TRCP Protests Energy Leases in Montana, Blue Ribbon Fishery at-risk
Press Room
Press Release
For Immediate Release
March 15, 2007
For more information contact:
Bill Geer, Missoula, (406) 396-0909
TRCP Protests Energy Leases in Montana, Blue Ribbon Fishery at-risk
Coalition points to evidence that elk, mule deer and sage-grouse hunting opportunities also will decline
BILLINGS, MONT. - The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) today announced that it had formally protested the offering of 52 of the 57 total federal mineral lease parcels the federal government is planning to lease later this month*.
“The future for fish and wildlife and opportunities for sportsmen to use these resources are being put at risk by this lease sale,” said Dr. Rollin Sparrowe, Chair of the TRCP Fish, Wildlife and Energy Working Group. “If the Bureau of Land Management proceeds with its plans, we are likely to see fisheries declines in the Clark Canyon Reservoir and the Beaverhead River, along with decreases in important hunting opportunities in the Lima Peaks and other outstanding wildlife areas.”
“We’re talking about trout, elk, mule deer and sage-grouse, four things sportsmen like very much about Montana,” said Bill Geer, a TRCP Initiative Manager who lives in Missoula. “When you see a federal agency taking steps that could harm each of these species without performing anywhere near the level of environmental studies or conservation planning that ought to be done, it’s just plain wrong.”
“Last month the BLM had to pull back leases it had planned to offer in Wyoming because it belatedly realized that proper environmental studies were not done,” said TRCP Initiative Manager Steven Belinda. “The agency called it a ‘mistake,’ but it’s a mistake that the agency keeps making. And it’s about to do it again – this time at Montana’s expense.”
“The management plans the agency is using to guide development in these areas are out-of-date,” said Sparrowe. “They never even considered the impacts of development of this size. To justify decisions based on them is faulty logic at best.”
“We wouldn’t build houses based on obsolete blueprints, why should we build public lands policy on them?” echoed Geer. “The sportsmen of Montana deserve better consideration from the BLM.”
* Please note: The full formal protest document can be seen by clicking here.
The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership is a coalition of leading hunting, fishing and conservation organizations and individual partners working together to guarantee access to places to hunt and fish, conserve fish and wildlife habitat, and increase funding for conservation.
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