Good afternoon, Beacon readers! For those of you looking ahead to what’s in store for the week (and those of you with a passion for politics), startingtomorrow western Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke (featured above) will be hosting the Congressional Western Caucus in the Flathead Valley. The two-day event serves as the group’s annual policy summit.
The Congressional Western Caucus has nearly 100 members, with a mission of “restoring prosperity to rural economies and upholding the Western way of life.” During the 119th Congress, the group has dedicated themselves to five issues, including: achieving American energy dominance, increasing recreational access to public lands without limiting responsible energy production, forestry or mining, maintaining healthy forests through active management, protecting water rights, and supporting U.S.-based agricultural production.
Starting Tuesday afternoon, caucus members and Trump administration officials will be immersed in panels, fireside chats and field tours. The first panel, “Wolverines, wolves, and bears, Oh my!” covers the Endangered Species Act and is hosted by wildlife management officials from Montana and Wyoming, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Later, attendees will listen to representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior on federal land and resource policies.
The party will set out for Glacier National Park on Wednesday, where Superintendent Dave Roemer will pilot a session on the success of the Great American Outdoors Act. In the afternoon, Zinke and elected officials from Wisconsin and Utah will discuss how each side of the state-federal partnership in public lands management can better collaborate in future lawmaking.
It will be a full couple of days, so stay tuned – our resident politics reporter Mariah Thomas will be there to cover it all and keep you up to date on the events.
I’m Zoë Buhrmaster, here with you on this lovely Monday for a brief stint in political press. Let’s see what else is happening around the valley and beyond.
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