In The News

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today announced that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program will be directing $333,333.33 to the Vaughn Volunteer Fire Department. “This is about ensuring our firefighters in Vaughn have the critical support needed to keep our communities safe during this fire season,” Daines said. “I will continue working to ensure all of our brave firefighters have the help they need as they work to battle wildfires across Montana.” The AFG program makes funds available directly to fire departments, State Fire Training Academies and non-affiliated EMS organizations to support enhanced

In a political era when Republicans and Democrats rarely agree on anything, the catastrophic wildfire season now raging across the American west could prove compelling enough to rally bipartisan support for legislation to change how forests are managed. That is the hope of Sens. Steve Daines and Dianne Feinstein; one a Montana Republican the other a California Democrat, who on Wednesday spoke in common support of the Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act, a bill that would substantively alter fire suppression practices in the United States. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont.“We are at a critical time,” Daines said in his

Justin Silvera came off the fire lines in Northern California after a grueling 36 straight days battling wildfires and evacuating residents ahead of the flames. Before that, he and his crew had worked for 20 days, followed by a three-day break. Silvera, a 43-year-old battalion chief with Cal Fire, California’s state firefighting agency, said he’s lost track of the blazes he’s fought this year. He and his crew have sometimes been on duty for 64 hours at a stretch, their only rest coming in 20-minute catnaps. “I’ve been at this 23 years, and by far this is the worst I’ve

Smoke from the West Coast wildfires helped set the stage for a Washington, D.C., hearing on a new wildfire and forest management bill backed by U.S. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana. “The West is burning, people are dying, and the smoke is literally starting to cover our country,” Republican Daines said during a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday. “Our way of life as we know it is in danger.” California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein partnered with Daines to produce the Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act (S.4431). It would give the U.S. Forest Service

Trump administration responds to Daines’ request U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today announced that he has successfully secured additional support and resources from the Trump administration to improve Montana’s census count. “Montana has so much at stake for the 2020 census including access to federal resources and even the potential for more representation in Congress,” Daines said. “I’m glad to see the Trump administration act on my request to send more resources to our state to ensure Montanans are properly represented for the next decade.” In total, Montana will see the addition of more than 250 enumerators working

Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) announced their bipartisan Emergency Wildfire and Dianne FeinsteinPublic Safety Act has been scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on September 16, 2020. Feinstein and Daines recently wrote to the committee requesting a hearing for their bill. “More than 2 million acres have already burned this year in California, and the situation is getting worse by the day,” said Feinstein. “This is a crisis all across the Western United States. We need the ability to responsibly clear dead trees and other biomass that will otherwise feed these

Montana Senator Steve Daines made a brief appearance on the KGVO Montana Morning News show on Friday to talk about a number of subjects.   After saying he would be speaking later in the day at a 9-11 ceremony in Bozeman, Daines then spoke of the fires burning throughout the state, especially in Gallatin County, and how a bill he is sponsoring in the U.S. Senate may bring relief.   “We’re going to have a hearing on this bill that I introduced with Dianne Feinstein,” said Daines. “Now, it’s kind of hard to believe that you’ve got a liberal Senator

At a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing, several western senators advocated for grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to be removed from the list of endangered species and for states to manage the species. The hearing focused on S.614, the Grizzly Bear State Management Act, which U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo. introduced in February 2019. The bill would direct the Department of the Interior to re-issue its 2017 decision to delist the grizzly bear in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and prohibit further judicial review of this decision.   “Wildlife experts and federal officials agree that the grizzly

The fight over lifting federal protections for Yellowstone grizzly bears moved to a U.S. Senate committee room on Wednesday.   The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing on S. 614, the Grizzly Bear State Management Act. The bill, introduced by Wyoming Republican Sen. Mike Enzi, would direct federal officials to reissue the 2017 rule that removed Endangered Species Act protections from bears in the Yellowstone region. It would also bar any litigation over the move.   The Department of the Interior delisted the bears in 2017, but the decision was overturned by a lawsuit from conservation groups