Group sues over plan to manage Missouri Breaks

A conservation group is accusing the U.S. Bureau of Land Management of managing a national monument in northcentral Montana as if it were run-of-the-mill public land, but the agency is standing by its plan.

A conservation group is accusing the U.S. Bureau of Land Management of managing a national monument in northcentral Montana as if it were run-of-the-mill public land, but the agency is standing by its plan.

In 2001, then-President Bill Clinton signed a proclamation creating the 375,000-acre Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument in Blaine, Chouteau, Fergus and Phillips counties, one of several 11th-hour monument proclamations he signed before leaving office.

Clinton's Breaks proclamation notes the area's "spectacular array of biological, geological and historical objects of interest." The monument boasts one of the biggest elk herds in Montana and one of the premier bighorn sheep herds in the continental United States.

"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," said Matthew Bishop, a Helena-based attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center.

On behalf of the Montana Wilderness Association, a 5,000-member conservation organization, the center filed a lawsuit Thursday against the BLM in U.S. District Court in Missoula.

It asks that the court declare the management plan invalid and require the BLM to come up with a new one offering more protections.

"We're extremely pleased with the plan," said Gary Slagel, the BLM's monument manager.

When the management plan was released in January 2008, BLM officials touted the multiple uses, which the agency is known for providing, and said it did a good job balancing protections with access.

That view hasn't changed, said Slagel, adding he couldn't comment on the lawsuit because he hadn't seen it.

The monument protects the 149-mile Upper Missouri National Wild and Scenic River, six Wilderness Study Areas and segments of the Lewis and Clark and Nez Perce national historic trails.

Under the management plan, four backcountry airstrips were closed. The number of miles of road open year-round was reduced from 524 to 293. New rules restrict what days motor boats are allowed along one 57-mile stretch and new conditions are in place guiding oil and gas development.

But MWA notes that six backcountry airstrips will remain open, along with some 400 miles of roads. 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," the group says.

Three recreational airstrips exist in the nation's other 14 national monuments, MWA says.

Bishop said the BLM is misinterpreting laws by giving multi-use activities the same protections as the "objects" noted in monument proclamation. The lawsuit says the plan is violating the monument proclamation and several laws, including the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, Bishop said.