Montana is an outdoors state. We hunt. We fish. We take our kids hiking and camping. Our public lands are part of our recreational heritage as Montanans. We should be looking for ways to boost access to hunting and fishing lands, not putting more padlocks on more gates. The Administration’s budget request calls for selling up to 300,000 acres of Forest Service land and $350 million dollars worth of BLM land. These padlock proposals would lock up 14,000 acres of prime public lands in Montana. This is land along Big Creek in Paradise Valley that provides public fishing access. This is land in the Pasture Draw of French Basin that provides elk habitat. This is land like the Fred burr and Willoughby that have developed recreational facilities. This is our land, and we must protect it.
We’ve got something special in Montana. Montana has been blessed with spectacular mountains and prairies and blue ribbon trout streams. Hunting and fishing are part of our heritage. Public lands are a part of our way of life, and we don’t want to lose it. Our access to prime hunting and fishing lands is at stake. Our children’s education in the great outdoors is at stake. I am fighting to keep the “For Sale” sign off our hunting and fishing lands.
