What Montanans Are Saying: Sheehy Can’t Be Trusted To Keep Public Lands in Public Hands
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, November 16, 2023
CONTACT
rehm@mtdems.org
Sheehy’s toxic land transfer position is out of step with Montanans
Helena, MT – Transplant Tim Sheehy is under fire for his “short sighted” proposal to transfer control of public lands to states and counties – which would make it easier to sell off lands to the highest bidder.
Daily Inter Lake: Letter to the Editor: Keep public lands in public hands
November 16, 2023
Most notable is [Sheehy’s] stance regarding the management of federal public lands. In a recent Working Ranch Radio Show interview, he espoused transferring the management of such lands to the state and counties.
Transferring such control is a transfer of ownership. Thousands of Montanans across the state have already voiced, multiple times, an overwhelming opposition to land transfers.
Most Montanans know — and Tim Sheehy should know — that federal land management agencies have local offices staffed by Montana residents. And perhaps he doesn’t know that hundreds of Montanans have gathered at the state Capitol in Helena each legislative session to protest land transfer. Obviously, Mr. Sheehy has not attended any of those rallies.
Several short-sighted individuals have proposed the transfer of federally managed lands in the past. Fire suppression alone can total millions of dollars. It is unrealistic to believe that Montana could afford such costs without raising taxes.
Because of those higher management costs, it is also realistic to believe that federal lands transferred to state ownership would raise the prospect of privatization. If Montana could not afford to maintain transferred federal lands properly, Montana counties could not either!
The proposal of transferring federal lands has always been a bad idea. Let’s keep public lands in public hands!
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