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Thousands of people are now aware of the Quiet Waters Initiative. The issue is that we risk losing a tremendous amount of our freedom to enjoy public land and water by regulations that dramatically restrict the type of boats we can use.

Here is how it happened. The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission received a petition submitted by Backcountry Hunters and Anglers for the Quiet Waters Initiative. The commission initiated rulemaking with the petition stating that the commission should consider getting proactive instead of reactive to the changes in recreation on Montana’s waterways to avoid conflicts and protect traditional and safe recreational uses. No research was offered to justify the regulations that would have extreme impact statewide on our freedom. The five member Commission appointed by Gov. Steve Bullock represents five geographical districts. Their vote on the Quiet Water Initiative was unanimous.

The members of the Commission are Dan Vermillion, Livingston, 406-222-0624, Richard Stuker, Chinook, 406-357-3495, Matthew Tourtlotte, Billings, 406-534-1697, and Gary Wolfe, Missoula, 406-240-7323. One district is vacant. The Governor, not the Legislature, is in control of the commission and we will likely end up with the regulations regardless of the strong opposition from the general public.

Backcountry Hunters and Anglers is a far left environmental organization, active in 23 states and one province in Canada. They use the Endangered Species Act and a fish and wildlife mask to achieve their goal of restricting access to land and water to prevent development of energy and resource extraction on public lands under the guise that it would hurt hunting or fishing opportunities. They also work with the Montana Conservation Voters primarily for attacking conservatives running for statewide offices.

A recent example of an attack in the last election was in a letter to the editor by Hertha Lund, an attorney, who summed it up: “Instead of being against public access, as the Democrats are alleging in ads, and as proclaimed by Gov. Steve Bullock, Gianforte actually worked to provide the public with a better access point while protecting his property rights.” Greg Gianforte provided land for a much better new access which was closer to the river than the one that was too close to his house.

Montana Conservation Voters twisted the truth in a TV ad to make it look like Gianforte was against access to public lands. They paid to run the TV ad every day for months to help get Bullock re-elected as Governor of Montana.

Verdell Jackson is a former legislator from Kalispell.