“At a time when Montana’s sportsmen are finding it increasingly hard to access lands, it is outrageous that the Bush administration would exacerbate the problem by encouraging prime hunting and fishing lands to be carved up and closed off,” Obama said in a written statement. “We should be working to conserve these lands permanently so that future generations of Americans can enjoy them to hunt, fish, hike and camp.”
As first reported by the Missoulian in April, Mark Rey, head of the U.S. Forest Service, has been in closed meetings with Plum Creek officials discussing how the one-time timber company can use easements over Forest Service lands. Originally those easements were thought to be only for logging as a way for the timber company to drive over public land to access its own private timber stands.
Plum Creek is the largest private landowner in Montana and many of those easements involve the company’s lands in western Montana.
Most recently, Rey told the Washington Post Monday that he expected to finalize the deal next month.
Local leaders and others have come out against the negotiations, arguing they should have been conducted in public as they deal with how vast swathes of western Montana will be used in the future. Some sportsmen have also come out against the change, saying they fear that permanent residential building in lands previously used temporarily for logging would harm fish and wildlife habitat and seal off the public once used to hunt and fish.
Democratic Sen. Jon Tester has asked the investigative arm of Congress to examine the negotiations to make sure they are legal.
Rey told the Post the law compelled him to “clarify” Plum Creek’s easements to allow for uses other than logging.
Obama said he would support the use of tax incentives and other mechanisms to encourage private landowners to restore and protect wildlife habitat.
About 320,000 acres of Plum Creek land will be protected, thanks to a provision Sen. Max Baucus included in the latest farm bill that included $250 million to back bonds to buy Plum Creek lands eyed for development.
So far, the company has sold only 3,000 acres in Montana over the past five years.
Also on Tuesday, Montana members of Sportsmen for Obama, a group of hunters and anglers supporting Sen. Barack Obama for president, criticized the Plum Creek closed-dear dealings.
“We want more and we should get more from our federal government,” said Steve Doherty in a 12:30 conference call with Montana reporters.
Doherty is a member of Sportsmen for Obama, the chairman of the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee and a former Democratic lawmaker from Great Falls.
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