U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate to urge his colleagues to take action and vote for the bipartisan public lands package that includes the permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act.
“I’m here today to urge my Senate colleagues to support Senate Bill 47, a lands package. This includes 100 locally driven as well as nationally important bills. Specifically, there are two that are very important bills for Montana, the first is the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and the second is the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act,”Daines said.
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Among several other wins, the public lands package:
- Permanently reauthorizes LWCF
- Includes the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act which protects the Paradise Valley and Gardiner Basin from development
- Includes the WILD Act which strengthens wildlife conservation by reauthorizing sportsmen’s wildlife conservation programs, assists in the management of invasive species, and promotes anti-poaching programs
- Enacts long-awaited provisions supporting Sportsmen’s access and heritage
- Allows the permitting or leasing of public land for shooting ranges and target ranges
- Strengthens partnerships with our national parks by authorizing the Every Kid Outdoors program and the 21st Century Conservation Corps
- Requires federal agencies to manage and enhance wildlife species and habitats that respects statement management authority and private property rights
- Facilitates an “open until closed policy” on federal land by requiring federal public land to be open for hunting, fishing and recreational shooting unless the Secretary closes an area for public safety or applicable to other laws and only in consultation with state fish and wildlife agencies through public notice and comment
- Curtails obstructive litigation by requiring publishing of EAJA and Judgment Fund payments issu
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