The long-running push by politicians in Washington D.C. to privatize public lands and scale back national monuments is now coming to a head, as a sympathetic White House starts to endorse efforts that could lead to the irresponsible development and eventual elimination of the Upper Missouri River Breaks in Montana. As the White House and Department of the Interior continue to review additional protected public lands and national monuments, Congressman Gianforte could be a deciding vote in whether the Upper Missouri River Breaks stays protected or is opened up to industry.

President Donald Trump has already eliminated protections for millions of acres of public lands in Utah. Now Congress is considering bills to codify that decision and to broaden the powers of the executive branch of government to lift protections for even more acres of public land with even less accountability.

The bill to cement in place controversial reductions to the Bears Ears National Monument was considered by Rep. Gianforte in the House Natural Resources Committee yesterday. Click here to see Rep. Gianforte praise President Trump’s decision to remove protections for the monument in the hearing.

Rep. Gianforte’s track record on public lands and national monuments, including a committee votein favor of weakening the Antiquities Act — a bedrock public lands law signed by President Theodore Roosevelt — and his public support for the Trump administration’s national monument review, suggests that he could vote in favor of scaling back protections for public lands across the American West, including in Montana, again.

CONGRESS AND THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ARE A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TO PUBLIC LANDS, INCLUDING UPPER MISSOURI RIVER BREAKS

In April 2017, President Trump instructed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to “review any national monument created since Jan. 1, 1996, that spans at least 100,000 acres in a move he said would ‘end another egregious use of government power.’”^[1] The President’s ordered review threatens over 20 national monuments in the West, including the Upper Missouri River Breaks in Montana. During the executive order signing, the president also took aim at the Antiquities Act, a 1906 law that allows the executive branch to designate and protect national monuments. President Clinton designated the Missouri Breaks in 2001 using the Antiquities Act.

Though the Interior Department announced in August 2017 that the Upper Missouri River Breaks would not be affected by this first-round review, a weakening of the Antiquities Act through other legislation currently under consideration by Congress could enable the President to scale back the Missouri Breaks in the future. ^[2]

As a result of the review and a preview of what could come for other monuments, the President and Interior Department in December 2017 shrunk two Utah monuments — Bears Ears and the Grand Staircase-Escalante — by two million acres, “the largest rollback of federal land protection in the nation’s history.”^[3] Using the Antiquities Act, President Obama designated Bears Ears and President Clinton designated the Grand Staircase-Escalante.

REP. GIANFORTE HAS AN ALARMING TRACK RECORD ON PUBLIC LANDS

Congressman Gianforte supports the Trump administration’s review of national monuments. A spokesman said that Gianforte “‘believes these designations need to be scrutinized and made with local support. Any decision must take into account the concerns and impact of the people living in that area.'”^[4] He also said that several national monuments were designated “‘at the 11th hour at the last minute of the administration without input from local community.’”^[5] Notably, Rep. Gianforte was silent on the administration’s drastic reduction of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.

Congressman Gianforte voted in the House Committee on Natural Resources for H.R. 3990, a bill sponsored by Congressman Bishop to weaken and overhaul the Antiquities Act. The bill would allow any current or future president to revoke national monument designations without Congressional approval, which would mean that Upper Missouri River Breaks could be wiped off the map at any moment. It would also make it more difficult to designate new national monuments by narrowing the definition and scope of what lands can be protected. It would specifically prohibit the creation of monuments larger than 85,000 acres and would “require that local county commissioners, the state legislature and the governor approve any new monuments, and give presidents the authority to revoke or downsize existing monuments.”^[6] The legislation passed out of committee 23 to 17, entirely along party lines, with 23 Republicans voting for it, and 17 Democrats voting against it.^[7] Weakening the Antiquities Act could threaten the Upper Missouri River Breaks in the future.

Rep. Gianforte previously said that use of the Antiquities Act has resulted in “large land grabs” that do not “include local input.”^[8] In particular, he criticized the designation of Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument because “there wasn’t a lot of consultation with local landowners.” Gianforte supports creating a process that would give states more influence in monument designations. ^[9]

WHAT GIANFORTE DOES NEXT WILL DETERMINE THE FUTURE OF WESTERN PUBLIC LANDS

Westerners, including Montanans who Rep. Gianforte represents, want and expect public lands to maintain public access, provide world-class recreation and tourism opportunities that support businesses and jobs, support healthy, thriving communities, and be protected for the next generation – a mix only possible when our government and industry strikes the right balance between energy development and conservation.

Montana’s public lands are supposed to be managed for multiple uses, including outdoor recreation, which generates $7.1 billion in consumer spending every year and supports 71,000 jobs.^[10] Yet the special interests that want to develop public lands in a lopsided way, such as the oil and gas industry, have the system rigged in its favor. Under the Trump Administration, their priorities are being prioritized above every other use of our public lands, including outdoor recreation. This Administration’s efforts to eliminate common sense protections for hiking trails, big game herds, and drinking water – in the misguided pursuit of “energy dominance” – is a grave threat to Montana’s public lands, economy, and our natural heritage.

Any additional votes by Rep. Gianforte for the anti-public lands bills currently under consideration in Congress would be a vote to upend that balance. We sent Rep. Gianforte’s office a letter asking him to clarify his positions on public lands and the anti-public lands legislation outlined above; we have yet to hear back.^[11]

^[11] Letter to Congressman Gianforte on behalf of Chris Saeger.

Also published on Medium.