New hope for wilderness in MT

The three members of Montana’s congressional delegation are working together, in the final hours of this lame-duck session, to pass legislation that designates important new wilderness acreage and protects places of value to all our lives and livelihoods.

Should this package of eight public land measures be approved, it will be the first time in more than 30 years that a new wilderness area has been designated in our state. Many have tried in the years since, but every proposal has hit an immovable political wall.

Until now.

On Wednesday, U.S. Sens. Jon Tester and John Walsh, both Democrats, and U.S. Rep. Steve Daines, a Republican who was elected to take Walsh’s seat in the Senate come January, jointly announced that they have put together a package of public lands legislation, and attached it to the $585 billion National Defense Authorization Act. The U.S. House will vote on the bill sometime this week; the Senate will vote next week.

Read more here: http://missoulian.com/news/opinion/editorial/missoulian-editorial-new-hope-for-wilderness-in-mt/article_23017f29-8162-5e98-9c8a-d7e17f81e92d.html