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Protecting the Montana Way of Life

Montana’s best paying jobs rely on our wealth of natural resources

By Steve Daines

In Montana, the land is our livelihood and provides us our unique way of life. As a fifth-generation Montanan and avid sportsman, I know hunting, fishing and access to public lands is an important treasure for our families. As a kid I hunted in the Bridgers, backpacked in the Beartooths, and fished the streams of southwest Montana with my grandfather and my dad – and still do with my own family.

Recently, I pushed through a bipartisan energy bill that not only modernizes our energy policies, but also, for the first time, permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). It ensures that our children and grandchildren have the same access to our public lands that I did growing up in Montana.

In Montana and throughout the country, LWCF plays a critical role in achieving the goal of preserving and protecting Montanans’ opportunities to hunt, fish and enjoy outdoor recreation. As tourism is an important economic driver in our state, we must ensure that we have the ability to keep Montana’s businesses in business.

LWCF keeps lands, like family ranches, in the family and working. It keeps forests in productive use through the Forest Legacy Program – like in the Haskill Basin near Whitefish, where my good friend Chuck Roady of Stoltze Land and Lumber works.

Or Eric Grove of Great Divide Cyclery in Helena who has built his mountain bike business around the South Hills Trail System outside of Helena, which is facilitated by LWCF. There are many other small businesses like Eric’s in Montana that depend on our thriving outdoors economy, overall supporting 64,000 jobs and over $5 billion/year in consumer spending.

I also know that Montana sportsmen are frustrated with their current level of access to public lands. And they are frustrated with fringe groups who are obstructing worthwhile projects that are important to effectively managing our forests.

By increasing transparency we will now know how taxpayer dollars are being spent to reward extreme environmentalists who repeatedly litigate against responsible, Montana-made forest management projects. Through this legislation, I was able to secure important reforms that promote and protect access to Montana’s public lands and increase recreational opportunities for hunters and anglers.

Montana’s best paying jobs rely on our wealth of natural resources. This bill makes it easier for us to expand export markets for natural gas, allowing more American energy to power the world, opening the door for American entrepreneurialism and innovation to lead the way.

Montana is the fifth-largest producer of hydropower in the nation and we have 23 hydroelectric dams. This bill strengthens our nation’s hydropower development by defining hydro as a renewable fuel – this is great news for Montana and well overdue.

This bill also improves federal permitting of critical and strategic mineral production – which supports 22,000 good-paying Montana mining jobs and is essential to our national security and international competitiveness.

The absence of just one critical mineral or metal could disrupt entire technologies and entire industries, creating a ripple effect throughout our entire economy. For example, the Stillwater Mining Company provides one of the only sources of palladium and platinum in the world.

We still have more work to do to fight back against Washington, D.C., anti-energy regulations that will cripple Montana’s economy. By working together, we can build upon Montana’s all-of-the-above energy portfolio to strike the right balance between developing our natural resources and protecting access to the public lands that Montanans so deeply treasure.

Montana Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines serves on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee