Great Falls, MT – (June 18, 2009), the Western Environmental Law Center on behalf of the Montana Wilderness Association (MWA) filed a complaint in Federal District Court against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for violating laws protecting the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument in north-central Montana.

In 2001, the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument was established to protect the area’s “spectacular array of biological, geological, and historical objects of interest” for future generations. The area included in the Monument has remained largely intact since Lewis and Clark first traveled through it in 1805. The Monument boasts the most viable elk herd in Montana and one of the premier big horn sheep herds in the continental United States. The area is also home to the 149-mile Upper Missouri National Wild and Scenic River, six Wilderness Study Areas, and segments of the Lewis & Clark and Nez Perce National Historic Trails. [Photo1; Photo2]

“The BLM’s new Resource Management Plan for the Monument is supposed to protect and preserve the unique values of the area,” said Matthew Bishop, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center representing MWA. “Instead, the BLM’s plan calls for the area to be managed like any other public lands with motorized access throughout the Monument, motorboats along the entire 149 mile river corridor, oil and gas development, utility corridors, and airstrips for planes and helicopters,” added Bishop.

“The BLM could have taken a different path, one similar to other national monument managers, to manage the area in keeping with the Monument proclamation and the intent of the designation,” said Dennis Tighe, MWA member and Friends of the Monument President.

According to the new management plan, BLM intends to permit six backcountry airstrips, over 400 miles of roads, new road construction, motorized vehicle use, oil and natural gas drilling, and the development of transmission lines and pipelines. Three of the six authorized airstrips are in the Bullwhacker unit, an area described in the proclamation as containing “some of the wildest country on all the Great Plains.” There are only a total of three other airstrips open for recreation use in all the other 14 national monuments in the country.

“Everyone has a right to use and enjoy the Breaks National Monument, but a far better balance is needed if the public is to experience the area similar to what Lewis and Clark did 200 years ago” said rancher Hugo Tureck.

For more info contact:
Dennis Tighe 406-761-5243, Friends of the Monument President and MWA member
Hugo Tureck, 406-567-2480, MWA member
Matthew Bishop, WELC attorney, 406-324-8011, bishop@westernlaw.org