Newsletter Social Media linkAlex Sienkiewicz restored to Forest Service Yellowstone District Ranger position
Alex Sienkiewicz, the former Yellowstone District Ranger, based in Livingston, was being
investigated by the Forest Service after a number of Crazy Mountain landowners began a targeted campaign against him, further pushed through Senator Steve Daines to the Forest Service Chief and the newly sworn in Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue. The charges included an easily disproved false allegation of a Facebook post.
Sienkiewicz was doing his job, following Forest Service policy, managing for multiple use and public access to our public lands. He was removed from his District Ranger position on June 16, 2017. The public was told by the Custer Gallatin National Forest Service Supervisor Mary Erickson that an independent investigator was looking into the charges against Sienkiewicz by the landowners and that this investigation would NOT be subject to a FOIA or made public.
After hearing from several sources this afternoon, that Alex Sienkiewicz was being restored to his Yellowstone District Ranger position, I called their office to confirm.
According to the acting Yellowstone District Ranger, Sienkiewicz' restoration will be effective about Oct. 20th.
While I am relieved that such a good public trust servant is being restored to his position, there are still a number of unanswered questions about certain landowner's orchestration, including leveraging their respective organizations (Montana Outfitters & Guides Association, Montana Farm Bureau and the Montana Stockgrowers Association), through Senator Daines, up the chain to Ag. Secretary Sonny Perdue. We are talking about the service and career of a public employee with a young family here.
Additionally, what are the costs, which our taxpayer dollars paid, for this removal and "investigation", which began in June? All based on what?
And what about the denied FOIA documents? Where is the accountability and transparency for such actions?
Moreover, the nationwide ramifications of the landowner/organization and congressional demands of removing all unperfected roads/trails from future publications of maps and the legislation or agency directives to end the prescriptive easement process remains. This was, of course, the bigger privatizing land grab, using Sienkiewicz as the excuse.
Thank you to all those that called, wrote emails, letters, opinion pieces and articles to advocate for one of our public trust employees and public access. Without such dedicated employees, how can we ever hope to preserve our public lands and access to them from privatization?
This battle is hardly over, there is still much work to be done involving
Crazy Mountain public accessto our Forest Service public lands. I am thankful for this wee bit of good news.
On Another Privatizing Front ... Sportsmen and Outdoors Leaders Denounce Antiquities Act Takedown"Leaders in the outdoors and sportsmen’s communities today joined together in criticizing House of Representatives legislation that would undermine the federal Antiquities Act, sending a strong and unified pro-conservation message from a diverse constituency of public lands users, recreationists, hunters and anglers.
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, Patagonia and First Lite CEOs together condemned a bill introduced on Friday by Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah. The National Monument Creation and Protection Act (H.R. 3990) would severely limit national monument designations made by presidents, including stipulating that proposed monuments larger than 640 acres be subject to a federal review process and enabling presidents to reduce or alter monuments already in existence. The House Natural Resources Committee will take steps to advance this legislation at a markup this afternoon..."
Click to read more from BHA.
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