BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - A Bureau of Land Management plan for 2.4 million federal acres in northern Montana has been modified to classify 5,000 additional acres as “land with wilderness characteristics.”
The Billings Gazette reports (https://bit.ly/1A1Ox8i ) that the BLM has altered the Hi-line District Resource Management Plan after the Montana Wilderness Association lobbied for areas the agency had missed in its initial inventory.
The final plan adds Lena Creek, located north of Fort Peck Reservoir. Bitter Creek and Burnt Lodge will also be managed as wilderness study areas.
A BLM spokesman said sage grouse protection is driving revisions to several Montana BLM resource management plans, with directions being handed down from the agency’s Washington office in an attempt to avoid the bird being listed as an endangered species.
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Information from: The Billings Gazette, https://www.billingsgazette.com
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