Montana ranchers vow to fight national monument idea

Montana ranchers vow to fight national monument idea

MATTHEW BROWN

Associated Press Writer

LEWISTOWN — Ranchers in eastern Montana are digging in for what they said Friday would be a protracted fight against a tentative Interior Department proposal to designate more than a dozen new national monuments across the West.

At a forum hosted by Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg, rural landowners said the proposal threatened to fragment their communities and take away ranching opportunities.

"Shouldn't we have the right to say no to a national monument?" asked Phillips County rancher Mike Ereaux. "N...