Knudsen Calls on BLM to Scrap Bison Grazing Proposal

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is worried the American Prairie Reserve's (APR) bison grazing change of use permit proposal could have a disastrous economic impact on Valley County farmers and Ranchers.

"I think it moves in that direction, that is the concern," Knudsen told The Courier over the phone late last week. "One of the big concerns I have is there seems to be two different sets of rules. There is a set of rules for farmers and ranchers who have these federal allotments, and there seems to be a completely separate set of rules for APR on their grazing allotments."

Knudsen also is calling on the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to scrap its analysis of the permit proposal.

In comments filed recently on the BLM's Draft Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) and Draft Environmental Assessment (EA), Knudsen spelled out multiple legal issues with the BLM's review process and with the APR's proposal itself.

"Whatever motives APR may harbor, and whatever donors APR may serve, its interests in this change of use permit request run afoul of clear statutory and regulatory guidelines," Knudsen wrote in the comments. "BLM should scrap the Draft FONSI and EA and conduct a more thorough review for the benefit of Montanans and the affected communities."

The changes BLM proposes to accept are contrary to decades-old grazing laws and failed to consider important local interests while also shutting out public input from agriculturalists in affected communities, according to Knudsen.

"I think it violates equal protection," he said. "I think it violates the Taylor Grazing Act. I think it violates probably the administrative rules inside of Bureau of Land Management itself. I think there are several different avenues where they have legal problems here."

APR's mission, statements and goals are at odds with the Taylor Grazing Act's intent to promote the livestock industry, Knudsen believes. APR seeks bison as wildlife, not livestock. As such, putting them in a made-up and legally meaningless "indigenous livestock" category undermines the law, hurts the local agricultural economy, and defies logic, according to Knudsen. Existing regulatory structure clearly defines livestock to preclude bison and BLM cannot use ill-defined terms to insert bison into the definition of livestock.

Further, BLM failed to analyze the consequences of APR's full plan to reasonably calculate impacts to local communities and to the state as required by law, Knudsen believes. The National Environmental Policy Act requires federal agencies to consider the full scope of a proposed action to determine whether it will have a significant impact. APR makes it clear that the current proposal is still a part of its grand scheme to displace northeast Montana's livestock industry and replace it with a large outdoor zoo, Knudsen believes.

If the permit proposal is adopted, litigation to prevent its deployment could be on the table, Knudsen said.

"We are definitely going to look at it. They have closed the comment period and haven't taken any action yet. We are waiting to see what BLM does with these allotments, these permits. We haven't made any hard decisions yet. But, look, I am pretty aggressive about this stuff. It is an issue I have been watching since I was in the legislature. It is right in my backyard. I am an eastern Montana guy, so we are definitely going to be taking a look."

Governor also opposed

In public comment to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Governor Greg Gianforte and four state agencies recently raised issues with the BLM's Environmental Assessment of bison grazing proposal.

Gov. Gianforte and leaders from the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Department of Agriculture, and Department of Livestock highlighted the BLM's lack of statutory authority to enact its proposal, the BLM's failure to analyze the full range of impacts of its proposal, and the BLM's failure to provide the public with sufficient opportunity for in-person, public comment, according to a statement issued by the governor's office.

"Agriculture is Montana's largest industry," Gianforte wrote. "It not only provides economic stability for our families, but serves as the cultural backbone of our state. Any action that could threaten the stability of Montana's livestock industry, its ability to market healthy products, or the strength of its socioeconomic fabric deserves to be fully vetted and analyzed in an honest, thorough manner."

Since July, the governor has repeatedly called on BLM to meaningfully engage Montanans on its proposal and has blasted the agency for failing to provide for sufficient public comment. Specifically, the governor requested in-person, public meetings in each impacted community to provide sufficient opportunity for affected Montanans to have their voices heard.

The BLM declined and limited public comment to a single, virtual event at a time when a vast majority of those impacted could not attend.

"Montanans thirst to have their voices heard. The desire to comment on this issue is so great that residents of Phillips County, with the assistance of the Montana attorney general, organized their own public comment opportunity. Residents from across Montana traveled to Malta so that they could speak and be heard," the governor wrote.

He continued, "The very fact that Montanans have been forced to organize their own hearing opportunities is evidence that the BLM's process, to date, has failed its mandate."

The governor also formally requested the BLM wait on any decision to issue a permit until the state has conducted and completed its Montana Environmental Policy Act analysis.

Knudsen was as the Malta meeting to hear from the local agriculturalists he said the BLM effectively ignored and shutout from the process with its single public meeting held in the middle of the day in July. The BLM's scheduling and format was clearly intended to benefit out-of-state and lobbying interests at the expense of the agriculturalists in northeastern Montana, Knudsen believes. More than 250 Montanans came to Knudsen's meeting.

"My concerns regarding APR's 'vision' to transform Northeast Montana into a wildlife viewing shed for out-of-staters at the expense of local communities, local families, and local agricultural producers only grew more pronounced after hearing from over 250 Montanans directly," Knudsen wrote. "My office will vigorously protect the lawful interests of Montana families and agricultural producers. It does not work for Montana to have BLM rubber-stamp a radical proposal aimed at fundamentally transforming Northeastern Montana."

Knudsen said he is keeping a wary eye on developments.

"This is an issue I have been watching very closely. We are not afraid to stand up for eastern Montana and its Agriculture industry. I think there are some real bad acts happening at the Bureau of Land Management in regards to this APR move."

Tracy Stone-Manning confirmation

Knudsen believes the Sept. 30 appointment of Tracy Stone-Manning as director of BLM may bode ill for efforts to prevent the bison grazing rule from passage. Stone-Manning is the first confirmed BLM director since the Obama administration.

"I think she will shove [the bison grazing proposal] through, which is right in her wheelhouse," Knudsen said. "When she was Governor Bullock's Chief of Staff was when we had illegal bison moving across the state. I think she will absolutely be in favor of this."

Stone-Manning "is a dangerous person to have in that position, aside from the fact that she is an avowed ecoterrorist," Knudsen continued, referring to alleged ties to a 1989 plot to drive spikes into hundreds of trees. "There [also] is evidence out there of impropriety while she was chief of staff for Senator [Jon] Tester. There are undocumented loans to her and her husband that they can't account for, and they refuse to turn over documentation to the Senate Committee. In spite of that, they still confirmed. There are some real concerns with Tracy Stone-Manning."

Stone-Manning was confirmed by a vote split by party lines, with Republicans opposing. Senator Tester, a Democrat, voted in favor of Stone-Manning, and has been a staunch advocate for her ever since she worked as his aide.

"I've worked with her," Tester said during the confirmation hearing. "I know what she does. I know she can get the job done. She can bring people together."