Montanans from both parties place high value on conservation, public lands

Last month, we released our University of Montana’s Crown of the Continent and Greater Yellowstone Initiative’s sixth bi-annual voter survey on public lands. Every other year, we conduct this bipartisan poll to track how Montanans view natural resource and public lands issues that affect our state and our way of life. It is not a position but rather part of our obligation to share research and knowledge with the public. The program does not offer an opinion. Citizens, land managers and those involved with issues can use this information for their work.

This year, we saw some of the strongest bipartisan support to date when it comes to the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act (85% of voters support it), increasing protections on Montana’s Wilderness Study Areas (76% support), and a record number of voters (82%) say they support presidents of both parties using the Antiquities Act to permanently protect public lands as national monuments.

One issue that was polled for the first time was the growing desire for a public process as the U.S. Forest Service decides whether to allow for new hard rock mining near the headwaters of the Smith River. Nearly 3-out-of-4 Montanans do not want to see the public lands surrounding the Black Butte copper mine used for hard rock mining without having a public process.

One of the other highest polling issues (70% support) is the support for new rules for the Bureau of Land Management to true up the level of consideration given to conservation and land restoration alongside other uses such as mining, drilling, timber harvesting, recreation and grazing.

If you look holistically at what the numbers are telling us, we are seeing that Montana voters are increasingly valuing and prioritizing our public lands at the same time they are feeling the state’s quality of life is being impacted by greater development of open spaces and overcrowding. Additionally, there are specific policies that get to the heart of addressing these concerns such as the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act, new BLM rules, and efforts to encourage the U.S. Forest Service to allow for a public process before handing over the public lands surrounding the Smith River to hard rock mining.

The survey was conducted by a bipartisan polling team and found that Republicans and Democrats both sustain high support for conservation issues. How candidates for public office and elected officials stand on these issues affects how Montanans votes.

Rick Graetz lives in Missoula and is the Director of the Crown of the Continent and Greater Yellowstone Initiative.