Wilks brothers true colors are shining through.....

[Nameless Range]

Whether or not the encroachment has been remedied, it should be documented that there was an encroachment, that public recreation was infringed upon, etc. There should be repercussions.

I can see the average Montanan doing this, messing with the movement of elk, prohibiting people from accessing public land, littering and damaging, and getting a swift kick in the nuts for doing so.

Quite the precedent for the largest landowners in Montana.

 

[bigskyblueman]

Cadastral survey just submitted to the Federal Register by the BLM. A 30 day period to respond follows. Some voluntary remediation discussion is ongoing. Weeds, tree damage, removing the top strand and raising the bottom strand, moving the fence, open gates, etc. Unclear yet , if any of this has or will occur at this stage.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Whether or not the encroachment has been remedied, it should be documented that there was an encroachment, that public property rights were infringed upon, etc. There should be repercussions.

Fixed it for you.

 

[Randy11]

http://missoulian.com/news/state-an...cle_f4836a12-2bc0-5c6b-8d8f-f64bd4125e9f.html

 

[MThuntr]

You should read the fluff piece that the Lewistown Argus did on the Wilkes a few weeks back. http://www.lewistownnews.com/articles/2015/08/20/news/doc55cbaaef53ca7040167078.txt

 

[teamhoyt]

I think I'll take my daughters up to hunt elk on the ranch since he's so into that sort of thing!..........ok maybe not.

 

[katqanna]

I received my Nov. 13, 2014 BLM FOIA, or at least what they are calling the final, much has been redacted or withheld, but one of the things I requested was the BLM' supposed aerial and ground survey, which resulted in the Lewistown Field Manager, Geoff Beyersdorf's, official BLM Press Release on Sept. 30, 2014, that there was no encroachment of the Wilks fences. I asked for the reports, photos, field notes and survey. Well of course no survey had been done, so they couldnt provide that, I received no field notes or report, just some pictures on a PDF that would clearly show that the BLM knew of the destruction that was occurring and chose to look the other way. Page 49 shows their flight path, which is diagonal, not covering much of the fence boundary. The did no perimeter flight. I also requested copies of the complaint forms and the investigation forms showing their follow through on the complaint forms - I received neither.

Link to original BLM "investigation" PDF, which is linked on the interactive map now at the magnifying glass. There are a number of big pictures in that file so it will take a few minutes for it to completely download.

 

[katqanna]

I realized something late last night, that I missed the first couple of times I looked through that FOIA PDF the BLM sent with the "investigation" photos from Sept. 2014.

The BLM press release tried to marginalize the public that was hunting in the Durfees reporting things, in several ways. One of which was mentioned in this thread way back, about the tracks left by the planes landing on the two track road.

They stated, "After BLM staff conducted a fly-over and ground visits using a survey-grade GPS, no encroachment was found... BLM staff found that in some instances when a personal-use recreational GPS was compared to the more accurate survey-grade GPS, the recreational GPS errantly showed some areas to be on BLM-managed land." I remember the WAAS and GLONASS discussions that resulted here.

One of the pictures in the BLM file, page 52, is of a GPS device, but the glare is so bad you cant read the screen, so I dismissed the picture as a waste, as far as reading the screen. I wondered last night if I could put that through my new graphics program to sharpen the resolution when it hit me, look up the device model he is using!

It is a Garmin GPSmap 60CSx Navigator, WAAS enabled, with an accuracy range of 10 meters (about 33 feet), discontinued by Garmin in early 2011. If that is BLM's "survey grade GPS", then it is not as accurate as what the hunters going into the Durfees used. If that is their recreational use comparison, again, it is not as new or accurate as the models the sportsmen in the Durfees were using of 3-5 meters (10-15 feet). So I amended the PDF into to reflect that.

Everything in that press release was calculated to disparage and dismiss the hunting public that was trying to alert the Lewistown BLM that a problem was occurring. I dont see that much has changed in that time.

I got a call from a retired BLMer, the day before yesterday, to look a document up online, involving the Resource Management Plan for that area. I am having to compose yet another webpage to document how they are seriously mucking the public over on this "land exchange" debacle. And going through the law enforcement officer logs I also requested in the FOIA, from 201, before the Wilks bought the property, to present, there appears to be much increased BLM traffic during hunting season, as some of the Durfee hunters stated. I will get those heavily redacted logs online soon.

 

[Washington Hunter]

A Garmin 60csx is definitely not what they are calling "survey grade GPS." Because it's not, it's a recreational GPS unit. Great unit though, and accurate. It's what I use.

 

[katqanna]

A few weeks ago a retired BLMer called me on the phone and asked me to go to the Judith Valley Phillips Resource Management Plan on the BLM Montana website. Told me to look under the Judith Resource Area, then Land Acquisition and Disposal, check to see if any of these Durfee Hills parcels were listed in the current RMP for disposal - they were not, in fact they were slated to be of value and better access for some of those parcels was identified.

This happened to tie in with some research I did this summer on the Middle Bench County Road - a public access road, in which the Wilks have put up Private Road and No Trespassing signs at the entrance. Middle Bench County Road access another of the BLM parcels the Wilks want and it drives up to and through a much larger BLM section. So I put together the disposal information, along with some of our Montana BLM State Directors quotes on the importance of keeping the BLM public lands in federal ownership.

"Areas not identified for disposal will be managed for longterm public ownership."

The Durfee Hills online petition has garnered over 3200 signatures and the hand petitions have garnered roughly 500 signatures. Mark Albers, from the HiLine, is now in charge of this Central Montana district and Shane Hershman is the Lewistown Field Manager. Hopefully, they will be more supportive of the federal public ownership and value of the Durfees than their predecessors.

 

[Hunting Wife]

Kat, I've been reading and hearing about your work for a while, starting a few years ago with the bison/brucellosis stuff to this Durfees and BLM issue. I really want to thank you for holding the agencies accountable. It takes an awful lot of voices from inside and outside to keep things from getting steamrolled these days. I admire your tenacity and fortitude!

 

[300stw]

Kat really brings info to light, but, the agencies involved appear to be reading out of a different playbook, Kat mentions the road with trespassing signs, wonder if the signs are farther than 30 ft or whatever the law is, I see many signs posted right on the road and law enforcement does very little about it,

anyway I am thankful we have organizations?,people? like Kat

 

[katqanna]

Kat really brings info to light, but, the agencies involved appear to be reading out of a different playbook, Kat mentions the road with trespassing signs, wonder if the signs are farther than 30 ft or whatever the law is, I see many signs posted right on the road and law enforcement does very little about it,

I had been so busy with documentation trips, BLM FOIA data, elk shoulder seasons and game damage stuff this summer that I have not had time to compile all the data I got on the Middle Bench County Road and get it to the Fergus County Commissioners yet. The signs are not father than 30', they are right on the edge of the cattle guard and you cant post a private road sign on a public road regardless. They are trying to disappear Middle Bench County Road from both ends, South Fork Road on the east to Red Hill Road on the west.

Last time I dealt with one of the Wilks illegal signs in Golden Valley County, Swimming Woman Road, I emailed the documentation and called the County Sheriff. He said he was aware of that sign, that it had been there for years and I was the only one to complain about it. Proceeded to aggressively advocate for a Wilks land exchange, saying that there shouldnt be access to public lands that only the rich and famous have access to, which I refuted. He made a mistake though in his vociferous speech about the land exchange, because at one point in his conversation he said that he had hunted there and it was nothing special, then towards the end of the conversation he said that he only makes about $40,000 a year and cant afford to, nor had he ever flown into the Durfees. So if he hadnt ever flown in, then that leaves the road which requires landowner permission, which the majority of people truly dont have access to, so he is actually one of the "elite". Turns out the newly elected sheriff used to work for the Wilks.

At any rate, some of the PLWA guys said it is best to get the documentation to the county commissioners, more accountability, paper trail, visibility. I am now inclined to agree.

When I called Legislative Services and some other law departments about fencing and other issues recently, I was sent an an agency pdf form that is useful for taking out in the field with you, cause you never know what what you are going to find with access being privatized. Access Problem ID Form. It is a front and back, with form info on the front and MT field office contacts on the back for the USFWS, MT DNRC, MT FWP, FS and BLM. I would suggest that you keep the original and send a copy to the agencies.

Hunting Wife, thank you

 

[Tex_MT]

Thanks for the continued effort to contest the BS moves these clowns are making.

 

[katqanna]

Froma wrote me a couple times asking some questions and clarifications on the subject, as well as Don's perspective, so I am glad to see someone with her syndication talking about this.

Conservatives Taking Hunters for Granted

 

[300stw]

any updates, was the area overrun with planes and sportsmen , did wilks allow public access to elk hunt, ................

 

[MTHunter1321]

The Wilks won't even let their ranch hands hunt on their property. I can't imagine they'll ever let the general public hunt elk/deer/antelope/coyote/rabbit/birds/squirrels/anything that breathes on it.

 

[mtmiller]

I killed a pronghorn on their property this year.

 

[MTHunter1321]

We asked for permission for antelope on a piece of their property that had a good of a buck on it. Was told no way, they don't let anyone hunt. It's certainly conflicting with reading that they're "stewards of the outdoors" in newspapers and then having the experience we had asking for permission.

 

[StykbowMT225]

We took 2 out of the Durfees. There was another guy flying a spike out when we pulled in. Looked like the land locked public was getting steady pressure, with near 100% success, but that is just based off of the people I talked to.