After being relatively quiet the last year or two, a group that I have written about before is making news again. The American Prairie Reserve’s (APR) mission is to “create the largest nature reserve in the contiguous United States, a refuge for people and wildlife preserved forever as part of America’s heritage.”
As I noted in previous articles, this group has created quite the discontent with locals who are seeing large historic ranches being removed from production and negatively impacting local communities. Since 2004, APR has completed 32 land transactions, securing 420,425 acres. Of those acres, 105,378 acres are privately owned, while 315,047 acres are public lands.
APR was in the news for a variety of reasons in 2021. During the Montana legislative session earlier this year, a bill that took direct aim at APR was killed in committee. The bill’s mission was to prevent the sale of lands to nonprofits and the discussion around land being purchased by APR in central Montana was the main debate.
Despite lengthy committee discussion, the bill was tabled as the legislature did not want to interfere with private property rights and tell individuals who they could or could not sell land to. Shortly following the adjournment of the 67th session, APR announced they had purchased another 800 acres of land near Cow Creek, four miles north of the Missouri River, adjacent to current land holdings. Despite locals’ commitment not to sell to APR, it was just another example of how APR is able to acquire land.
It has long been known that APR’s goal is to remove domestic livestock from land under their control and bring in bison. As of fall 2020, APR has 810 bison on its land with the goal of adding many more. A bill was passed by the Montana Legislature this year requiring county approval before any wild bison relocation.
Many environmental groups opposed this bill, including APR, but it was passed and signed into law by Gov. Greg Gianforte (R). This will no doubt result in difficulty for APR to bring in wild bison as a part of their overall plan to increase the numbers.
On July 1, APR received promising news for their plans on the public lands they have under their purview. As many of you who graze and manage public lands know, an individual or group cannot simply change their management plan on a whim.
Back in November 2017, APR submitted their first proposal to change terms and conditions related to the grazing permits they had acquired through their land acquisitions. They made modifications to this proposal in September 2019 to narrow the scope and refine management practices. Following the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) review, they released their draft environmental assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for a bison grazing proposal on BLM-administered lands located in Phillips County, MT.
In my opinion, this potential ruling poses a threat to livestock production and sets a bad precedence for priority use on public lands. First off, I do not believe APR has a legal basis qualifying them to carry or change grazing permits within the Taylor Grazing Act and subsequent federal statutes, which authorize and administer grazing on federal lands.
Pursuant to federal regulations, “livestock and kind of livestock” are defined as “species of domestic livestock, clearly defined as cattle, sheep, horses, burros and goats.” This is referenced in the 43C.F.R. 41000.0-5. Bison do not clearly fit into this definition.
Other issues I have with this decision include the potential change to the season of use and the removal of improvements such as fences. These potential changes are to allow the bison to roam freely with no management like they did centuries ago.
This simply is not practical. Livestock producers know that management is key to ensuring healthy ecosystems, and like it or not, we should not go backwards in our land and animal management.
There will be a public comment period from July 1 through Aug. 29, and I would encourage you all to share your opinions and insight with the BLM. Public review and comment on the draft EA and FONSI can be made by visiting the BLM’s ePlanning website at eplanning.blm.gov. Search using the NEPA number DOI-BLM-MT-L010-2018-0007-EA.
Public comments may also be submitted via the U.S. Postal Service addressed to: BLM Malta Field Office; Re: APR Grazing Proposal; 501 South 2nd Street East; Malta, MT 59538.
BLM Malta Field Manager Tom Darrington stated, “All comments received will be reviewed and considered by our interdisciplinary team.” Please take time to comment and please continue to pray for rain. — DEVIN MURNIN
