I first heard the now familiar phrase ‘Montana, TheLast Best Place’ back in the early 1990’s. Having grown up in Montana in the 1970’s, I immediately knew the phrase’s meaning.
‘The Last Best Place’ means that Montana public lands are meant to be enjoyed by all…rich and poor.
If you didn’t know, the State of Montana is rather large; and, it depends on Federal land agencies to protect a great deal of the land that taxpayers use to recreate on everyday.
Not a day goes by that I don’t thank my lucky stars for Montana’s open stream laws.
Over the course of my life, however, it has not been uncommon for some new land owner to put the open stream law to the test. One time, I heard that a land owner on a popular Montana river disliked people floating down ‘his stretch of river’ so much that he strung up a stretch of barbed wire across the river. Needless to say, the State shut this down real quick once the complaints started coming in.
Just a few years ago, imagine my surprise, when I learned that our very own State governor tried to shut down a trail to a stretch of the Gallatin River, adjacent to his property…That harebrained idea was shut down by the State, as well.
What part of ‘The Last Best Place’ don’t you understand, governor?
Apparently, the governor and the State GOP has not given up on the idea of capturing our public lands and selling them off to the highest bidder, however.
In the last month, the Federal government has gone out of its way to destroy the previously mentioned Federal land agencies that protect our public lands, including in Montana. Once those agencies are out of the way, I’m sure the governor and the State GOP will be asking for the public lands be turned over to the State of Montana, so that they can better “administrate” them.
Of course, once the public lands are in State hands, then the governor and the State GOP can go about better “monetizing” them instead…Which is, of course, short speak for selling the best land parcels to real estate developers and mining companies.
So you see, in the eyes of the governor and the State GOP, ‘The Last Best Place’ is just a real estate transaction waiting to take place…at the expense of you, ‘the commoner’, no less.
If you care about the real meaning of ‘The Last Best Place’, then let the governor and the State and Federal GOP know that you’re on to them.
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