U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act was not included in a House version of the 2012 omnibus bill to fund the federal government that was released Thursday morning, setting off a round of finger-pointing between his office and that of Rep. Denny Rehberg.

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Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act may get a last-minute vote before Congress closes out 2011.

But a lot of other Montana-related legislation will probably give the hurly-burly of December’s must-pass congressional action a pass. That includes Sen. Max Baucus’ Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act, Rep. Denny Rehberg’s Montana Land Sovereignty Act, and the Flathead Watershed Protection Act that both Baucus and Tester co-sponsored. However, Rehberg may get a vote on a measure to fast-track permitting of a U.S.-Canadian oil pipeline.

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U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Restoration Act is included in the Senate’s Interior Department appropriations bill, giving it a chance of passage in the 2012 federal budget.

The bill provides annual funding for the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Indian Affairs and U.S. Forest Service wildland fire management.

The 183-page bill was released Friday.

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For further information, check out Sen. Tester’s Forest Jobs and Restoration Act mini-site.

Glacier National Park’s border with Canada is marked by broad prairies and majestic mountains. A bill in Congress co-sponsored by Rep. Dennis Rehberg could conceivably allow the Department of Homeland Security to put roads and other access venues in areas currently managed as wilderness.

The proposed “National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act” would give Homeland Security broad powers over land that borders foreign countries.

According to the bill, “The Secretary of Homeland Security shall have immediate access to any public land managed by the federal government (including land managed by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture) for purposes of conducting activities that assist in securing the border (including access to maintain and construct roads, construct a fence, use vehicles to patrol, and set up monitoring equipment).”

The bill also would allow Homeland Security to waive a host of environmental laws…

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U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., got some unexpected support from potential critics of his Forest Jobs and Recreation Act and doubts from assumed allies during a congressional hearing on Wednesday.

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A proposal to protect the North Fork of the Flathead River from mining got a friendly reception at a U.S. Senate hearing on Wednesday.

“You have convinced me Glacier (National Park) and the North Fork are true jewels of the West,” Senate Energy and Natural Resources acting chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. “We’re going to get your bill out of this committee and onto the president’s desk.”

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Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester testified Wednesday in support of legislation that would permanently withdraw federal lands in the North Fork Flathead River drainage from future leases for energy development.

The two testified in support of their North Fork Watershed Protection Act before the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests in Washington, D.C.

It is the latest step in a cooperative agreement with British Columbia that bans mining in the North Fork river corridor on both sides of the border, including areas near Glacier and Waterton national parks.

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U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s bill to increase both logging and wilderness areas in Montana was the focus of another Senate hearing Wednesday as the Democrat hopes to move forward a plan that has already become an issue in his high-profile election challenge from Republican U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in Washington again took testimony on a re-introduced version of a bill Tester first put forward nearly two years ago. Committee members expressed interest in working with Tester to advance a measure that died late last year as part of a last-minute budget bill.

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Ducks Unlimited is supporting legislation that will have a positive impact on waterfowl habitats and protect the North Fork of the Flathead Drainage in Montana. The bill, the North Fork Watershed Protection Act of 2011 (S.233), was introduced in the 112th Congress by Montana Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester.

Sen. Baucus will present the bill at a hearing to the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests on May 25.

“The legislation will protect the water quality of downstream flows to key wetlands in this drainage area. This is a critical staging area for migrating waterfowl and supports more than 50,000 waterfowl each year,” Robert Sanders, DU manager of conservation programs for Montana said.

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President Barack Obama has nominated a former state water official to a joint U.S.-Canada panel that resolves cross-boundary water disputes.

Rich Moy, now a senior fellow at University of Montana, was nominated for the Joint International Commission at the recommendation of U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester, both Montana Democrats.

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