Interior directive flies in the face of property rights, Tester says

A directive by Secretary of Interior David Bernhardt recently would require the state and county governments to sign off on easements and land purchases that use Land, Water and Conservation Fund monies.

The order was issued last month. It immediately drew the ire of Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.

“I am deeply concerned by the Department of Interior’s repeated attempts to undermine LWCF over the last two weeks,” Tester wrote in a letter to Bernhardt. “Secretarial Order number 3388 issued by the Department today puts further restraints on LWCF, one of our nation’s most critical conservation and public land access programs.  I urge you to immediately rescind this anti-public land order…”

 “This undercuts what a landowner can do with their own private property, and creates unnecessary, additional levels of bureaucracy that will hamstring future land acquisition through the Land and Water Conservation Fund.”

Locally, the proposed Bad Rock Canyon Wildlife Management Area would require the use of LWCF monies to move forward.

In that case, Glencore, the parent company of the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. has agreed to sell about 800 acres of land just east of the Flathead River from Columbia Falls to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

That deal, estimated at about $7 million, would require approval by the state Land Board, as the state would take ownership, but typically counties don’t have a say in such transactions. About $4 million would be LWCF monies.

Tester noted the directive goes against the tenets of a free economy.

“The Bad Rock deal has the support of the city of Columbia Falls and local legislators have said they also support the conservation effort.

The deadline for the sale is December 2021.

Bernhardt’s directive, however, is just that — a directive — and could easily be overturned by the incoming secretary.

Last week Tester was also critical of the administration on a different front concerning the LWCF.

Under the Great American Outdoors Act, the Department of Interior and Forest Service are required to provide a list of proposed projects to be funded  by Congress through the Land and Water Conservation Fund by Nov.2. Without such a list, priority projects that have languished in funding for years could fall through the cracks, Tester maintained.

The administration and the agencies missed the deadline, but have since named projects after the fact, including conservation projects in Montana.