VC Commissioners Protest Letter To BLM On APR Decision

The following letter written by the Valley County Commissioners was sent to Field Manager Tom Darrington at the Bureau of Land Management Malta Office on April 13.

Tom Darrington,

Field Manager

Bureau of Land Management

Malta Field Office

50 I South Second Street East

Malta, Montana 59538

4/13/2022

Dear Tom Darrington,

The Valley County Commissioners protest your Notice of Proposed Decision concerning APR’s grazing applications in southern Phillips County. We believe your decision is in error because it would establish a precedent for piecemeal approval of APR’s plan for an “American Serengeti.” Your proposed decision would thus continue BLM’s pattern of downplaying the significance of APR’s plans and clearly violating the rules to accommodate APR.

BLM-administered grazing lands encompass over one million acres in Valley County, which is over 30% of the County. Continued availability of these lands for livestock grazing is critical to our economy and way of life. This proposed decision continues the threat that all BLM lands and associated state and private properties in Valley County will eventually be lost from agricultural production. This, along with the inflated land values that APR’s entry in the market has caused, provokes a feeling of impending doom for many farmers, ranchers, and business owner’s dependent on agriculture, as well as to most citizens who support agriculture and value our way of life. As County Commissioners, we share these feelings and fear the loss of the tax base that supports County services.

BLM had an oppo1tunity to openly address APR’s plans in the Hi-Line RMP and the Lewistown RMP. A range of alternatives allocating which lands would be considered for conversion of grazing permits to bison could have been evaluated. BLM pretended that the most controversial issue ever to come along concerning BLM lands in Montana was simply a minor grazing permit issue to be handled case-by-case.

We contend that BLM must consider the full scope of APR’s plans openly by amending the RMPs and completing an EIS.

Sincerely,

John Fahlgren, Chairman

Board of County

Commissioners

Paul Tweten, Member

Mary Armstrong, Member

CC: Governor Gianforte, Attorney General Austin Knudsen, Senator Steve Daines, Senator Jon Tester, Representative Matt Rosendale, State Senator Mike Lang, Phillips County Commissioners, Phillips County News, Glasgow Courier, BS Buzz, Great Falls Tribune, Billings Gazette