SWAN VALLEY - American Lands Council (ALC) representatives Kerry White and Jennifer Fielder spoke to nearly 100 people at the Swan Valley Community Council (SVCC) meeting Sept. 20. They were invited by the council to provide information and answer questions about the ALC. White and Fielder expressed concern for public lands in Montana that are federally managed and talked about transferring federal public lands to willing states.
Montana State Senator Fielder, Republican from Thompson Falls is also CEO of the Utah based ALC. White is a Montana State Senator from Bozeman.
“I want our public lands managed better,” said Fielder. She named problems plaguing public lands: Litigation is tying the hands of the US Forest Service (USFS); wildfire suppression costs are depleting USFS resources (the resulting smoke is detrimental to the health of many residents, especially the young and elderly); the timber industry slowdown is adversely affecting Montana’s economy (and the decrease in logging is increasing the chances of wildfires: and access to public lands is being limited by road closures.
Both White and Fielder agreed that Montana public lands would be managed more efficiently at the local level where for example local fire fighting would be more cost efficient.
“I have more faith in Montanans than in Washington, D.C. “ said Fielder. “They don’t understand our problems.”
Fielder and White quoted from a Mowery and Gray 2014 report “The Total Costs of Wildfires” that stated, “for every one dollar invested in proper vegetation management, up to $500 could be saved in total economic losses and fire suppression cost..”
Senator Fielder and Representative White, have both introduced bills and supported bills that would study and promote transfer of federal lands to the state.
Two attendees had questions and comments about the bills that Fielder introduced.
Montana Senator Sue Malek, Democrat from Missoula said she was disappointed in the presentation and said Fielder had misrepresented the support she got in the legislature. Many in Fielder’s party did not support the lands transfer bill. Many in attendance applauded when Malek added she did not agree with what Fielder and White stood for.
Retired Mission Mountain Wilderness Ranger and Swan Valley resident Kari Gunderson read some statistics about Fielder’s bills. “In 2012 you introduced 12 bills that related to federal lands transferring to the state.” Gunderson added that many bills were tabled and others failed from lack of support. She said that a majority of Montanans surveyed across the state were not in favor of lands transfer.
Resident Tom Parker disagreed with the correlation between a decrease in logging and an increase of wildfires. “A number of studies showed clearly in over-harvested and inappropriately managed forests where fire resistant trees were gone, there is a spike in wildfire hazard. We need to make decisions based on appropriate forestry.”
Fielder said what is needed is local knowledge from informed citizens that care. “Local knowledge makes a difference in how we manage our lands.”
Several attendees agreed that collaboration was a good way to find solutions to the problems surrounding mismanagement of public lands. Parker said that the collaborative model had been tried in the Swan Valley with success.
Another resident from Thompson Falls said he has been successful working and collaborating with the U.S. Forest Service.
A Swan Valley resident agreed that collaboration is needed within the federal model. “What White and Fielder are suggesting is outside the bounds of what society will accept.”
Questions asked of White and Fielder during the meeting:
How can you be part of the Utah based American Lands Council to transfer Montana public lands when the majority doesn’t support it and your bills were killed?
Fielder said the bills were killed by the groups that oppose it including Audubon, Montana Wilderness Association, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and Wildlife Federation. They said that the land would then be sold.
“I introduced a bill that prohibited the state from selling but they still killed it because it is the only argument they have.”
How will the transfer of lands to the state help with the litigation issue?
Fielder said state litigations would go to the state court in which the ruling would come from state elected judges unlike federal judges who are appointed.
How do the lands get transferred? Do the states buy the land? It is federal land, not Montana’s
Fielder said Congress has the power to grant the land to the state. Right now the federal government controls over half of all the land in the Western U.S.
Fielder repeated, “I want land managed better. The [American Lands Council] website is a great resource to learn more about the issue.”
For more information, visit http://www.AmericanLandsCouncil.org
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