Viewpoint: Celebrating Upper Missouri River Breaks, monuments
Haley Miller and Harvey Nyberg
With little fanfare, Montana recently celebrated a truly significant anniversary that is important to both our outdoor heritage and our future as a state.
This January marked 22 years since the designation of The Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument.
The Breaks remain one of the most unique and historically important areas of our great state. The monument designation has ensured that the same world-renowned, breathtaking landscapes that were showcased in the artwork of Charlie Russell will remain intact for our children and grandchildren. This is no small feat.
It’s important to note the tool used to conserve this crucial wildlife habitat and cultural landscape was designed to help ensure that conservation policies can rise above partisan politics.
In the hyper-partisan environment of Washington today, it’s hard to see how any meaningful work can get done toward conserving our public lands both for our enjoyment today and for generations to come.
Just take Senator Jon Tester’s Blackfoot Clearwater Bill, a made-in-Montana piece of legislation that, despite reaching its highest support in public polling ever this year (with 89% of Montana voters supporting it), the bill is stalled in Congress and being actively blocked by Senator Steve Daines.
The good news is our forefathers had the insight to recognize that certain places such as the Grand Canyon and The Upper Missouri River Breaks ought to be protected regardless of politics.
The Antiquities Act has been used by presidents of both parties as a bipartisan tool for protecting American landscapes. Originally deployed by outdoors hero Teddy Roosevelt, The Antiquities Act remains one of the strongest polling and bipartisan tool among Montana voters in recent surveys.
We ranch, recreate, hunt and run small businesses throughout The Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. The Missouri River is the lifeblood of our agricultural, cultural, and economic well-being. We’ve experienced firsthand that with the monument designation, we’ve had better access, a more informed public, and better managed landscapes for the benefit of all.
We encourage our fellow Montanans to enjoy our national monuments we are blessed to have in our state and to learn more about how The Antiquities Act serves as a bipartisan tool to do what’s right for our outdoor heritage.
Editor’s Note: The authors of this column were featured in a recent film released by the Montana Wildlife Federation celebrating the 22nd anniversary of the designation of The Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. Please consider linking the video when publishing this piece online - video available for download & linking HERE.