SigMT

SiG MT 60 BY HOLLY MATKIN PHOTOGRAPHY BY RON & ANNETTE VANEK Big Sky Country National Heritage Association: Positioning Central Montana For Success or GOVERNMENT LAND GRAB? A Great Falls-based non-profit group seeking Congressional approval to designate Cascade County and a significant portion of Chouteau County as a National Heritage Area (NHA) is receiving massive pushback from area landowners due to concerns about property rights. e non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that is striving to create the Big Sky Country National Heritage Area (BSCNHA) was established in the spring of 2015 with the expressed intent of aracting additional employment opportunities, new residents, and more economic resources to the area. e BSCNHA has likened NHAs to "tourist regions," and said the designation would "stimulate economic growth and promote the nationally significant historical, cultural and natural resources in our area," according to the group's website. BSCNHA Chairman Jane Weber noted that much of the value of Central Montana's landscape and history is oen overlooked. "NHA designation can highlight our beautiful places and stories," Jane said in a press release in June of last year. "is is a group that would help communities conduct historic preservation projects, enhance area cultural places, promote the area economy, bring more jobs to the area, and give Montanans one more thing to be proud of in Big Sky Country." e currently-proposed project area includes the entirety of Cascade County, as well as the portion of Chouteau County stretching along the Missouri River from the Cascade-Chouteau County Line to Decision Point, near Loma. Much of the acreage contained in the proposed NHA area is privately owned, but the BSCNHA has repeatedly assured residents that such a designation "will not interfere in any way with private land holdings," and that the management body overseeing the area will not have any regulatory authority. "In short, there are really no potential negative impacts of receiving federal designation for an NHA," the group has contended. In order to apply for Congressional consideration as an NHA, the 14-member BSCNHA governing board is required to prepare a 10-factor feasibility study. One mandatory element of the study hinges on demonstrating community support. Despite the BSCNHA's assurances that the NHA designation would have no effect on private landowners' property rights, many skeptical landowners are concerned the designation would serve as a catalyst for doing just that. At the heart of the issue for farmers and ranchers is their culture of stewardship and a duty to be fiercely protective of the land – land that many Chouteau and Cascade County ag producers have been working for generations. Among them are Ross and Janet ayer, whose ranch northeast of Belt

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