With limited public involvement, Montana Land Board overhauls land-swap process

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AMANDA EGGERT/Montana Free Press

The Montana Land Board voted Monday to overhaul the process it uses to evaluate land-swap proposals. This is the first time the Land Board has made sweeping changes to Montana’s land-swap policy in more than 20 years, and it happened with limited public notice.State Auditor James Brown introduced the proposal. Jack Connors, the chief lawyer working for the State Auditor’s Office, described the change as a “red-tape reduction” initiative that eliminates “unnecessary bureaucracy.” Brown added that it will address water- and corner-crossing related disputes and create multiple opportunities for interested parties to comment, thereby adding transparency to the process.But opponents pointed out that the proposal itself didn’t incorporate a robust public notice and comment period. They argued, unsuccessfully, for more time to evaluate it.

“This is big,” said Kevin Farron with Montana Wildlife Federation. “This is opaque. This is something that was given to the public seven days ago in its full form … A 30-day scoping and comment period should be the very least that we should be getting out of this.”

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