>Last Friday was a sad day for Montana and for all lovers of public land access,” Montana BHA said in an Instagram post. “We are deeply disappointed that the [U.S. Forest Service] has caved to big money and their never-ending goal to lock the public out of public land by executing this deceptive ‘land swap’ that strips the public of prime access to the Crazy Mountains. Despite overwhelming opposition from everyday Montanans, the USFS bent the knee to the wealthy and rewarded the illegal actions of landowners who have for years sought private enclaves of extremely valuable public land.”
>>2802282Is this from Biden/Obama people or the new admin?
>>2802304Trump wants to get rid of all national parks.
Land of the fat, home of the slave.
>>2802317Yeah no. Post proof
>>2802345Thanks bro you made me laugh
>>2802345cool. post proof
>>2802304The person who sent this is not a political appointee but was hired by the forest service into the position. Lord knows the inner machinations of upper management forest service, and he clearly says this land swap had been a thing way before he arrived in June, so who knows where the idea originated. It seems based on the memo that the forest service not only got twice as much land, but that the land they gave away has conservation rules and things. Lord also knows what those are and how enforceable but the guy has a long career of public service in ecology, I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt
>>2802372Here's what the swap looks like. I think. This was the proposed and he mentions alternatives in the memo so maybe something changed.But ultimately to me it looks like the forest gets more land, but it gets blocked off by the new private land, depending on whether public travel is still allowed on some of those trails. But it looks like this land would still be walkable from the west side anyway
>>2802377In the topo though, it does start to look like land has been made less accessible. If the public can't get into the wolf park area or black butte area, there's no way to get north/south without driving out of the forest or taking the trails west and around.
>>2802378I've never been here, maybe there are class 3 or 4 passes or whatever but either way that's pretty fucken steep. So i think that BHA is mad because they can't get into the lower areas as easy for hunting, but it's probably a win for ecology for the greater land conservation. Do we care about recreation or conservation more?
>>2802282Whats going down in the Crazies is really and truly fucked. Its really sad. This article has a nice overviewhttps://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/yellowstone-club-real-estate-public-land-montana-crazy-mountains.htmlI've been in them a few times and they are killer. I flew directly over them yesterday
>>2802282NTA bro....NTA 'nuff said
>>2802377Possibly good. Swapping parcels so public land isn't corner locked should be mandatory. >>2802378>it does start to look like land has been made less accessibleGood. Fewer yahoos spoiling the last remaining isolated places for people who want tranquility.
>>2802443>never visited that site before>reached my monthly article limitjeetcode
what r they hiding
>>2802449There is a free version out there on Archive.ph but they wont let me post it thinking its spam. Just search the title: To Buy a Mountain Range
>>2802448>Good. Fewer yahoos spoiling the last remaining isolated places for people who want tranquility.you dont understand the situation. Only billionaires will have access. is that what you want?
>>2802457Sounds like billionaires get the easy access part and poorfags have to backpack into the real wilderness part.
>>2802443>>2802449Here's a long form that isn't paywalledhttps://inthesetimes.com/article/crazy-privatize-mountain-montana-crazies-land-rural-west-gentrificationAnd an image from it that makes the swap a little clearer
>>2802490not quite. Its an island range and so billionaires (and some everyday, generational, longterm ranchers) own the vast majority of land surrounding the mts and in some cases the mts themselves so access that was at a premium already is even worse
which political party opposes giving additional funding to the forest service
>>2802516So basically no access for the public?
>>2802522At this point? Both of them.
>>2802544From that road in the north (brown dash), yes, no more access. But the brown road in the south remain open, there's a campground at the end of it, and one could take the new trail around to sweet grass, which the article author says is 22 miles vs the 5 miles from the north road before. Or there are trails coming from the west. It's not no access, just significantly harder. The author of the article thinks this is done on purpose by the billionaire land holders to make it effectively private hunting grounds
>>2802516Isn't this the exact same shit that retard Texan boomers did to lock out anyone from what little public land they had there? Why would this ever be a positive outside of some wealthy autist with an ecological preservationist angle?
>>2802555This sort of dispute happens a lot and it’s usually some east coast billionaire who tries to block access to public land by surrounding it with his own private property. Take Fred (((Eshelman))) for example. https://oilcity.news/community/wyoming-community-2/2024/02/14/ranch-owner-corner-crossing-would-erase-billions-in-private-property-value/
