Gianforte authors two bills to release almost 690,000 acres of wilderness study areas in Montana

[TexasTowelie]

Taking a step further than his U.S. Senate counterpart, Montana Rep. Greg Gianforte has drafted two bills proposing to release almost 690,000 acres of wilderness study areas in Montana.

One of Gianforte's bills, introduced in the U.S. House on Thursday, echoes Sen. Steve Daines' bill introduced in the Senate late last year — a proposal to release 449,500 acres of WSAs all on national forest lands. Gianforte also authored an act to release 24 Bureau of Land Management WSAs in the state — an additional 240,000 acres.

The Unlocking Public Lands Act deals with the BLM wilderness study areas. The Protect Public Use of Public Lands Act carries the same name as Daines’ Senate bill and contains the same Forest Service WSAs: the West Pioneer; Blue Joint; Sapphire; Middle Fork Judith; and Big Snowies.

The BLM acreage stretches from the 7,800-acre Axolotl Lakes WSA outside Ennis to northeastern Montana’s 59,600-acre Bitter Creek WSA, southeastern Montana’s 44,900-acre Terry Badlands and nine study areas along the Missouri River Breaks ranging from Fort Benton east to Glasgow totaling more than 71,000 acres.

Read more: http://ravallirepublic.com/lifestyles/recreation/article_fabf4b01-31ec-52f6-ba0a-764a4b494712.html