Southwest Montana News

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Matt Rosendale (MT-02) grilled Principal Deputy Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Nada Culver, on the disastrous Conservation and Landscape Health Rule that aims to lock away wide swaths of grazing land for conservation leases in a House Committee on Natural Resources hearing.

“This proposed Conservation and Landscape Health Rule completely contradicts existing law and is an insult to those who rely on grazing lands for their livelihoods,” said Rep. Rosendale. “The Supreme Court recently ruled in West Virginia v. EPA that this is a cut and dry example of agency overreach, and now the BLM has heard it from Congress as well. Congress makes the laws, not the Administration. The BLM needs to stay in its lane and stop this unconstitutional law that’s being forced upon the people of Montana without their input.”

Key Background:

• The BLM’s Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, proposed in April, will establish conservation leases that will lock away large areas of land that could be used for outdoor recreation, grazing, timber, and energy development.
• This rule is in direct violation of the Taylor Grazing Act and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which requires a “multiple use” policy on public lands.
• Changing the BLM’s multiple use mandate without the proper input from Congress or state and county governments is an unprecedented power grab. It will empower the Bureau to approve acreage limitations that could limit critical vegetation management and harm the people of Montana.
• The Bureau only provided a 75-day comment period for this rule and held listening sessions only in the major metropolitan areas of Denver, Reno, and Albuquerque, far removed from the stakeholders who will feel the results of this disastrous rule. The lack of interest in getting feedback from the public shows that the Bureau is not serious about addressing their concerns.
• On April 28th, Congressman Rosendale sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning objecting to the proposed Conservation and Landscape Health Rule and laying out how the rule will negatively impact the people of Montana. Read the full letter here.

Watch Congressman Rosendale’s remarks in committee here.

Original source can be found here.