Kerry White is the President of Citizens for Balanced Use.
Federal Newswire:
How much land does the federal government own in the United States?
Kerry White:
Just in the state of Montana, 40% of the landmass is controlled by the federal agencies, whether it be Forest Service or BLM. Not as much as say, Utah, where it's 80 to 90% federally managed. Under FLPMA, back in 1976, it was transferred–they call it ownership by federal land agencies, but really, they are the land managers for the people of the land.
Federal Newswire:
Was there an understanding that unappropriated public lands would be disposed of by the federal government but the feds hung onto them?
Kerry White:
The Bureau of Land Management was a land disposal agency when the homesteaders came out West. They staked out 80 or 160 acres, and then had to improve, work, and ultimately be able to own that land. There was a lot of land that was undisposed or not homesteaded.
We were supposed to have that land [at the] disposal of the citizens within those states. That never occurred.
The federal government held onto it for one reason or another. I think some of it had to do with the reserves that were there, whether it was minerals, timber, or water.
Then in 1905, the Forest Service came in…and put in the forest reserves. Those were still public lands to be used for the benefit of the citizens. That was for resources, mining, timber, etc. I remember Senator Conrad Burns representing Montana back then. He said there's no difference from growing corn to growing timber.
But in the '70’s, the environmental movement started. Then, under Nixon, we got the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act. These were being used by the environmentalists to stop resource development and active management.
Then the fires come. The East Coast experienced some of those fires, [remember] New York City and the smoke? That's what we breathe every summer out here because we absolutely cannot cut timber. About 70% of our proposed timber sales in the State of Montana are under litigation right now.
The environmentalists sue under the Endangered Species Act, Clean Air Act, or Clean Water Act. They turned it into a business model through the Equal Access to Justice Act, which they get paid to litigate.
Federal Newswire:
Is a culture developing where citizens might think all lands should be protected indefinitely?
Kerry White:
[Yes]…You have national monuments, national parks, wildlife management areas, and then you have the Forest Service.
In 2001, Clinton passed a 2001 Roadless Rule. That was a blanket designation nationwide. Most of the covered land was not roadless. But because of the scope and the size of that designation, the Forest Service currently is working to remove roads within those areas. Therefore we are losing the ability to manage the timber, and we're losing the ability to access those public lands.
I get angry watching advertisements from the car companies about buying a new truck or SUV to experience the wilderness. You can't take motorized [vehicles on these lands]. In fact, national parks are more lenient than wilderness areas. Wilderness is hands off.
Federal Newswire:
Are you familiar with the situation in Arizona where the water pipe connecting the town’s water supply was broken and couldn’t be fixed, causing them to create a bucket brigade?
Kerry White:
Wild and scenic river designation is another one. We had a big flood up here. You probably saw on the news the house that fell into the Yellowstone River outside of Gardiner, Montana last year. It flooded the East Rosebud River, the road, and the bridges. The access there was destroyed.
It really is very difficult to rebuild that infrastructure in that wild and scenic corridor because it's supposed to be left in a natural state.
Federal Newswire:
As more acreage is turned over to federal management, how does this impact small towns in the West?
Kerry White:
It would be like a West Coast dock where you were accepting shipping that drove the economy of that community, and they took away the shipping. In Montana, a lot of communities in the western part of the state especially were formed around the production of timber, which is a growing resource. It's not stagnant. It's a dynamic resource that needs to be managed.
If you have a tree in your backyard and it dies, you would want to remove it. But out here, they won't even let us remove dead trees. If it burns, [causing] a catastrophic fire, the state goes in and does salvage logging. If it's on private land, they do it within a year. The Forest Service doesn't do that. It takes them three to five to seven years, and then you have no value for the product.
A lot of these small communities were built on mining. We haven't permitted a new mine in Montana for 30 years because of the regulations under the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and NEPA regulations.
Federal Newswire:
How should we balance environmental stewardship with local economic interests?
Kerry White:
What people tend to think is, “I want a cell phone, but I don't want you to get the gold and silver out of the ground to make my cell phone.” Or, “I want solar panels and I want electric cars, but I don't want the things to make the batteries.”
All of that needs to come from Mother Earth, and we can do it in a responsible way.
We don't cut timber the way we did before. We do a great job at these timber companies. We had 100 timber mills in Montana. We're down to five.
Federal Newswire:
What happens when you have overgrowth in these forests, especially in terms of fires?
Kerry White:
These are really unnatural fires. The Native Americans before white settlers came out here started fires and opened up the canopy for the wildlife so that there were meadows. Since we haven't been able to do that, or take out dead, diseased and dying timber, what we find is 100 times the amount of trees per acre that would be in a healthy forest.
What happens to the wildlife that doesn't have anything to eat because the forest floor is nothing but pine needles and dead branches and downfall? They move off of the public land and the forested land and where do they go? We're seeing in Montana a 17% increase in ungulates [hoofed animals]--deer and elk–moving off of the public forested land and onto private property.
What does that do to the farmer or the rancher? It decreases his profitability. It causes damage to irrigation facilities and fences. He has more expense and more hardship.
Federal Newswire:
What does balanced use mean to your organization?
Kerry White:
We would like to have an opportunity for people to enjoy, recreate, and experience the outdoors in Montana. That's why a lot of people come here. We get calls all the time–there was a road, access, or a trail they used to use with their dad or grandfather, and now it's gated or obliterated.
They use what they call a rip, slash, and seed. They rip up the road bed, they down trees over the trail or road, then they throw some seed on there, and within a couple of years that access is gone. They've removed it from the map.
A balance to us, say 50/50 would be very nice. But every time the Forest Service goes through a forest plan revision, the environmentalist never lose. It's the motorized and the mechanized side that always gives up incrementally, a little more and more. It's kind of like the boiling frog. Put him in cold water. At the end of the day, he's boiled and he didn't even know it.
Federal Newswire:
Can you explain the issue of easements and condemnation?
Kerry White:
I brought a bill during the legislature that would have taxed the value of conservation easements.
You have a bundle of property rights, mineral rights, water rights, etc. With that bundle is the right to develop. You have a right to an expectation of what your investment will return for you. It's in the constitution; life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which includes ownership of private property.
I introduced a bill that said development rights have a value. A lot of times, the agriculture [is more valuable than the land], depending on where it's located. I said, that should be taxed and oh my gosh, they come out of the woodwork. They thought I was a lunatic.
Say you have an operating capital loan with the bank and you put a conservation easement on your property. You want to renew that loan or you want to increase that loan, maybe you need a new million dollar combine, or a $750,000 tractor. The bank looks at it and says, "Well, the value of your property is in the development rights at a value of maybe $30,000 an acre that we could recover if you default on your loan."
Now with the conservation easement, they've taken away the development rights–this could be the Nature Conservancy, or a land trust or whatever. Now your land is not worth what the bank loaned you. You're not going to get a capital loan…You might have to sell the land.
The conservation groups, the land trust, actually track foreclosures and people that are in problems financially with banking institutions. The other thing that they track is obituaries. I had a neighbor call me in tears. The land trust was on her door two days after her husband passed away, before his funeral, telling her the only way for her to keep her ranch was to put it in a conservation easement.
I went over there and told her the pros and cons. I said, "It's up to you, but I wouldn't do it because you become subservient." You become a lessee of the land because conservation organizations can come in and inspect your land, and tell you you have to do some sort of improvement, and you have to pay for it. Whatever they tell you, you need to do. It's in the contract. I've read many of them.
Federal Newswire:
Your organization has faced problems with agencies in Washington, DC. What happened?
Kerry White:
We're a 501(c)(3), and we file our 1099's every year. An organization in Washington DC [filed a complaint against us].
They accused us of falsifying or incompletely or incorrectly [completing] our IRS filing. We had to defend that. We have a bookkeeper, a CPA, fully versed in nonprofits. We're on the up and up. We file them on time every year. But it takes time when you get the letter stating that there's a complaint against you, and now you have to try to defend yourself against that. But it was basically harassment.
Federal Newswire:
How do we educate the public on these issues?
Kerry White:
Our mission statement on our website says it all. We're advocating for multiple-use recreation, which is all forms of recreation. We don't care if you're a bicycle rider, a hiker, cross country skier, snowmobiler or motorcycle rider.We have access and points of access in the West, and trails and road infrastructure that was paid for mostly by tax dollars.
The federal government doesn't have a right to tear out this infrastructure. So we're trying to educate people on the value of recreating and getting out into the backcountry.
The other thing we advocate for is active forest management. We saw the Rice Ridge fire up at Seeley Lake. Two years later those folks are still experiencing reduced lung efficiency because of the crystalline silica and the carcinogens that are contained in these wildfire smokes.
Then the last thing is responsible development of our natural resources in mining, because everything you use in your daily life, anything that's made of plastic is [made from] oil. Anything under your car or bicycle, like a tire–that's oil. Anything you use in medication or anything you use in makeup, it's oil.
Federal Newswire:
How can people find out more information about your organization?
Kerry White:
Our website is www.balanceduse.org. We also have a Facebook, Citizens for Balanced Use. You can join our organization, it's free to join.
We have over 7,000 active members, about 100,000 members and supporters through our supporting organizations. We have 68 supporting organizations. We go all over the northwest. We have clubs that we've helped start in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Wyoming.
If you join you'll get our email updates on how you can get involved with links on how you can comment on certain projects, contacts with the agencies and stuff. It's just education to put out there to try to inform folks in an easy, simple way on what you can do to get involved.
