"Great Outdoors America Week" Celebrated in MT
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
BOZEMAN, Mont. - Great Outdoors America Week, a campaign that encourages Americans to get outside and enjoy and enjoy the nation's green and open spaces, is underway in Big Sky Country.
Thousands of acres are available for public access in Montana, ranging from local parks to large parcels of wilderness, made possible over the past 50 years with federal funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund - a fund set to expire next year. Randy Newberg in Bozeman hosts the television show "Fresh Tracks with Randy Newberg," and is a member of the organization Sportsmen for Access. He's been spreading the word about what the funding has accomplished over time.
"We did two big consolidation projects in the Gallatin National Forest in the 1990s," says Newberg. "That provided new access to some 40,000 acres."
Projects have taken place in just about every National Forest and on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands, as well as access purchases on ranchlands. The fund was an agreement put together with the cooperation of the oil and gas industry, where some of the royalties from offshore development go to public lands. Currently, there is a bipartisan bill to extend the LWCF with annual funding of $900 million dollars.
Newberg says many of the most noted landscapes in Montana have received money from the LWCF, and there are always more possibilities for projects to expand public access - but folks need to speak up.
"When you're talking to politicians, squeaky wheels get a lot of grease," says Newberg. "And we in the outdoor community need to start squeakin' a little more."
Newberg says all Montanans live near areas that have benefited from the fund, not just those who hunt and fish.
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