesn't need Washington, D.C., imposing its will and telling us how to take care of our public lands,” Rehberg said. “We're going to fight this. As a state that's almost one-third public lands, we have no choice.”
The Helena-based Alliance for the Wild Rockies helped draft the bill. Executive Director Michael Garrity said Wednesday that former President George W. Bush's administration and past Republican congressional majorities made passage impossible. He predicted better fortune under the new Democratic majorities.
“We now have a president who was quoted when he came to Kalispell that he wanted to protect all remaining old-growth forests, so our chances are definitely looking better,” Garrity said. The bill has been roughly the same since President Ronald Reagan vetoed the last national wilderness bill in 1988.
“The only significant change was in the last Congress, we included all roadless lands in Yellowstone and Glacier national parks that the Park Service has recommended for wilderness,” Garrity said. “Under President Bush, there were a lot more threats to wilderness-quality lands in our parks.”
The bill would also create a “wildlands recovery corps” of workers who would remove 6,300 miles of old logging roads and rehabilitate about 1 million acres of clearcut logging areas. Garrity estimated the work would create about 2,300 jobs.
Reporter Rob Chaney can be reached at 523-5382 or at rchaney@missoulian.com.
View a PDF of the wilderness legislation
By ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian
After years of inattention, wilderness advocates hope a new federal bill will finally win national support.
On Wednesday, representatives Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., introduced the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act, which would protect 24 million acres in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, eastern Oregon and eastern Washington. Nearly a third of the total - about 7.5 million acres - is in Montana.
The 149-page bill encompasses all inventoried roadless areas, along with large chunks of Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. It would also add several hundred river miles to the nation's Wild and Scenic River program, create jobs to restore old clearcuts and remove logging roads, and halt logging plans pending in some roadless forests.
Areas affected in Montana include the Greater Glacier/Northern Continental Divide ecosystem, Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, Greater Cabinet/Yaak/Selkirk ecosystem. It puts large additions into the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness and Great Burn Wildlands Complex.
The Badger-Two Medicine area southeast of Glacier National Park would become a Blackfeet Wilderness area.
Those lands are now supervised by the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management. Acreages were chosen in part to create or maintain biological corridors between major habitat areas.
Parts of many rivers in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming would be added to the Wild and Scenic River program. They include reaches of the Smith, Yellowstone, Madison, Yaak, Kootenai and Sun rivers, as well as Rock Creek and many of its tributaries.
Other proposed wilderness areas in the legislation include the Greater Hells Canyon ecosystem, Greater Salmon/Selway ecosystem, and the Islands in the Sky Wilderness.
Maloney has introduced similar bills since she came to Congress in 1993, according to her spokesman, Jon Houston. The 2007 version got a subcommittee hearing in the House but progressed no further.
This bill has 41 co-sponsors in the House, but none from the five affected states. One name noticeably missing is Montana's sole congressman, Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg.
In a statement Wednesday, Rehberg criticized the bill as a “top-down approach” that didn't account for local economies or protect access for hunting, fishing and other recreation activities.
“When similar legislation was introduced in 2007, I heard from thousands of Montanans over the course of just a few days, and they told me loud and clear that Montana doesn't need Washington, D.C., imposing its will and telling us how to take care of our public lands,” Rehberg said. “We're going to fight this. As a state that's almost one-third public lands, we have no choice.”
The Helena-based Alliance for the Wild Rockies helped draft the bill. Executive Director Michael Garrity said Wednesday that former President George W. Bush's administration and past Republican congressional majorities made passage impossible. He predicted better fortune under the new Democratic majorities.
“We now have a president who was quoted when he came to Kalispell that he wanted to protect all remaining old-growth forests, so our chances are definitely looking better,” Garrity said. The bill has been roughly the same since President Ronald Reagan vetoed the last national wilderness bill in 1988.
“The only significant change was in the last Congress, we included all roadless lands in Yellowstone and Glacier national parks that the Park Service has recommended for wilderness,” Garrity said. “Under President Bush, there were a lot more threats to wilderness-quality lands in our parks.”
The bill would also create a “wildlands recovery corps” of workers who would remove 6,300 miles of old logging roads and rehabilitate about 1 million acres of clearcut logging areas. Garrity estimated the work would create about 2,300 jobs.
Reporter Rob Chaney can be reached at 523-5382 or at rchaney@missoulian.com.
View a PDF of the wilderness legislation
