Mont. Officials at Odds on Roadless Forest Plan

Breaking ranks with much of the Western state leadership and his own governor, Montana Atty. Gen. Mike McGrath filed a legal brief Wednesday in support of a federal ban on road building and logging on 58 million acres of national forests.

Defying Republican Gov. Judy Martz, who has been an outspoken opponent of the roadless plan drafted by the former Clinton administration, McGrath filed a federal appeals court brief saying he “strongly disagreed” with an Idaho judge’s ruling last month against the policy.

The attorney general’s action sets the stage for a political tug of war between the governor and the Democratic attorney general in a state that has one of the highest stakes in the roadless policy, with 6.2 million acres of protected roadless lands, more than any other state except Alaska and Idaho.

U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge blocked implementation of the policy last month, ruling that public discussion of the policy was “grossly inadequate” and that implementing it would result in “irreparable harm to the national forests” by impeding firefighting and brush-thinning.

Martz has repeatedly blasted the roadless initiative, accusing the Clinton administration of allowing the national forests to become overgrown, diseased and fire-prone.

Last month, she filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the state of Idaho’s efforts to repeal the initiative.

“The roadless initiative will forever prohibit sensible and environmentally sensitive exploration of natural gas and oil,” Martz told the House Resources Committee in March.

Colorado, Utah and Alaska have also filed legal challenges to the policy.

McGrath said that he decided to file a brief contrary to the governor’s because he strongly disagreed with Lodge’s finding that the public input process had been inadequate.

“The fact of the matter is, in Montana, the public process was extensive. There were 34 public comment meetings held across the state, there were in excess of 17,000 people who commented,” McGrath said in an interview. “So I thought that it was appropriate to advise the court as to the issues in Montana regarding the public hearing process.

“This is not about the governor doing one thing and me doing another. This is all about responding to the district court’s order.”

The governor’s office could not be reached for comment, but Martz spokeswoman Mary Jo Fox said earlier, in response to McGrath’s contrary opinion on the policy, that the governor had decided to step into the suit on the advice of the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.

“Although Gov. Martz respects Atty. Gen. McGrath’s opinion on this and other issues, the decision remains the governor’s alone, to decide whether or not the Clinton roadless initiative will negatively impact Montana’s management of its state trust lands,” Fox said.

Environmental groups backing the roadless policy applauded the attorney general’s action.

“What I find significant about it is we have had a host of Western elected officials who are generally opponents of federal land policy under the previous administration chime in with criticism of the roadless rule, and it’s refreshing to see there’s some elected leader in the West who’s willing to stand up and speak out for the many thousands of people who support this rule,” said Tim Preso of Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund in Bozeman, Mont.

Montana’s previous Republican governor, Marc Racicot, also opposed the roadless plan, but former Democratic Atty. Gen. Joe Mazurek supported it.