BLM Boss Invited To Malta Meeting

Ranchers and farmers on the rolling high plains of Phillips and Valley counties have been concerned about the future of their livelihoods and communities since the leak of restricted Department of Interior documents in February that seem to target this area for the creation of a national monument.
The productive grassy prairie surrounding the BLM's Bitter Creek Wilderness Study Area in northern Valley County is the heart of about 2.5 million acres being eyed as a new national bison range stretching from Grasslands National Park in Canada to the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge around Fort Peck Lake.
Part of the leaked document states, "The outcome would be a multimillion-acre wildlife complex creating the largest prairie reserve in North America ...This would be the largest, unfragmented mixed-grass prairie in North American and would support the ecological recovery of bison, the endangered black-footed ferret, and grassland birds. Wild populations of large ungulates would migrate freely, protecting the longest mammal migration in the lower 48. The small human community would be supported by the mix of traditional uses and diversity of wildlife that is a world recognized resource."
If there is a problem acquiring this land, which the Interior documents call part of a Treasured Landscape, the documents said it could be designated a national monument by presidential proclamation under the Antiquities Act. This is how the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument was created by outgoing president Bill Clinton in 2001.
Phillips County officials have invited Robert Abbey, the director of the Bureau of Land Management, to a public meeting in Malta to discuss these concerns. Abbey will speak in the Malta High School gymnasium at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16.
Abbey's boss, Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar, has denied that there is a definite plan to create a new national monument in Montana. He called the Treasured Landscape plans "brainstorming discussions" among his staff, and said continued reference to it was "fanning the flames."
In March he told Montana Sen. Jon Tester, "There are no plans that we have to move forward." He added that there have been "no directions from the White House that we move forward on monument designation."
In June, he told Tester that "there will be no recommendation for designation of national monuments in Montana unless there is significant public involvement, discussion, and debate over any such proposal."
Abbey has told the Great Falls Tribune that the leaked monument memo was part of a vision document that he and other Interior employees prepared last year at the request of Salazar. The full 21-page BLM planning document about the Treasured Landscapes was made public on Aug. 16. It is labeled "Internal Draft – NOT FOR RELEASE." It lists 14 areas in nine Western states that are "good candidates for National Monument designation under the Antiquities Act."
Phillips and Valley county commissioners have expressed concerns about the impact of a national monument on the families and the economy of the area. Ranching families would have no grazing base, natural gas development would be halted, and the tax base would be sharply reduced.
Congressman Denny Rehberg has declared himself against the plan, accusing the Obama administration of trying to make a land grab. Sen. Max Baucus said in June that he was opposed to the administration creating monuments.