Utah is suing to seize federal public land. Is Montana next?
By Benjamin Alva Polley EBS COLUMNIST
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox recently sued the Bureau of Land Management to turn over 18.5 million acres of federal public land to the state. He prefers the state to control and manage that land how it sees fit, specifically to open it to extractive industries or development. Utah filed its lawsuit with the Supreme Court in August, arguing that the BLM can’t hold onto land in perpetuity without designating it as a national forest, monument, park or wilderness area. The state calls BLM land, which is none of these things, “unappropriated land” — that is, land with no congressionally defined purpose, even though BLM land is leased for grazing and resource extraction and open to the public for an array of recreation.
Utah has a long history of attempting to sell off public lands. Utah’s recent land grab started in 2012 when the state legislature passed a bill called the Transfer of Public Lands Act, demanding that all federal land be handed over to the state by 2014. That litigation cost the state taxpayers millions of dollars and ultimately failed.
The idea of selling off public lands isn’t just a rare occurrence isolated to Utah. It has also arisen in 12 other states, including Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.
Just months ago, Montana’s GOP—the party with an overwhelming majority in the state legislature and administration—posted its policy stance on public lands on its party platform. In part, it reads: “We support granting federally managed public lands to the state and developing a transition plan for the timely and orderly transfer.”
Is this what Montana taxpayers want? According to a recent poll, 81% of Montanans want more public lands, including national parks, monuments, wildlife refuges and protected tribal lands, not less. Recreation in our state is big business and generates $5.5 billion annually.
The BLM manages 8.1 million acres of subsurface land and 700 million acres of federal mineral estate within Montana’s boundaries.
Some people in Montana’s republican legislature and administration want to privatize public lands, whether it’s for extracting natural resources or selling real estate. They would prefer the state to make money off land within the state rather than the federal government. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is on the record, saying that he prefers subdivisions over preserving open spaces. He calls Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks—the government agency that works with landowners who want to place their land under easement—an “empire builder.”
Are we in the Gilded Age all over again, where out-of-state gazillionaires buy up public land for their playground and lock the public out, like what has happened with the Yellowstone Club and is currently happening in the Crazy Mountains as we speak? These federal lands belong to the people. They shouldn’t belong to the state or be privatized and sold to the highest bidder.
Let’s not allow what is happening in Utah to happen in Montana. Montanans love public lands.
Benjamin Alva Polley is a place-based storyteller. His stories have been published in Audubon, Esquire, Field & Stream, The Guardian, Outside, Popular Science, Sierra, and other publications on his website. He holds a master’s in Environmental Science and Natural Resource Journalism from the University of Montana.
