Natural Resources Management Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, I am here to urge my Senate colleagues to support S. 47, a lands package that includes over 100 locally driven as well as nationally important bills--specifically, two very important priorities for Montana. The first is the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and the second is the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund is a critical tool in protecting and expanding access to what makes Montana so special; that is, our public lands. This program works with willing landowners. You see, when you look at a map of landowners in Montana, it becomes oftentimes very checkerboard in nature. You have sections owned privately, sections owned by the State government, sections owned by the Federal Government. What LWCF does is allows willing landowners to provide more access to public lands, as well as increasing outdoor recreation opportunities for cities and towns. It helps multigenerational farmers and ranchers and loggers continue to work their land.

Yet, without permanent reauthorization of this critical program, it will continue to expire, Congress after Congress, putting so much of what makes Montana the ``Last Best Place'' at risk because in Montana public lands are a way of life. For Cindy and for me, we can think of no better experience than to put backpacks on and head up to the Beartooth Wilderness, for example, during the weeks of August.

This is about teaching future generations of Montanans to love the outdoors and to spend time outside because we can access these public lands, just the way my parents did with me growing up in Bozeman and just the way I did with our four children.

It is not just about a way of life. It is also about our economy because public lands help spur a $7 billion outdoor economy in Montana. That creates thousands of jobs in our State, and they supply almost $300 million in State and local tax revenue. People all over Montana know the importance of this program, and we can't keep kicking that proverbial can down the road on this critical program for Montana. It is time we permanently authorize this program once and for all.

This lands package also has a bill called the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act. In Montana, we are grateful to be the home of our Nation's very first national park; that is, Yellowstone.

There are some places that are just too special to mine. The Paradise Valley--by the way, it is aptly named the ``Paradise Valley.'' Think about this. The Yellowstone River starts down in Yellowstone Park and comes to the north and runs through Paradise Valley. It eventually ends up in Missouri, but this Paradise Valley and the Gardiner Basin are on the doorstep of Yellowstone National Park. This bill is one example of the over 100 land exchanges, conveyances, or designations nationwide that are critically important to local communities as they facilitate economic development and are locally driven ways to resolve land use challenges.

Let me talk about locally driven. The Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act is a great example of something that is locally driven--the community, the landowners, the elected leaders. They are strongly supporting this act that I hope we pass in the U.S. Senate, get over to the House, and then soon onto the President's desk.

This bill also secures other wins for our sportsmen's heritage by including provisions that will ensure our Federal lands are open for access and only closed with consultation that comes from our States.

This bill will also help curtail the fringe litigation that halts commonsense active forest management by shining light on who gets equal access to Justice Act funds and Judgment Fund payments. The bill strengthens partnerships for our national parks like the 21st Century Conservation Corps Act.

Simply stated, this bill is a historic win for Montana and the West, but don't take my word for it. The sportsmen groups across the country are calling this bill a historic achievement for conservation--groups like the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, like the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, like the American Fly Fishing Trade Association, like the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, the Boone and Crockett Club, the Trust for Public Land, Montana groups like Businesses for Montana Outdoors and the Montana Outdoors Coalition, and the list goes on.

I urge my colleagues at this moment--this moment when we have divided government in Washington, DC--that we can come together. There is nothing as bipartisan that I have seen in a long time here than this lands package, Republicans and Democrats who are coming together to get this bill done.

I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote to support this lands package. It is long overdue that we get this done for Montana and for our Nation.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source