When diverse groups collaborate, they can solve parts of their own problems, and sometimes, they can also help out struggling agencies like the Bureau of Land Management.
There s a very troubling trend among federal and state government agencies to use "categorical exclusions" to forego environmental analysis on projects — many very large projects — on public lands.
According to Wild Montana, the BCSA bill will add nearly 80,000 acres to the Bob Marshall, Scapegoat, and Mission Mountains wildernesses plus recreation areas for snowmobiling and mountain biking.
For the first time since it was originally introduced into the U.S. Senate in 2017, the Blackfoot-Clearwater Stewardship Act has cleared committee hearings and could be ready for action on the Senate floor.
But that s no guarantee that Montana Senator Jon Tester, a Democrat, will succeed with his fourth attempt to designate about 79,000 acres of western Montana as new wilderness while opening other areas to logging and recreation.