Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Group Working to "Set Aside" 3 Million Acres in Montana

The economy may seem “busted” to many of us here in Montana but the Northern Ag Network reports that a group called the American Prairie Foundation (APF) is still going gangbusters towards their goal of “setting aside” 3 million acres of prairie to preserve what the group calls “a section of America’s Great Plains restored to the grandeur Lewis & Clark witnessed.” According to the APF website:
APF seeks to build the Reserve by purchasing private land from willing sellers that can be eventually linked with an existing two million acres of public land in the region. When these fragmented public and private lands are connected, APF will provide a continuous land area with an overall wildlife management focus, the largest of any kind in the continental United States
A recent article in the New York Times is offering a tour of the American Prairie Foundations land holdings as well as a picnic at the elk viewing area of the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge, a stay at the Grand Union Hotel in Fort Benton and tours to view “flora and fauna, including bison, grassland birds, pronghorn antelope and prairie dog colonies” Tour participants will also visit “a teepee ring, a buffalo jump, a one-room schoolhouse and old prairie homesteads” The Times story goes on to say that this five-day safari hosted by the American Prairie Foundation in partnership with Yellowstone Safari. Com can be taken for a cost of $2,350 per person


From the APF website


6 comments:

  1. I wonder if they will find willing sellers? I would guess so. Sort of a Prairie Disneyland.

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  2. The nation wants to Boycott Montana tourism because environmentalists despise the wolf hunting that is being allowed here. On the same token, environmentalist want to raise money from tourism to push their agenda of turning everything into wilderness
    These environmentalists are so efficient that it's a wonder the U.S. economy is tanking. I hope the sarcasm doesn't escape everyone in that last statement.
    Here's another bit of environmental inefficiency. Ravalli County is the only county in Montana with five, yes, five county commissioners. Why five? There are two environmental groups in the Bitterroot that were seeking power over the communities of Ravalli County and the surrounding National Forests and Wilderness. They petitioned to increase the number of commissioners and then they filled those positions with environmentally friendly liberals. Well, this worked up until the last election when all the liberal commissioners lost their seats. These new conservative commissioners want to slash county jobs to cut the budget. However, they aren't looking to eliminate two commissioners, but rather twenty other positions to include the two secretaries of the two county judges' staffs.
    Environmentalist groups are destroying economies while use those very economies to generate the revenue to push their agenda.
    This article is a great and I hope many people read it and realize what is going on in Montana and that it doesn't just affect the western 1/3 of the state. Give them an inch and they'll take everything, just as any Montana that used to work in the timber industry.

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  3. I think the key words in this is 'willing sellers'

    The potential 'willing sellers' should be the ones to decide what to do with their property. If a group makes a deal with them, to turn their property into open prarie or a cat house, I do not think society, PACS, or the government has any business telling them what to do.

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  4. I agree with Deconstructor as to private property owners having the right to sell to whomever they wish but groups like this our dangerous to our very existance. the article says they have taken control of 123,000 acres and have stop the grazing use of 63,000 acres of federal pasture.

    You all have probably noticed the price of beef at IGA is continually decreasing and cereal and other cereal grain products have been enjoying price cuts as well.

    Decreasing viable AG operations has to lead to price increases

    Central Park in New York is a huge acreage full of natural habitat. Why don't we send them some wolves and a few bison to populate the park?

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  5. Eventually all of Montana will be wildlife refuges and hutterite colonies.

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  6. these groups are all about tying up land to eliminate farm and ranch life, the nature conservancy is also tying up land, this takes away from the tax base for the state and county, neighbors are creating associations to lease land from people wanting to retire to keep these groups from getting the land

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