Kristi Noem, candidate for South Dakota's lone seat in the U.S. House, announced today she would oppose legislation to designate certain wilderness areas in the National Forest System in western South Dakota as introduced by Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D.

Noem, who will be speaking Thursday at the South Dakota Stockgrowers Convention, said the bill would open the door to a possible reduction and elimination of grazing on the lands and threaten the rights and livelihoods of t hose with grazing permits in the proposed areas.

The Tony Dean Cheyenne River Valley Conservation Act of 2010 would create a total of 48,000 acres of federal wilderness in three tracts, including 27,500 acres in the Indian Creek area, 16,007 near Red Shirt and 4,518 acres in the adjoining Chalk Hills.

"I believe this federal land grab is a solution in search of a problem," Noem said in a news release. "Multiple use management of these lands has been successful. We should continue what has worked in order to preserve and protect these lands and to ensure these lands are available to be enjoyed by the public."

Noem said the act would also compromise control of forest fires, prairie dogs and noxious weeds in the area, in addition to affecting motorized recreation and rock hounds.

"We need to look no further than the Black Hills to see how the federal government manages the land we hand over to them. Our federal forests have been neglected and mismanaged by the bureaucracy and now we are dealing with an extremely serious pine beetle epidemic and the threat of catastrophic fire," Noem said in release.

Johnson's office fired back at Noem's assertions that it's a land grab, noting that the proposal came out under a Republican administration and includes many uses, among them recreation, hunting, grazing and more.

"Ms. Noem should try reading the bill or at least the Senator's website before putting out false information. This proposal, that was first put forth by President Bush in 2002, is hardly a land grab since it's already federal land and the Senator has made certain that grazing rights would be maintained," Julianne Fisher, Communications Director for Johnson, said in a news release. "This bill would protect a beautiful part of South Dakota's heritage for generations to come."

Johnson's office also noted that the senator has worked with ranchers holding grazing permits on these lands and other affected stakeholders throughout this process and that the bill gives the Forest Service the tools to manage the lands by addressing fire, invasive species and prairie dogs.