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Survey Details Montanans' Support For Public Lands

A train runnning along a river in Lombard Montana.
Miroslav Volek (CC BY 2.0)
/
BNSF Railway
Pollsters surveyed around 500 voters statewide to see what Montanans think about public lands policy and the contribution of the outdoors to the quality of life and economy in the state.

A survey releasedon Apr. 13 shows a majority of Montanans support public lands, even amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

Pollsters with the University of Montana and its research partners surveyed around 500 voters statewide along bipartisan lines to see what Montanans think about public lands policy and the contribution of the outdoors to the quality of life and economy in the state.

Dave Metz with MF3 Research says the results serve as an unbiased resource.

“It is not to advocate for policy A or policy B, but to provide an input for policy makers to use, a reference point to see what Montanans feel about some of these issues,” Metz says. 

UM’s Crown of the Continent and Greater Yellowstone Initiative has commissioned the report every two years since 2014. Researchers say the 2020 Voter Survey on Public Lands comes with a 4.4 percent margin of error.

Around 89 percent of surveyed voters said they felt the outdoors helped the state economy, a slight uptick from 2018, and numbers show that many Montanans want to see the government either maintain or increase protections for wilderness and recreational areas.

More than 70 percent of respondents supported water-protection initiatives including the federal Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act, which would permanently protect the Blackfoot Watershed tributaries and land, and the Montana Headwaters Legacy Act, a federal bill that would protect seventeen of Montana’s rivers and connected acreage.

Kayla writes about energy policy, the oil and gas industry and new electricity developments.