Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Sale of public lands and drilling everywhere

Some general comments:

I was born and raised in Montana, and except for a few years elsewhere, have lived here all my life. Saw what the "old" Forest Service did to mountain timberlands in the 1960's, back when the FS was essentially run by timber companies: A bunch of mountains were scalped regardless of slope or common sense, to the point where some slopes didn't produce much timber, elk, or even grazing for many years--and ruined a lot of trout streams as well.

Oh, and the many, many roads didn't help elk either. In 1975 the elk harvest in Idaho had dropped to 1/4 of what it had been, due to so much clearcutting and so many roads.

That's part of the reason FS management has been hamstrung by lawsuits for many years: Multiple-use management was unknown, and as citizens began to realize that they demanded some voice in the process.

Of course, that has been forgotten by many today, including those who believe there's no reason for the Clean Water Act. Hey, we have lots of clean water--now. But I was around when the Clark Fork of the Columbia ran red with mining waste, killing trout and whitefish from Butte to below Missoula.

I'm very pro-logging, partly because I would love to see more of the modern-style smaller clearcuts, which helped my hunting considerably over the decades. But I am far from sure that turning the forest lands over to the state will results in a magical transformation. Partly that's because of what I've seen in state-owned grazing lands in eastern Montana, compared to BLM lands.

But part of its because of what I've seen of state-owned lands in other western states. I've seen them sold to real estate interests, ruining not just plenty of good game country but blocking the access of much remaining country.

Then there's the cost of fighting fires, which are NOT always prevented by "good management." Anybody noticed that the state of Montana doesn't have a hell of a lot excess funds lately?