Public land rally challenges legislative bills, federal firings

Laura Lundquist

HELENA (Missoula Current) - For more than a decade, Montanans have rallied at the capitol in Helena in defense of public lands. But at no time before has the loss of public land appeared so close.

At noon on Wednesday, the three levels of the capitol rotunda filled with around 500 people wearing Patagonia and Carhart jackets, cowboy hats and stocking caps, and carrying a myriad of homemade protest signs such as “Babies for public lands” and “More bears, less billionaires.” They’d come from across the state - Missoula, Bozeman, the Bitterroot and Flathead valleys, the High Line - once more answering the call for Montanans to show their legislators how important public land is to them.

An enthusiastic Hilary Hutcheson, West Glacier fishing guide and outfitter, greeted the shouts of the crowd with some of her own and then asked them, “Do you come here often?” which prompted laughter. Many of the attendees have traveled to Helena every two years since at least 2013 to raise the capitol roof with chants of “Keep Public Lands in Public Hands.”

But this year, among the signs displaying that recurrent motto were signs saying “Public land was all I had” and “They laid off my whole crew,” referring to the Trump administration’s recent firings of probationary employees of the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and U.S Fish and Wildlife Service.

Hutcheson recognized those sign bearers and other federal land employees and thanked them for their service. Hutcheson said her daughter was hoping to join them. She just graduated from the University of Montana - Dillon and was preparing to start a job with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management but the offer was withdrawn.

“Did you do it for the paycheck? No. You did it for us, you did it for each other. Thank you,” Hutcheson said, choking up slightly before continuing. “There are other voices out there: greedy, sneaky voices, saying that we should not have access to these lands, that wealthy private landowners should take them over instead. That is the sound I hear in the middle of the night when I feel like I am in a nightmare, in a horror film, in an alternate reality or in the upside-down, where I have to just keep repeating the facts to myself to stay sane.”

Among those facts were the elimination of public lands would tank Montana’s trillion-dollar tourist and recreation economy, would reduce Montanan’s ability to hunt, fish, hike, bike and camp and current and future cuts would do little to reduce the federal deficit.

Russ Ehnes, Great Falls public trails advocate, told the fired federal employees that Montana needs them back and Montanans should recognize that. Even though Montana has several dedicated organizations that maintain trails of all kinds, they need the federal employees to keep the work going to ensure public lands remain accessible.

Ehnes highlighted some of his memories of growing up on the public lands of Montana and said almost everyone, including the transplants, has similar memories.

“Public lands, that’s what defines all of us as people. We love our public lands, but our public lands need our love more than ever,” Ehnes said. “Not just because of stuff going on at the federal level, but there’s some stuff right here in Montana that we need to be aware of.”

Citizen and state trail crews depend on four different sources of funding, but a big one is under threat again in the Legislature. Senate Bill 307, which will be heard in committee next week, would eliminate the marijuana tax money allocated for trails, recreation and nongame wildlife, and $20 million would be stripped from Habitat Montana, a fund used to buy fee title land and conservation easements for wildlife.

Montanans approved Ballot Initiative 190 in November 2020, which said 20% of the recreational marijuana tax money would go toward conservation, but during the past two Legislative sessions, Republicans have tried to reduce or eliminate that amount.

Ryan Callaghan, Meateater conservation director, said “management” was not the problem with either federal or state lands. The state has a slightly easier job managing its own lands because there are fewer of them. If the state had to suddenly manage the 26 million acres of federal land in the state, it would flounder and would likely start selling off the land.

“I’ve heard a lot of doom and gloom from the conservation community and from workers that have been affected. But I’ve gotta take the positive side of things, and say I would be scared shitless if I was a lawmaker right now. Because of this. People who are willing to show up, people who are willing to hold lawmakers accountable. That’s what’s going to win the day,” Callaghan said as the crowd roared. “Right now, we have a Montana (resolution) to sell off our state lands. Nobody told me I was voting for that.”

A Legislative bill, LC 2912 - it has no bill number and has yet to be introduced - is a resolution supporting the state of Utah in its push to transfer federal land to the state. In January, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a lawsuit from the state of Utah that claimed the federal government is Constitutionally required to transfer about half of the 37.4 million federal acres in Utah to the state, most of which are managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Utah is still trying to press the case in a lower district court.

Montana shouldn’t act like Utah. Shane Doyle, Apsáalooke historian from Crow Agency, said no other state is like Montana for several reasons. For one, Montana has seven Indian reservations, far more than surrounding states. That’s because a wide variety of tribes ended up sharing the land. They came here and stayed here, because “it’s not easy, but it’s worth it.” That lasted for centuries until the 19th century brought settlers to Montana, and it started to get crowded Doyle said. Then came the gold rush, bringing a surge of greedy or desperate men seeking wealth.

“What we’re seeing today is nothing new. What’s new is that they’re not coming for gold anymore. They’re bringing their gold with them. And they’re taking something that’s a hell of a lot more precious than silver or gold - they want our land,” Doyle said as the crowd roared defiantly. “And we’re not going to give it to them. Because it doesn’t belong to us. And it doesn’t belong to them. It belongs to everybody going many generations into the future and as far back as we can remember.”

Pointing to the statue of Sen. Mike Mansfield and recalling Congressional Rep. Jannette Rankin, Doyle recognized all the men and women, settlers and natives, who have worked to make Montana what it is. With his drum booming in the rotunda, Doyle sang an ancient ceremonial song from before the time of the settlers.

“This is the medicine we needed today, to share with each other. We’re going to take this medicine back, and we’re going to double down our efforts to save our public lands,” Doyle said. “There might not be any elected officials standing here, but they can hear us. They can definitely hear us - they know we’re here. This is for them and this is for you. Aho.”

Contact reporter Laura Lunquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.