Unlocking Montana's Public Lands to Increase Public Access

Floor Speech

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Mr. GIANFORTE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to draw attention to Washington inactivity that has locked up hundreds of thousands of acres of Montana public lands.

In the 1970s, Congress designated over 1 million acres of Montana as wilderness study areas. The U.S. Forest Service and BLM were charged with determining whether to include them in the National Wilderness Preservation System.

By the early 1980s, the Forest Service and BLM had made their recommendations, but Congress did not act. Now, nearly 40 years later, Congress still hasn't acted, and those study areas are still locked up.

Mr. Speaker, last week I introduced the Unlocking Public Lands Act and the Protect Public Use of Public Lands Act. These bills will release nearly 700,000 acres of lands found to be not suitable for wilderness designation and return them to Forest Service and BLM management.

County commissioners, State legislators, and impacted communities support this overdue action.

Congress is about 40 years late in unlocking Montana's public lands and increasing public access to them. It is time to finish the job.

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