TOMORROW: Join us at NOON to discuss East Crazies Land Exchange
Tomorrow at noon, we will be hosting a Community Conversation about the East Crazy Inspiration Divide Land Exchange. We're excited to dive into the details of the proposal with our members and hear what you're thinking about the plan.
You can register for the Community Conversation here!
Last month, the Custer Gallatin National Forest released the Preliminary Environmental Assessment East Crazy Inspiration Divide Land Exchange (EA), and is accepting public comment on the proposal until December 23rd.
PCEC is working to finalize our comments, and we'll share what we're thinking with you tomorrow.
We strongly urge you to take the time to review the preliminary EA for yourself and make a public comment through the Forest Service portal. This land exchange will impact the landscape and our communities forever. It’s a rare and important moment to be involved and add your voice to the discussion.
PCEC has long been a local advocate for the Crazy Mountains, or as we refer to them locally, the Crazies; in fact, our organization’s original name was Crazy Paradise, reflecting our regard for the importance of the mountain range for Park County.
The legacy of checkerboard land ownership is on full display in the Crazy Mountains. A majority of the odd numbered sections in the interior of the range are still privately owned. This has not only created a history of conflict over land management and public access, but also makes the Crazy Mountains a particularly vulnerable landscape to development in our growing corner of Montana.
At PCEC, our long-term vision for the Crazy Mountains is a consolidated and contiguous public landscape with secured public access and permanent designation of the national forest lands. We aim to protect the wilderness character, biodiversity, habitat connectivity, cultural sites and open working landscapes of the range and its surrounding river valleys. We’ve been generating momentum towards our long term conservation goals through building local relationships and participating in the discussions with diverse members of our community for more than 7 years.
If you have any questions or or would like to discuss your ideas or concerns in the meantime, please do not hesitate to reach out to me, Erica Lighthiser via email at erica@pcecmt.org or phone 406.224.0749.
In Community,
Erica