APR Archives

What Montanans lose with each APR land acquisition

June 30, 2024

American Prairie Reserve has been crowing about their recent ranch purchases in Phillips County. What they won’t tell you is those acquisitions come at a cost to you and every other Montanan. It’s important to reflect on what we’re losing when APR removes land from agricultural production. Most regretfully we’re losing the next generation of family ranchers whose job it is to grow food. The dangerous decline in American agricultural production over the last few decades is accelerated if we allow nonprofit groups to buy up prime Montana ranch land. It’s no wonder we’re seeing such increases in food prices. Our communities are also losing the families who work those ranches. Families fill our schools and require goods and services, creating customers...

"Found Photo - US MT Cows in Montana 1969.tif" by David Pirmann is licensed under CC BY 2.0

APR’s ranch buying spree has negative impact on Montana taxpayers

January 6, 2022

The ink is dry on another historic cattle ranch in the Upper Missouri River Breaks consumed by the non-profit organization American Prairie Reserve (APR). With a deal to acquire the 73 Ranch, another piece of Montana’s history and leading industry has been gobbled up by the billionaires that fund APR, at the expense of Montana taxpayers. Non-profits claiming to be conservationists rob taxpayers in a couple of different ways. Donations to APR to purchase ranch property come with lucrative tax deductions. With their privileged tax status, every dollar APR receives leaves our government coffers with less than they otherwise would have.

"Bison Family in Montana" by USFWS Mountain Prairie is licensed under CC BY 2.0

UPOM wins bison lawsuit—documents obtained from FWP detail high degree of coordination with APR

April 21, 2021

We’re pleased to announce that FWP has agreed to settle our lawsuit against them regarding their bison management plan. They’ve agreed to scrap the bison plan and will not undertake a new EIS for bison management for at least ten years. You can read the settlement agreement here. As part of the litigation against FWP to challenge their bison management plan, UPOM requested all communications from FWP related to the bison management plan. We received over 2500 pages of documents. Through that discovery, we learned that FWP was in deep negotiations with APR to establish a herd of free-roaming bison on the CMR wildlife refuge. This despite repeated claims by FWP that they were not considering any specific relocation sites as part of their bison EIS. Due to the damning...

How we Stop APR from abusing Montana’s tax code

March 24, 2021

By Rep. Dan Bartel In central Montana the American Prairie Reserve has amassed 420,000 acres of prime ranch land. This is a fraction of their ultimate objective: to control 3.2 million acres. The land they acquire will eventually be taken out of agricultural production and “re-wilded.” The thriving ranching communities in and around APR’s 5,000 square mile target area will be wiped off the map. If you’re a Montana taxpayer, you’re helping APR pay for their radical plan.

APR’S DEFENSE OF PROPERTY RIGHTS LACKS LEGAL UNDERPINNING

January 27, 2021

by Nathan Descheemaeker Can private property serve as a privileged sanctuary from which multi-national tax-exempt foundations can incrementally transition and consolidate millions of acres of productive agricultural lands? The APR in its paper Building a Legacy of Conservation pg. 1 states “When complete, the Reserve will consist of more than three million acres of private and public land (using the existing 1.1-million-acre Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge as the public land anchor). The result will be a wildlife complex the size of Connecticut, set aside for conservation and public access.” On pg. 2 of the paper the APR reveals their appeal for the chosen area, “There’s a tremendous amount of public land to leverage.”

United Property Owners of Montana Files Suit Against FWP on Bison EIS

March 10, 2020

United Property Owners of Montana has filed suit against the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (“FWP”) seeking declaratory and injunctive relief related to violations of MEPA, MAPA, and environmental impact review requirements that occurred during the development and adoption of a recently-released Environmental Impact Statement related to free-roaming bison. “Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks is determined to pursue this reckless free-roaming bison plan despite overwhelming opposition from the Montanans who would be impacted,” said Chuck Denowh, UPOM policy director. “The wild bison EIS released by FWP in January shows their disregard for local input. Someone has got to stand up for the Montanans whose way of life would be devastated by free-roaming bison—which is why...