Tester bill will give Little Rockys back
Montana
Jon Tester has put in a bill to give the Little Rockys and other BLM lands to the Fort Belknap Tribe.
Do you have a Bill number?
If your talking about S.546 then the lands deeded to the tribe would be 200 acres. It would recognize this tribe officially. I think it has a 20% chance of passing.
I just got called from one of my neighbor's from Landusky There sending me an email today about testers bill. I will post the details when I get them.
S3209 Its listed as a water rights bill but its a massive land grab.
What can we do to get the word out?
need more info, SB3209 comes up as a chemical bill Introduced by: Sen. Frank Lautenberg
S. 3209 (111th): Safe Chemicals Act of 2010 111th Congress, 2009–2010
A bill to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to ensure that risks from chemicals are adequately understood and managed, and for other purposes.
Introduced:Apr 15, 2010Sponsor:Sen. Frank Lautenberg [D-NJ]Status:Died (Introduced)
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s3209
Looks like the bill was just released May 21st. They do not have any text online for this bill yet. I have a call into Tester's office for them to send me an email with the info for this bill.
I have a message into one of Testers aides for the text of the bill.
I sure appreciate all you guys that get after it and look into these things. I don't even know where to start but I am sick and tired of all the BS that's going on.
looks like about 28k acres of state land of which 21K is already within the boundrys of the rez and another 7400 acres that are not now part of the rez,, and about 29K acres of BLM lands to include the Grinnell notch 15,000 acres, these are not parcels of land but huge chunks.. I might be able to go along with the state lands already with in the boundrys of the rez, but not any of the BLM lands outside the existing boundry..
Somebody please post Testors e mail so we can let him know how we feel about this
If you guys want to read the bill send me your email on there PM here on the bowsite. And I will send you a copy of the email.
This is a water rights bill, as titled, but is also a massive land exchange if they can convince the state to cooperate. See and read bill here:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s3209
The breakdown is quite a bit to go through by section description but also entails water from Tiber, Fresno, and other eastern projects. I would think there would be quite a backlash from the agriculture organizations on this one?? Just on the surface it appears that as a water rights bill the amounts of land mentioned here are huge. Anyone have an easy way to find these parcels and nail down what all it affects??
Actually John it is not an exchange,, we are not getting anything in return, its a simple case of Montana paying a bill the entire US owes.. 1. this is a settlement between the United States and the Fort Belknap Indian reservation, I think all of the US should have a part in footing the bill.. as it is now with the Tribes getting lands in exchange for money, the local hunters that use this land are the ones giving up more than anyone else. Hunters from New York-Alabama are not giving up one single thing.
2. Revenue for the Montana Schools systems will be lost account near 29K acres of state school trust lands will be given away. this is money that will have to be made up somewhere else and unless more money is generated (increased Montana State taxes) Something will have to be given up by Montana schools... This is not a settlement bewtween the United States and the Fort Belknap Indian reservation, this is a settlement between the state of Montana and Blaine/Phillips counties. and the Fort Belknap Indian reservation
3. If the United States wants to settle a deal with the Fort Belknap Indian reservation all of the US should have a stake in this deal..
e mail testors office here and let them know your thoughts
http://www.tester.senate.gov/Contact/index.cfm
Good grief......... here we go again, I'll email my input. Will be in Alaska all summer but will keep an eye on this. Thanks Steve.
Here is a copy of my letter to the editor I sent out to news papers in montana Jon Tester is quietly robbing Montana sportsmen and those who want to hunt here. Senator Tester has sponsored a bill called the Fort Belknap Water compact. That will take 58,585 acres away from every sportsman trying to hunt Montana on MT state and BLM lands in the Little Rocky Mountains known as the Grinnell notch. By the way, this also takes away a world class Bighorn Sheep herd. How did this begin? In the 1980's the US Government paid the Fort Belknap Indian tribe $4,265,000 as a settlement on the Grinnell area, with the understanding that this closed the matter. Fast forward to 2011 and now the US government says they owe them more - $500 million. And we should pay them the money . The catch? The Montana public has been using these lands since1896. To give up our public lands anyway is just wrong. Some tribal members have made it known they'd prefer the full dollar settlement, anyway. We need to tell Senator Tester to just pay the Fort Belkap tribe the settlement and stop giving our public lands away. They can print more money - we can't make more public lands. Danny Moore Kalispell Mt.
montana.
Dan... thanks for the info...I suspected there was something fishy with Tester's bill. If it sounds to good to be true it probably is
So now all the non residents should have a stake in the land grab.....but we still have no say on the wildlife on the land or how much we have to pay to hunt there. Good Luck boys you wanted it all for yourselves and now you got it!
Bawana so you think you will not have to pay. If you pay taxes you will pay. The land they want you can hunt now. If they get it you will never have any chance at hunting it .
Jon Tester is the sponsor of this water bill to give thousands of acres or land outside the reservation boundaries to the Fort Belknap Tribe. John has sold out to the Fort Belknap Council to secure their vote and carry him into the Senate. I have e-mailed Jon with my concerns, but to a deaf ear. He does not acknowledge that no private landowner within the Notch was ever given as much as a phone call. Jon never gave the public any meetings or letter writing period to express their views or opinions and input before any legislation was written. He just rammed this water bill down our throats. Kind of sounds a little communistic doesn't it? If Jon was such a good guy, why didn't he call or contact me? Because one word "Vote". I don't matter because i'm are just one vote, wether my say is right or wrong. I've asked Jon to kill his water bill and rewrite it with public input, but he has ignored me completely. Give them there lands inside the reservation that are now State lands and give them a water right on the Milk River. NO MONEY either, as they already have been given plenty already and remember, they claim to be a Sovereign Nation. Tester I believe is waiting for our president to sign this water bill on his way out of office. It was done before on the "Monument" land in the Missouri River Breaks by Mr. Bill as he left office.
Bawana brings up a good point. Non-residents who pay taxes on the land should have some deference when it comes to hunting. If they don't, why should they care about the sale? BigDan: Maybe we will actually have a better chance to hunt it, as compared to currently? Who knows...
