MSGA and Montana Public Lands Council attend PLC Spring Legislative Conference in D.C.

MSGA and Montana Public Lands Council attend PLC Spring Legislative Conference in D.C.

MSGA and the Montana Public Lands Council were in Washington, D.C. early this week for the National Public Lands Council’s (PLC) 2010 Spring Legislative Conference. In attendance were Errol Rice and Jay Bodner from MSGA, along with George Trischman and Johnnie Schultz of the Montana Public Lands Council (MT PLC).

On Monday morning, March 22, Dustin Van Liew, PLC’s new executive director, gave the conference attendees an issues briefing which included the sage grouse decision, Forest Service planning rule, Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) legislation and the Clean Water Act. Bob Abbey, Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), spoke to the group about the agency’s renewable energy program, wild horse and burro program, and media efforts to promote the benefits of grazing on federal lands. Dave White, Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), discussed the service’s new sage grouse initiative and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). This initiative was put in place to help ranchers address resource issues and help the sage grouse. Pete Obermueller from Representative Cynthia Lummis’ office spoke to the conference about the EAJA legislation Lummis is cosponsoring. H.R. 4717, the “Open EAJA Act of 2010” will direct the Attorney General to issue an annual online report to Congress and the public on the amount of attorney fees and other expenses awarded under the act.

Monday afternoon, the MT PLC delegation met with Bert Frost, Associate Director of Natural Resource Stewardship & Science for the National Park Service, to discuss management of bison in Yellowstone National Park. The delegation also met with Eric Bierwagen, legislative assistant to Congressman Denny Rehberg, asking the Congressman to support the EAJA legislation and discussing the proposed monument designations and wilderness legislation. Then the PLC conference met at the Capitol Visitor Center with Senators Jon Kyl and John McCain, where a variety of issues from health care to federal land management issues were discussed. Late Monday afternoon, the MT PLC group met with Joel Holtrop, Deputy Chief, National Forest System, U.S. Department of Agriculture, to discuss potential impacts to grazing permits under the proposed wilderness designation and the group’s concern about the potential use of eminent domain to gain access to forest service land in Montana.

On Tuesday, March 23, Michael Bean, Counselor to the Assistant Secretary of Fish and Wildlife Services, talked to the PLC conference attendees about Endangered Species Issues, specifically looking for ideas and suggestions in ways to improve the Endangered Species Act through policies and rules. Then there was a Forest Service and BLM Issues Discussion featuring Rob Roudabush, Chief of the Division of Rangeland Resources for BLM; Bob Bolton, Range Specialist for BLM; and Ralph Giffen, Assistant Director of Rangelands Management for the Forest Service. The three agency officials provided information on how range improvement funds are distributed and what projects they include. The conference also heard updates from the American Sheep Industry and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Tuesday afternoon, the Montana group met with David Cobb, Senator Baucus’ legislative assistant for agriculture. The MT PLC also met with NRCS Chief, Dave White, to further discuss the sage grouse initiative, EQIP practices on water and CAFOs, and improving working relationships with other agencies.

On Wednesday morning, the MT PLC delegation attended the Montana Constituent Coffee hosted by Senators Baucus and Tester. Then the Montana delegation met with Senator Baucus where they discussed EAJA legislation and the death tax. That rounded out the conference and meeting schedule for the MT PLC delegation.