How TX Rep. Pete Sessions is going after your Federal Public Land Access Across and Lands

Texas Representative Pete Sessions' Letter to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Purdue
 

 PDF link of article with Rep. Pete Sessions' letter

On June 7, 2017, US Representative Pete Sessions from Dallas (R-TX) wrote to the Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, carbon copying the Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke (Montana) – letter attached below. 

 

In Sessions' letter he states that Chris Hudson (Dallas), owner of the Wonder Ranch in Montana is one of his Texas constituents. There is more to this though, than a federal legislator from another state, weighing in on behalf of a voting constituent.

 

Sessions requests Sec. Purdue issue a directive precluding the Forest Service from acquiring prescriptive easements and disavowing the Federal agency that manages our public trust lands and resources, from filing Statements of Interest for public access to our federally managed public lands. We have a growing problem, here in Montana and in the West, of public access to our public lands increasingly being cut off. Sessions did not request Sec. Purdue look into the one issue at the Wonder Ranch, nor the current issue in the Crazy Mountains (MT). He does not directly the Crazy Mountain, but references it by the “District Ranger” issue and his forwarding of a Facebook post in question. The post is by the Public Land/Water Access Association, a Montana organization, founded by retired Gallatin National Forest Supervisor Lewis (Gene) Hawkes, whose mission is to maintain, restore, and perpetuate public access to the boundaries of all Montana public land and waters.

 

Under Montana law, the elements of a prescriptive easement claim are open, notorious, exclusive, adverse, continuous, and uninterrupted use for the statutory period. The public, in a variety of ways, has been utilizing trails and roads throughout the Crazy Mountains for over a 100 years. The USFS Statement of Interest asserts that it has and claims easements for the National Forest Trails over and across real property.

 

Rep. Sessions did not investigate the false allegation against Alex Sienkiewicz. Sienkiewicz is a dedicated public trust Forest Service employee, who until recently held the position of the Yellowstone District Ranger. The YDR administrates our public lands in the Crazy Mountains, in the northern part of the Custer Gallatin National Forest. If Sessions had investigated the false allegation that Sienkiewicz posted, “in an official capacity” to PLWA's Facebook page, before he passed it on in his official capacity, he might have easily found out that former FS District Ranger Sienkiewicz did not make the post. It appears, the individuals and groups utilizing this Facebook post, are simply using what they thought, was a “gottcha” moment to springboard to their real objectives involving our public lands.

Sessions also alleges that USFS Region 1 went rogue during the Obama administration, calling it a “war on private property owners conducted by the Obama administration”. This is simply a dog whistle, having nothing to do with Obama or his administration.

 

Enhancing Montana's Wildlife & Habitat Forest Service FOIA documents (1, 2, 3) show that prescriptive easements and Statements of Interest have been used by our Federal land agencies for decades, well before Obama became President in 2008.

So why is Rep. Pete Sessions getting involved with some public land access issues here in Montana? And why is Sessions requesting newly appointed Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Purdue take such drastic nationwide actions as precluding the Forest Service from acquiring prescriptive easements and disavowing the Federal agency from filing Statements of Interest for public access?

Could it be because another land owner, with private land adjacent to our FS Crazy Mountains public lands, Monzer Hourani from Houston, TX, is a major contributor of his? Hourani, a real estate developer who specializes in medical, biotech and pharmaceutical design and construction, owns the Montana Eagle Ranch (Montana Ranch Corp., I did a search with Montana Cadastral), on the northwest side of the Crazy Mountains. Hourani is not just a contributor to Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), but a major contributor, supporter and friend of Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT). In fact, Hourani (CEO Medistar Corporation) broke Federal election laws contributing to Hatch. Hourani was fined $10,000, “Hourani next caused Hatch headaches when he broke federal election law to benefit his friend. After Hourani had given the maximum personal donations to Hatch allowed by law, he gave more money to employees and asked them to donate it to Hatch in their own names.”

Hatch is listed as #3 in a Top "Public Lands Enemies" in Congress report: Fifteen Federal Lawmakers From Eight Western States Plotting to Seize, Dismantle, Destroy and Privatize America's Public Lands. “Between 2011 and 2016, Senator Orrin Hatch sponsored or cosponsored 19 of the 48 anti-public lands bills we identified, making him Public Lands Enemy #3.” Sen. Hatch's website states, “The Federal Government owns most of the land in Utah – making decisions without even consulting state and local officials. This is an outrage...” Hatch is part of the movement to transfer or sell our pubic lands to the States, boasting, “As a leader in the Sagebrush Rebellion, I've been fighting to turn federal lands in our state over to Utahns to own and control.” What Sen. Hatch does not understand is that the American public owns those lands, our public trust, which the Federal government manages on our behalf. 

 

Senator Orrin Hatch knows our Crazy Mountains up close and personal, having been a guest at Monzer Hourani's property there. To experience all that the Crazy Mountains has to offer, has become limited by certain landowner efforts to close public access to the FS public lands. No one should have to rely on a landowner's hospitality or have to pay as a client, just to access these public lands. Perhaps Texas Rep. Pete Sessions received more than just campaign contributions from Hourani, but also enjoyed his Montana Eagle Ranch hospitality, adjacent our public lands?

Texas has less than 2% Federal lands, and not all of that 2% is publicly accessible, part belonging to the Department of Defense and Native American Reservations.

Montana, however, enjoys and benefits from about 30% Federally managed public lands, which contribute greatly to our way of life and abundant and growing outdoor recreation economy.

Texas Representative Pete Sessions might want to consider that not everyone wants be like “No Trespassing” Texas. 

 

What the Texas Representative is requesting from the Secretary of Agriculture, is a “taking” from the US Public – historic public prescriptive rights and access, especially in the West. Sessions' suggestion of legislation to achieve this theft from the public and would hinder the Federal agencies who manage our various public lands. It is also, yet another attempt to chip away at the public trust and legislative special interests over our public lands. This just might earn Sessions a notorious spot on the “Public Lands Enemies” list.

Click for the Crazy Mountain Public Access webpage

Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, DC 20250 (202) 720-2791

Forest Service Chief, Thomas Tidwell,  ttidwell@fs.fed.us   (202) 205-8439

Region 1, Regional Forester Leann Marten,  lmarten@fs.fed.us   (406) 329-3315

Custer Gallatin National Forest Supervisor Mary Erickson,  mcerickson@fs.fed.us  (406) 587-6949

Senator Steve Daines, steve@daines.senate.gov   (202) 224-2651

Even though Sen. Tester was not evident in the letters, please contact him as well.
Sen. Jon Tester,  senator@tester.senate.gov   (202) 224-2644 

Representative Greg Gianforte, 1419 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC 20515

Here's Some Good Advocates Doing Something...

"All it takes for evil to succeed
is that good men should look on and do nothing."

Public Access Storm Brewing Over the Crazy Mountains

The Crazy Mountains in Montana have been a public access hotbed, beginning in 1940. As then Forest Service Supervisor G. E. Martin writes (from my FOIA documents) detailing the variety of uses documented in the historic Crazy Mountains, including mining, timber, grazing, trappers, hunters and recreation, "At no time was travel over the roads and trails restricted until October 1940 when Van Cleve locked the gate during the hunting season. In 1941 this was done again. In 1942 the gate was again locked before the opening of the hunting season and was still locked on April 24, 1943."

I have an ask:

If you have been in the Crazy Mountains...

• perhaps you received a citation when you were on a FS Trail on their map;

• perhaps you have been on one of these contested trail and you thankfully did not ask landowner permission or sign in and would like to add your account to the prescriptive easement history;

• perhaps you would just like to share your story and/or some pictures of what these particular public lands and access mean to you?

If so, please contact Kathryn : kathryn@emwh.org or 406-579-7748


Michael Wright wrote an article in the Bozeman Chronicle this weekend -
Advocates outraged over reassignment of Forest Service ranger 

"Landowner concerns over Sienkiewicz’s work to preserve public access to the Crazy Mountains near Big Timber were brought up to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue as recently as late May. Perdue was in Montana for the Montana Ag Summit, and he met with several agriculture groups along with Montana’s Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines.

The Montana Stockgrowers Association was part of the meeting. Jay Bodner, the natural resources director for the Stockgrowers Association, said each group in the meeting had a variety of concerns, and that public access conflicts in the Crazies was one issue for his group.

'We did have a number of our members kind of concerned with the access issue there in the Crazies,' Bodner said."


I have been busy digging through my FOIA documents, gleaning proof to refute the false allegations against former District Ranger Alex Sienkiewicz. I composed and provided this refutation letter, with supporting Refutation Documents to Public Land/Water Access Association. They are sending out their official letter and Refutation Documents to the officials below. Please consider gleaning information from both, to send in your own comments, including to the other officials, agencies connected and the organizations involved, such as the Montana Farm Bureau Federation, the Stock Growers Association, the Montana Outfitters & Guides Association.

PLWA's Letter Defending Alex Sienkiewicz as Yellowstone District Ranger

Refutation Documents Defending Alex Sienkiewicz as Yellowstone District Ranger

Please note the following additional points:

• After Lee Gustafson posted the yearly seasonal reminder to FS employees and seasonal help to PLWA's Facebook page, outfitter and Crazy Mountain landowner, Chuck Rein, who is also the Vice-President of the Montana Outfitters & Guides Association, along with MOGA Executive  Mac Minard met with then Yellowstone District Ranger Alex Sienkiewicz and Custer Gallatin National Forest Supervisor Mary Erickson on August 17, 2016. Refutation Documentation PDF pgs. 21 & 22 show, "Chuck Rein presented Alex Sienkiewicz and Mary Erickson with a copy of an EMAIL Alex had sent outto staff with cc to Forest Leadership Team." This is the communication that falsely alleged that District Ranger Alex Sienkiewicz posted directly to PLWA's Facebook post, which he did not - PLWA member with administrative rights, Lee Gustafson - per the screenshot (pdf page 10) "Both Mac Minnard and Chuck Rein asked Mary Erickson if she agreed with my (Alex's) position regarding never signing-in and never asking permission of private landowners at traditional forest access points, and Mary stated that she did support this position."
• On January14, 2017 MOGA sponsored a Montana Access forum in Helena, MT. Region 1 Regional Supervisor Leanne Marten was invited as one of the speakers. This meeting is referenced in the Montana Farm Bureau Federations letter to Sen. Steve Daines on January 30, 2017 (PDF pg. 4). In the closing paragraph, John Youngberg writes, "This issue was brought to the attention of Region 1 Forester Leanne Marten at a recent Montana Outfitters and Guides meeting where she wasn't willing to commit an answer to the question above."
• At that meeting MOGA Vice-President asked Regional Supervisor Leanne Marten, during the question period, "One of the comments I've heard about is partnership and cooperation. How have prescriptive easements and adverse possession lined up with those goals?" Marten began replying, "Something tells me there's a lot more behind that question." Yes, there certainly is, like the privatization of our public lands and resources on them, especially the wildlife that he outfits, restricting the public's access to both the public lands and wildife. I have documents related to this outfitting coming up on another installment.
  

____________________

Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, DC 20250 (202) 720-2791

Forest Service Chief, Thomas Tidwell,  ttidwell@fs.fed.us   (202) 205-8439

Region 1, Regional Forester Leann Marten,  lmarten@fs.fed.us   (406) 329-3315

Custer Gallatin National Forest Supervisor Mary Erickson,  mcerickson@fs.fed.us  (406) 587-6949

Senator Steve Daines, steve@daines.senate.gov   (202) 224-2651

Even though Sen. Tester was not evident in the letters, please contact him as well.
Sen. Jon Tester,  senator@tester.senate.gov   (202) 224-2644

Representative Greg Gianforte, 1419 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC 20515

 

Click to be a Contributor or Subscriber to
Enhancing Montana's Wildlife & Habitat


Thank you,
Kathryn QannaYahu
406-579-7748
www.EMWH.org
Bozeman, MT

Alex Sienkiewicz Removed as Yellowstone District Ranger

Damned if you do, Damned if you don't...

Photo courtesy the Billings Gazette

East Crazy Mountain Public Access webpage (under construction)

I have been dealing with a situation since Monday. It is a side trail of a bigger issue I began researching in the spring of 2015, about 3 years ago - the intentional obstruction of public access to our public lands in the Crazy Mountains, most specifically, the East Side. I spoke with the Yellowstone District Ranger Alex Sienkiewicz about trails, marked maps, took photos of much older maps. Periodically, I dig back into this situation which has been ongoing for decades.

Some of this research was presented at a BHA meeting this last fall in Bozeman. Rob Gregoire had drawn an elk tag for one of those hunt districts in Sweet Grass County. He scouted the FS Trail 115/136. After his scouting trip, I placed a FS FOIA for that area.Then Gregoire went back to hunt, on returning he was met by a deputy issuing him a criminal trespass citation. Shortly after I received my FOIA, which had abundant documentation of the public aspect of the trail. So I set up a webpage with his story, to help defend his case for public access (thank you to all those that contributed to Rob). See, Rob had taken every effort to avoid intentional trespass, including verifying the trail with Yellowstone District Ranger Alex Sienkiewicz. But the Department of Justice would not allow Sienkiewicz, nor the Custer Gallatin National Forest Supervisor Mary Erickson from testifying during Rob's hearing, without that testimony, everything was hearsay and my FOIA documents were after the fact.

The first deal the Sweet Grass County Attorney Pat Dringman offered to Rob included his paying $250 to the local Crazy Mountain Stockgrowers Association and another $250 to the Montana Farm Bureau (page 2). That pissed me off, this smacked of corruption. What did either of those two groups have to do with Rob's case??? So I wrote an oped - Crazy Mountain Public Access Fight, including that Pat Dringman's wife, Page Carroccia Dringman, owned the ranch at the top end of the FS Trail 115/136 (who has been obstructing access on that end), suggesting Dringman needed to recuse himself. Rob settled for a deferred prosecution, no guilt.

Then I found out that on June 16, 2017, Yellowstone District Ranger, Alex Sienkiewicz, was removed from his position for doing his job, which included advocating on our behalf in the frickin' Crazy Mountains; this removal was authorized by the newly sworn in Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue (April 25, 2017), who was recently here in Montana on a tour.  You might think that with the whole nations ag business to deal with, our local District Ranger doing his job would not be a top priority for him. Sienkiewicz's removal really pissed me off, so I contacted PLWA, Hunt Talk, hunter/anglers across the state and Brett French who had written on some of these Crazy Mountain issues before, giving French the beginning of some documents for proof and the basics. French wrote a detailed article: District ranger faces internal investigation over Crazy Mountain access dispute. 

I began setting up the web pages to deal with the documentation - y'all know - I play the long game. This is rudimentary right now, but I will be setting this up interactively like I did the Durfee Hills map so that you can see who all the players are, timelines and documents.

I have a letter from the Montana Farm Bureau Federation with false allegations against Alex Sienkiewicz, which they sent to Senator Steve Daines, who then forwarded it to Forest Service Chief Thomas Tidwell and carbon copied Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and Region 1, Regional Forester Leann Marten (Montana in Missoula) on May 26th. Another letter, May 29th, from a handful of the landowners adjacent to the FS, some of which outfit like Page Carroccia Dringman and Chuck Rein, Vice President of Montana Outfitters and Guides Association, was sent to Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue and Senator Daines, with many of the same accusations against Sienkiewicz - who then gets removed as District Ranger for doing his job.

Here's the thing - 2 public land hunters: Joe Rookhuizen and Rob Gregoire, contacted Senator Daines about their public access issues in the Crazy Mountain. But privatizing landowners get in touch with Daines, with false allegations and no investigation into a certain matter and Daines is reaching out as far as the Secretary of Agriculture for his removal? Seriously?

These privatizers are not just targeting Alex Sienkeiwicz, they are making him the poster child for any employee who does their job, their public trust stewardship for the public, they are targeting all federal employees - "Do your job and this will be your fate".

One of my FOIA documents spells out one of Sienkiewicz's responsibilities he was fulfilling for the public:
2002 Briefing Paper, National Forest System Trails Across Private Land, Gallatin National Forest

“The growing demand for dispersed recreation on public lands, and the changes and trends in private landownership, have brought considerable attention to the trails issue on this Forest. At an increasing rate, landowners are questioning the status of trails across private land. Private land within and adjacent to this Forest continues to be sold. New owners may or may not recognize the existing public access through their lands. Some trails on private land are being lost through subdivision, closure or obliteration.

As a result, it is critical for the Gallatin NF to continue to have a strong and consistent policy and presence in: (a) signing and maintaining our trail system across private lands; (b) defending historic trail access rights if challenged; and (c) perfecting trail access rights across private lands whenever that opportunity exists.”

In the Direction and Policy section they wrote, “Under FLPMA and FSM 5460 direction...In situation where an existing NFS trail crosses private lands, and no deeded easement exist, the Forest Service position is as follows: The United States has acquired a right-of-way from the trail through development, maintenance and continuous use of the trail. As a matter of law, the Forest Service believes that there is a public access easement for the trail. The Forest Service is a beneficiary of this public right of access, will continue its efforts to defend the public's right of access.

(1) Protect and maintain historic evidence, including trail blazes, signs, maps, photos and maintenance records.

(2) Maintain and sign the trail on a regular basis, and keep records and photos of this maintenance, and

(3) Take prompt action in the event that landowners threaten or take action to close or obliterate the trail.”

As PLWA Vice President John Gibson (retired Forest Service) roared, “Don't reassign him; I say, CLONE HIM! You need more rangers with the intestinal fortitude to protect and enhance access to the national forest.”

Certain Sweet Grass County landowners threatened and took action to close or obliterate public access FS trails in the Crazy Mountains. They have also threatened and taken action against our public trust District Ranger, Alex Sienkiewicz, who was following FS Direction and Policy in defending our public trust from privatization –  doing his public trust job. 

I beg you to show the same level of defense for our public access and Alex Sienkiewicz's reinstatement as Yellowstone District Ranger, by raising your concerns to the same officials that the privatizers just did with false allegations. Because when you see the roll out of information to come and the players agendas, you will agree, this isn't just about one man and his job, it is about what he was doing as a steward of our public lands that others greedily desire for their own.

Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, DC 20250 (202) 720-2791

Forest Service Chief, Thomas Tidwell,  ttidwell@fs.fed.us   (202) 205-8439

Region 1, Regional Forester Leann Marten,  lmarten@fs.fed.us   (406) 329-3315

Custer Gallatin National Forest Supervisor Mary Erickson,  mcerickson@fs.fed.us  (406) 587-6949

Senator Steve Daines, steve@daines.senate.gov   (202) 224-2651

Even though Sen. Tester was not evident in the letters, please contact him as well.
Sen. Jon Tester,  senator@tester.senate.gov   (202) 224-2644

 

Thank you,
Kathryn QannaYahu
406-579-7748
www.EMWH.org
Bozeman, MT

2017 Montana Special Election, House of Representatives

"I don't think there was a winner in this election.
The democrats lost the vote and the republicans got a loser."
~ Antlerradar, Hunt Talk Forum

 2017 Montana Special Election, House of Representatives

They say hindsight is 20/20, but it is not like there weren't signs along the way. It is not like everything was covered in camouflage, so blended in, that you could not see the issues for what they were. In the end, it wasn't a candidate that lost, it is Montana as a whole, regardless of which way the wind blew.

I read an interesting economics article, over a month ago, about zero-sum game theory or economic theory. Bear with me. Imagine a cake, a fixed situation. For someone to "win", get a larger share than another, they have to increase their share by taking some from another, causing them to "lose". In zero-sum, there have to be losers for someone to be a winner. You very much see this in Trump's world view.

As an egalitarian, I do not have a zero-sum world view. I believe in building up the whole that we all can benefit, building up partners.

Disgusted with all the politics, the partisan bs, here are some of my perspectives of this recent Montana election.

As an Independent, I am revolted that I only get two choices - hell, I have over 1500 font files on my computer because I like choices. Yes, I would like other options, like a Theodore Roosevelt type of candidate!

Breaking this down, I was disappointed in the Democratic Party's choice. I had emailed our local Gallatin County Party with my suggestion for Amanda Curtis - she had governmental experience, had already been vetted, had a previous network of supporters that could be activated quickly, and she is extremely passionate for serving the public and very much exhibits accountability (must be something in the Butte water that breeds such passionate advocates), etc. 5 of Gallatin County's votes went to Curtis.

When someone recently asked who the people were that voted for Quist in the primary, I linked to the Democratic County Committee webpage. That is when it hit me, there were not 56 county committees there - I counted - there were only 28, exactly 1/2 of the 56 counties.

When I grew up, my father had a saying, "Don't do a half assed job." Being a graphically minded person, I couldn't figure out as a very young girl, why a phrase would develop with a one cheeked person in relation to labor effort. As I got older and had ag experience, I figured it had to do with a team of asses for labor, the results greater than the two divided.

Now hearing the rumors that the Democratic party was not wholly invested in the election was bad enough, because my philosophy in life is if you go into a situation believing you will fail, you will make decisions to ensure that you do. Not good strategy in my book. But looking at only 1/2 of the 56 counties represented, that does not speak to me that the party of the "people" is invested in the people of Montana when there are only 28 county committees.

And if you don't think that has bearing on elections, take a look at this New York Times Montana county elections map. I was watching their page live that night because it was faster with more parameters than MT Secretary of States website. Anyway, I took a screenshot of the image, blew it up, added the county names in and added a white D to the counties that are listed as having committees. See for yourself, a picture is worth a 1000 words.

So if anyone wants to take an honest look at being the "party of the people", here is your roadmap to correcting this situation.


Now, I was not in Montana back in the day, but I have read about  Montana's Copper Kings, people trying to buy legislative seats and such. This appears to be a revival effort in a number of the last elections - Dark money made Mont. election ugly before assault , with nearly $5.2 million spent as of May 5th. This election made national news not just because of television shooting candidates talking about the Second Amendment, while Gianforte "allegedly" grabbed a reporter for asking a question about the Health Care CBO numbers, body slammed our First Amendment, freedom of the press, to the frickin ground the night before the election. Some voters had voter remorse, having already sent in their ballots, wanting to know if they could change their vote. The Lee Enterprise newspapers, however, in their voter remorse, were able to rescind their endorsements, while the Missoulian included another example of Gianforte's temper when they interviewed him; in a case of too little, too late, this example was not previously published to help give the public a heads up. Gianforte did not publicly apologize to Ben Jacobs, until after he won the election, nor did he apologize for an attempted bullying lawsuit to force FWP to abandon a perpetual public access site easement.

Did Montana win in any way in this special election? I don't think so.

Because even though a candidate won the election, this candidate will have future issues with the press for one of their own being treated criminally. And the sh*t will continue to roll downhill.

As stated by the Helena IR's article, Gianforte may face extra scrutiny from D.C. press after assault charges -

"At least one longtime D.C. political analyst believes that Gianforte may also be shunned by the Republican leadership and given less important committee assignments in an effort to avoid tying the Republican party to his personal controversy. James A. Thurber, a distinguished professor of government at American University and the founder of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, said the fact that Speaker of the House Paul Ryan had call on Gianforte to apologize was telling.

'For the Speaker to publicly say, "The gentleman should apologize," something generally doesn’t get to this,' said Thurber, who has written 12 books on American politics. 'Therefore, the party leadership may take him aside and say, "You've got to be a little more civilized in terms of the way you interact with the press." '

Thurber said the controversy could affect Gianforte's stature in Congress.

'People that have been around a long time, when they’re judging who should get certain committee assignments, this doesn’t help (Gianforte). There are things that are unsaid that happen. There will be opportunities that don’t come about (for Gianforte) because of things like this, but he’ll never know it.'

He added said that normally, not many people even know who freshmen members of Congress are.

'To pop out like this among freshmen, especially in a special election, is rare,' Thurber said. 'To be a showboat this early is not good. Usually, nobody even knows who they are. They co-sponsor a few bills, do constituent work and vote with the party.'

Thurber also predicted that Gianforte would suffer politically if he becomes a national punchline, especially if his interaction with Jacobs is parodied by Saturday Night Live, which Thurber said on Friday afternoon would 'probably' happen.

'If he turns into a joke, that’s deadly for a public official,' Thurber said. "


So I would admonish, both the Republican and Democratic parties, to get their act together, for the benefit of MONTANA, and provide decent candidates before the midterm election so that Montana does not continue to be a political embarrassment on the state and national scene. And to the voters, I sure as hell hope that "the people" will demand better representatives than what we have been served of late.

And just to add some food for thought, and because I don't advocate zero-sum game or economic theory - being tired of hearing all the polarized party ad hominem attacks of "libruls" and "trumptards" being out of touch with the people, here are some economic visuals based on the 2016 county votes in the national election (I didn't vote for either of these national candidates) and a paper on our public lands county economics. I believe we can build the whole up, but first, people need to have eyes to see what is currently going on.

I expect that some are not going to want to see or hear this, but the below chart showed the economic output by county, correlated with how the county voted in the 2016 presidential election. On a national level, less than 500 US counties, liberal by some political standards, are economically carrying more than 2,600 counties.

 

At a recent Public lands and access meeting I went to in Red Lodge, Mike Haggerty from Headwaters Economics in Bozeman, gave a presentation on western counties economics.Basically, counties with public lands economically do better than counties with smaller amounts and counties with protected public lands do the best. Some of the slides he used are in the following Headwaters paper: Today’s Economy & the Role of Federal Lands.

So those are some of my post election thoughts. We, the people, deserve better; Montana deserves better! 

 
Click to be a Contributor or Subscriber to
Enhancing Montana's Wildlife & Habitat


Thank you,
Kathryn QannaYahu
406-579-7748
www.EMWH.org
Bozeman, MT

 

The Public Trust Doctrine & Montana's Stream Access

Physics - For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction... this is my "equal and opposite" reaction.

Even if you are not from Montana, you need to read this, the applications go beyond our state borders.

For over a year, Rick Berman and Will Coggin (D.C. special interest lobbyists) have been attacking grassroots hunting & angling groups, especially Montanans, labeling them "green decoys". During the 2016 election, I found Montana Supreme Court candidate, Kristen Juras' paper against the public trust doctrine and Montana's Stream Access; PERC (Property and Environment Research Center) put out an oped attacking the Public Trust Doctrine and Montana grassroots hunting & angling groups.  During the 2017 Legislative session, a number of legislators attacked the Public Trust Doctrine, equating it with "a taking", making it sound like a dirty word; Coggin began emailing our legislators attacking the local hunters and anglers that defend our public trust; and certain special interest legislators publicly attacked the grassroots groups attempting to brand them with the slanderous "green decoy" label. Enough was enough. I had to make time to refute all the bullshit.

Despite Juras' belief that Stream Access is a monumental erosion of private property; despite Sen. Jennifer Fielder's "fears" and lack of understanding; the Public Trust Doctrine is not new, it predates our US and Montana Constitutions, and is already in our Montana Constitution. Building on documentation I had been accumulating, I have spent the last couple months on this refutation, to arm the public with the truth about the foundation of the public trust doctrine and our stream access - to change the conversation.

Utilizing my pre-conservation research background, I have woven together this refutation history with endnotes for veracity. Additionally, I set up a webpage to house every piece of documentation involved in PDF for verifying, reading and downloading, including Supreme Court cases and Montana bills that go back to the 1800's.

The history provided illustrates not only the older Public Trust Doctrine foundation, but also examines the present attacks, especially in Montana, by out-of-state dark money interests and local efforts to undermine the Public Trust Doctrine itself, as well as the grassroots hunting/angling conservationists that have long defended the public trust.

To ensure our Montana Stream Access is here to stay, we need to educate and equip ourselves with the Public Trust Doctrine, defending it against private, legislative and judicial attacks; diligently and tirelessly challenge each access violation, in order to preserve our world-class, “Best in the West”, Montana Stream Access, for future generations.

The Public Trust Doctrine & Montana's Stream Access is brought to you for free and is open access for non-commercial use. You may download, view, copy and print and distribute this document as a whole. If you would like to contribute towards the many hours of research and compilation, it would be greatly appreciated, but this is first and foremost a labor of conservation love, to assist in Putting the "Public" Back In "Public Trust".

Click on Cover for the Public Trust Doctrine &

                  Montana's Stream Access report and documentation webpage.

Thank you,


Kathryn QannaYahu