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A high-profile issue has Rep. Denny Rehberg holding a meeting Saturday to hear people's views on Sen. Max Baucus' bill on managing the Rocky Mountain Front.
Rehberg, R-Mont., set a listening session in Choteau to discuss the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act, written by Baucus, D-Mont, and cosponsored by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., whom Rehberg is challenging in this year's Senate race.
Rehberg has been a critic of a bill sponsored by Tester that would mandate logging on U. S. Forest Service land and create new recreation areas and new wilderness areas in western Montana.
"Most of Senator Baucus' wilderness bill support is coming from the same groups that support Senator Tester's wilderness bill, " Rehberg said in the release announcing the listening session. "When I held public meetings about Senator Tester's bill, it quickly became obvious that it was a lot less popular than the manufactured support had led on.
"From guarantees on grazing rights to restricted energy production, I've already heard some pretty major concerns about Senator Baucus' bill, and I intend to give all Montanans the voice they deserve in their government, " he added.
Dusty Crary, who ranches near Choteau and who worked with a coalition coming up with proposals included in Baucus' bill, said this morning that he hopes the meeting will be productive.
"I hope it's a balanced meeting and there's the opportunity to really explain this to folks that maybe … aren't as dialed in on it and dispel a few of the little things that have gone around that are just not true …, " he said. "I hope it's a good turnout and everybody's respectful of everybody, and it goes smooth, and we go on in a positive direction from here. "
Baucus said he welcomes Rehberg's listening session to hear people's views on the bill.
"I'm pleased Representative Rehberg is coming to hear from Montanans about why it's so important we keep the Rocky Mountain Front open to hunting and ranching for generations to come, " Baucus said. "This is a made-in-Montana plan, built from the ground up by hunters, ranchers, hikers and other folks on the eastern front. That's why, after attending listening sessions and analyzing Montanans' input, I'm happy to sponsor the Heritage Act. "
A spokesman for Tester's campaign was not as charitable.
"Apparently, Dennis Rehberg only holds listening sessions on other people's bills, as a political stunt, " spokesman Aaron Murphy said this morning.
Murphy referenced two bills Rehberg has co-sponsored, one which gives the Department of Homeland Security top priority for acting on all federal land within 100 miles of the border, and another which would remove wilderness and roadless designations from some areas.
"If (Rehberg) really cared about what Montanans think, he would have held listening sessions before pushing his wildly unpopular anti-hunting bill and his land-grab bill, which gives the federal government authority to make top-down decisions about our public land without any public input, " Murphy said.
Crary said the Coalition to Protect the Rocky Mountain front worked to find ways to protect the current uses of the land in the Front, and to make sure no one loses their living because of changes in its use.
Once land use changes, he added, that use never comes back.
The area has been highly divided on the issue, mainly since a bill sponsored by then-Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., that withdrew all minerals in the area from development passed in 2006. Some people supported the withdrawal, others opposed it for taking away development and county and private revenue — and both sides were right, Crary said.
"There was a lot of resentment over that oil and gas withdrawal, and that has carried over to this, " he said.
But, he said, the coalition was only working to find ways to preserve the current use of the Front.
"That's what I'm most proud of, " Crary said. "The politics never really came into it all. "
Crary said the the primary objective is making sure no one's livelihood would be harmed. The main action of the act, he said, is to codify and put in writing what already is being done on the Front.
"It's not creating anything new, " he said.
He added that the coalition is hearing complaints from people who think it is creating too much wilderness, and also from groups who say it is not creating enough.
"We get it from both sides, " Crary said.
Information on Baucus' Senate website said the plan includes:
The coalition sent a letter to Rehberg asking that they be allowed to make a presentation at the listening session.
Rehberg spokesman Jed Link said the listening session will proceed just like the more than 100 other listening sessions Rehberg has held in the last four years on issues like health care reform; the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START; gas prices, and access to public land.
"(The) listening session in Choteau will be like all the others, which is to say it will be open, transparent and will allow everyone an equal opportunity to speak their mind and be heard, " Link said. "There won't be any special treatment for any special interest group."
Crary said members of the coalition have spoken with Rehberg representatives, and that he is satisfied that the coalition members will be able to have their say. Rehberg will introduce the session, then proponents and opponents will be able to speak, Crary said.
He said he expects the listening session to be well-attended, especially because it probably is the last public meeting that will be held on the act.
"And I'm glad Congressman Rehberg is doing it, so he can hear for himself and informed on the act, " Crary said.
Online:
Coalition to Protect the Rocky Mountain Front
Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act: Sen. Max Baucus website
Sen. Jon Tester website
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