WHERE IS THE HOUSE BILL?
Congress Needs to Walk the Talk on Recreation Fees
On June 18, finally, Congress started seriously looking into the runaway recreational fee charging policy of federal agencies, primarily the U.S. Forest Service (FS), but it's still just talk. We've had enough of that, so let's just spike this pay-for-play policy, which is at best an extreme stretch of the legal authority given agencies by Congress--"given," sort of, I should say, since our elected leaders never even debated it or voted on it.
Even though it's moving at glacier speed, we at least have the Baucus-Crapo Bill, S. 2438, introduced in the Senate to spike the Recreation Access Tax. This is clearly a bipartisan issue, ripe for election-year politics. Now, we need a sponsor for a similar bill in the House.
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COMMENTS WORTH REPEATING
Guns and the Most Controversial Nonprofit of Them All
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall. What is the Most Controversial Nonprofit Organization of Them All?
Can we agree that it is the National Rifle Association?
Fervently supported by millions of gun owners, but bitterly criticized by its detractors, including many hunters who feel the gun group elects anti-hunting politicians who vote consistently against the protecting wildlife habitat. Critics think the NRA stands for Not Really an Ally or National Republican Army.
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WE WON'T CHANGE UNTIL WE HAVE TO
$5 Gas: The Pain Before the Gain
We're all feeling Pump Pain, and who among us doesn't think that $5 gas is around the corner? I'm writing as fast as I can, in fact, so I can get this column posted before I have to fill up my pickup truck again, if I can afford it.
And thinking that perhaps $5 gas is just what we need.
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WYOMING ELK FEEDLOTS THE REAL PROBLEM
Debunking Brucellosis Myths
Montana just lost its brucellosis-free status, just as Idaho and Wyoming have in recent years. Whenever this happens, stockgrowers and politicians rush to blame the bison and elk herds living in Yellowstone National Park and the government for not doing enough to eradicate the disease.
When they should be blaming themselves.
Ranchers, especially in Wyoming but not only in Wyoming, have done more than anybody, even the federal government, to keep the brucellosis threat alive. And you could even argue that they want to keep it alive.
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MAXIMIZING BENEFITS, NOT DOLLARS
Use Stillwater Forest to Mold New Model for State Lands
Last week, I wrote about the dilemma facing the Montana Land Board and other state land boards--what to do with extremely valuable state land near rapidly growing municipalities. A small section of the Stillwater State Forest on the outskirts of Whitefish, Montana, is an excellent choice for establishing a new policy where managing for outdoor recreation, watershed, wildlife habitat and open space trumps timbering and/or subdivision.
The rub is, such non-commercial uses might be illegal even if everybody agrees this option would benefit the most people for the longest time.
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ONE PLUM CREEK IS ALREADY TOO MUCH
Land Board Should Move Slowly, Carefully on Real Estate Biz
A few weeks ago, down at the saloon, where I regularly get lots of advice about what to write about, I heard about the major western Montana landowner traditionally only interested in timber management but now changing its focus to real estate development.
Everybody already knows about Plum Creek, I replied.
But they weren't talking about Plum Creek Timber Company, the largest private landowner in the USA, and it's now-notorious plan to become the largest real estate developer in the USA. They were worrying about the State of Montana becoming "another Plum Creek."
And it wasn't just bar talk.
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2008 COMMENTS WORTH REPEATING IV
More Red Meat for the Overwolfed
There's one thing--and probably the only thing-- about the wolf on which everybody can agree. Every time the word is published or spoken, disagreement follows--and sometimes, that controversy gets amazingly passionate.
Over the past few months, I've written about wolves, the historic reintroduction, wolf management and the delisting controversy, and here are a few snippets of the hundreds of comments that followed.
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SHARE THE ROAD, NOT THE LANE, WITH CYCLISTS
How to Drive a Motor Vehicle
A couple of weeks ago, I was riding my bike up MacDonald Pass, on four-lane U.S Highway 12, on the shoulder. It was a mid-day, low-traffic time, and even though the left lane was available, a driver purposely hazed me by speeding by with his right wheel on the fog line going at least 80 mph. His mirror missed my helmet by about six inches. One minor correction to miss a rough spot on the road, and I wouldn't be writing this.
Besides wondering if this reckless driver realizes how close he came to killing somebody, the incident reminded me of one of the first commentaries I wrote for NewWest.Net when I started the Wild Bill column three years ago called I Can Feel the Scorn. I'm sorry to say that I can still feel it.
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LET'S GET OUR WORDS STRAIGHT
Wilderness is Multiple Use
Have you ever heard somebody say they prefer "multiple use" over Wilderness? I have what seems like a thousand times, and every time I hear it, I say to myself, wrong!
So, it seems like a good time to say it out loud because the words, "multiple use" have been lost in the Wilderness.
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