MISSOULA — Before Western Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke leaves office, he's introducing a new bill: the 'A River Runs Through It Act'.
This legislation would join the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Proposal with the Lincoln Prosperity Proposal to shape 430,000 acres in the Blackfoot Valley.
"I view this as a model of what to do on collaboration to protect our greatest assets, which is our outdoors," Zinke told MTN. "It's about Montana and a collaborative effort between a large spectrum of groups from wilderness to snowmobiles to backpackers to people that just love to go out and hike."
Zinke’s office announced the plan designates six forest restoration areas covering about 180,000 acres for active management and timber production.
The Lincoln Prosperity part of the bill focuses on fuels reduction to lower wildfire risks to structures.
“No one likes to have our forest burned down. So, it ruins habitat, puts a lot of silt and clay into our watersheds. And the case of Glacier Park, which is proposed wilderness, we lost the Wheeler home. We burned down Sperry," Zinke said.
The plan details that the legislation would add around 100,000 acres to the Bob Marshall and Scapegoat Wilderness Areas.
It would also designate 30,000 acres of Nevada Mountain as wilderness.
In addition, the legislation would change 23,000 acres of Wales Creek and Hoodoo Mountain from Wilderness Study to wildlife-dependent recreation areas.
"These proposals do not close one square inch or close one inch of trail in the valley. They merely add to it," Russ Ehnes, president of the Great Falls Trail Bike Riders Association, said.
Zinke’s plan also would establish six designated recreation areas, totaling 60,000 acres, with permanent winter access for snowmobiles. It would connect 70 miles of off-highway vehicle trails and create 20 miles of new trails.
"It congressionally designates off-highway vehicle areas and snowmobile areas," Ehnes said.
Both The Wilderness Society and Wild Montana told MTN they support the act.
“Wild Montana is honored to be part of the two collaboratives that have spent more than two decades building a shared vision for the public lands of the Blackfoot watershed,” Zach Angstead, federal legislative director at Wild Montana, stated in a press release.
“This is what 25 years of refusing to give up on common ground looks like. For a generation, Montanans have kept showing up because the freedom to enjoy these public lands, the responsibility to conserve them and the obligation to pass them on to future generations are bigger than any one disagreement,” Barb Cestero, Montana state director for The Wilderness Society, said.
Zinke hopes to move the bill through Congress as part of a larger lands package before his term is up at the end of the year because he is not running for re-election.
"I have a vote. Now, it's a matter of getting 218," Zinke said, referring to the number of votes in the House required to pass the measure into the Senate.
