Counties in the Crosshairs

It is interesting to watch the American Prairie Reserve ramp up its public relations effort by bringing out their top gun, Sean Gerrity. His recent letter to the editor perpetuated the myth that bison magically time control their grazing. If this were true, why did Lewis and Clark find such poor condition range land in their travels through this country? Sean, the difference between commercial bison herds and your herd is not numbers but the fact they manage their animals. You will learn, as many of them did, that unmanaged ungulates will create problems. In the radio program it became apparent that Gerrity was trying to allay the fears and concerns of those residing outside his 3.5 million-acre playpen. Apparently, those of us on the inside are insignificant collateral damage.

What is more interesting is how the APR’s parent organization, the Wold Wildlife Fund – that huge, international, multi-million dollar “non profit,” green, non-government organization – has come out recently as the Northern Great Plains rancher’s best friend. Their 180-million acre NGP takes in portions of five states and two Canadian provinces. In 2015, they put out a fact sheet touting the value and importance of sustainable livestock grazing in the NGP. To quote, “Grazing maintains the health of grasslands, improves soil quality with manure, and preserves open space and wildlife habitat.” In fact, there is hardly anything in the fact sheet that a rancher would find objectionable. In addition, they have put out a small bumper sticker that says, “Love the Prairies ... Thank a Rancher.”

However, the WWF is also spearheading an effort to define “sustainable beef.” In another fact sheet they state, “WWF is working to develop a global marketplace for sustainable beef that can thrive in harmony with nature.” While this may sound well and good to some (if you can decipher what it means), to me it suggests an international, wildlife NGO could be deciding, in the near future, whether your animals are marketable – or not! Think about it before you jump on the “sustainable beef” bandwagon.

At this point we should examine WWF's history of involvement in this area. In 2000 a number of prominent, wealthy, NGOs and bureaucrats joined together to form the Northern Plains Conservation Network. Their commendable goal was to, “chart a future that integrates conservation with the renewal of the human communities and economy of the Northern Great Plains.” A major contributor to this effort was the WWF. One of the WWF's first actions was the creation of the American Prairie Foundation (which later became the APR) as its “land trust partner.” The APF/APR's mission was to buy up private ranches and convert the associated federal grazing permits from cattle to bison. So much for “renewal of human communities and economy!” Then in 2007, the NPCN, with major funding from the WWF, published a document called “Oceans of Grass” that outlined their plans for the NGP. That document stated on page 119, “By 2020, we should expand existing coverage of conservation lands to 10-15 percent (17-27-million acres each).” They added this will fall far short of what is needed. On page 120, they claim that by 2050 there should be at least two populations of 10,000 wild bison “under natural or near-natural conditions.” They identified 10 core areas with, “outstanding opportunities for large scale conservation ...” One of the main “core areas,” of course, was the Montana Glaciated Plains of approximately 2.5 – 3.5-million acres bracketed by the CMR Refuge on the south and the Milk River on the north.

Fast forward to 2015 and the WWF fact sheet states, “In 2015, the Sustainable Ranching Initiative is ramping up efforts to maintain intact range lands throughout the NGP, targeting three focal geographies for increased engagement and influence.” One of these geographies is called north-central Montana and encompasses Blaine, Phillips and Valley counties in their entirety! I wonder what “increased engagement and influence” amounts to? It is fun to watch the WWF and its spin off APR playing “good cop – bad cop” as they try to distance themselves from each other. If the WWF was serious about helping us ranchers remain sustainable, the first thing they would do is rein in their “land trust partner,” the APR! Instead, the APR is continuing to add to their holdings as they strive to reach the magical 3.5-million acres. Ever wonder how they came up with the 3.5-million-acre size? Well, in “Oceans of Grass,” it was stated that 3.5-million acres would support 10,000 bison and 20,000 elk, which would be an adequate prey base for 500 wolves!

Land purchases by the APR will probably slow down in the future for two reasons. First, they have already picked up the easy properties and (hopefully) future acquisitions will progressively get harder. Secondly, when they buy a ranch, they have to use the federally-managed range lands or, after a period of non-use, they lose it and it is allocated to someone else. They do not have enough bison or fences to stock the ranches they already own, so they have to lease the grazing back to the previous owner or a neighbor. This may explain why the WWF is suddenly the NGP rancher's best friend. They want to make sure we keep our places intact and in pristine condition until they are ready to take them over. Hello conservation easements!

As if WWF and APR weren't bad enough, a lot of NGOs and bureaucrats were cheering and high-fiving when the US Fish and Wildlife Service decided not to list the sage grouse. Then the other shoe dropped. After years of working on Resource Management Plans (how many times did we comment?), the BLM received the finalized version with some really bad vegetation-monitoring guidelines, supposedly to protect the sage grouse and a lot to do with land use control. I don't believe anyone had a chance to comment on this major change to the RMP. This did not happen by accident or by oversight. The upper ranks of these federal agencies are filled with recycled NGO staff members and they know exactly what they are doing. Look how they rolled over and threw all the range management science out the window to accommodate the APR because the APR was incapable of managing their bison.

All these actions, including Fish, Wildlife and Parks and Yellowstone Park moving bison to the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, and the BLM filing on our vested water rights, are coordinated with one goal in mind – to turn this area into a nature preserve! Yes, the residents of Phillips and Valley counties are in the crosshairs of some very powerful, well-connected and well-financed groups. Sadly, we would be in a lot better shape if our neighbors had not been “willing sellers. As Pogo said years ago, “We have seen the enemy and it is us!”