Commissioners hope land transfer bill is revived

MINERAL COUNTY – Mineral County Commissioners expressed hope last week that a bill to study the transfer of some level of local control of a percentage of federally owned land could be revived by the Montana State Legislature.

A House committee voted to kill the bill nearly two weeks ago after deadlocking on a vote concerning House Bill 496 that would have established a process to examine transferring control of federally owned land within counties to state and possibly county control. A second vote shot down the proposal by a vote of 10-8.

The vote “tables” the bill, a move widely considered to be the death of legislation but Mineral County Commissioners said they are hoping someone will step forward to bring it back for further consideration. Commissioner Duane Simons expressed optimism that the bill, that all three Mineral County Commissioners strongly support, will get another chance.

“I don’t think it’s completely shot down,” Simons said. “I think there’s still a chance that it will come back out of committee. That would entail getting everyone interested in it but I think it will come back up just maybe not this session.”

The commissioners have expressed numerous times that their belief is that the state can do a better job of managing forested federal land of which Mineral County has an abundance. The legislation has generated controversy with opposition groups saying the state can’t afford to manage the land but according to Simons, without a study to examine how the process would work, there is no way to know for certain whether the state is capable of the job.

“Without a study, how do we know,” Simons said. “The federal government needs to get the hell out of the way so we can have jobs. Let the Forest Service fight fire and let us manage the forest. All we want to do is manage it. All this was was a study bill. It was only going to cost $35,00 and it probably would’ve been the best $35,000 the state ever spent.”

Mineral County Commissioner Laurie Johnston echoed some of Simon’s comments regarding House Bill 496.

“All we want is for them to study it,” Johnston said. “We’re not saying turn it over tomorrow. Let’s just study it. Let’s look at the options.”

Simons said any action regarding the study of how federal lands are managed would be welcomed by himself and his colleagues and the people of Mineral County. He said the lack of action by the federal government was the problem.

“We know what’s happening now…nothing,” Simons said. “Anything that happens in a situation like that has to be better. How do you do more nothing? There’s no movement. Nothing. Talk is cheap. Until they actually do something, we are still in the same boat Why should this be a burden to the county taxpayer? We are looking at all this standing timber that could be generating dollars and reducing your taxes possibly.”