FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 11, 2021

MCV praises Secretarial Order that restores LWCF

Conservation group thanks Biden, Tester for supporting public lands and access, not ‘holding our breath’ for Daines

(BOZEMAN, Mont.) – Montana Conservation Voters is praising today’s U.S. Interior Department’s repeal of a controversial November 2020 secretarial order that placed unnecessary government regulations on the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).

Then-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt signed Order #3388 on November 13, 2020. The order requires state governors or local jurisdictions to approve, in writing, of public land acquisitions made possible by the LWCF.

“Today’s repeal restores the Land and Water Conservation Fund as the premier tool to protect our most important landscapes and create new recreation opportunities for all Americans and future generations,” said Whitney Tawney, the Executive Director of Montana Conservation Voters. “We thank President Biden and Senator Jon Tester for their vision and commitment to push back against anti-public land zealots who continue to undermine  Montana’s outdoor heritage and way of life.”

Tester is the only member of Montana’s congressional delegation who opposed Bernhardt’s order in November, saying it “undercuts what a landowner can do with their own private property, and creates unnecessary, additional levels of bureaucracy that will hamstring future land acquisition through the Land and Water Conservation Fund.”

The popular LWCF relies on offshore oil and gas leases, not taxpayer dollars, to fund public access sites, improvements to public lands and parks, and to fund land acquisitions and conservation easements.

Last year’s bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act, supported by both Tester and Senator Steve Daines, fully funded the LWCF at $900 million per year in perpetuity. Critics of Order #3388, including Montana Conservation Voters, say Bernhardt’s order essentially rewrote that law.

“We hope Senator Daines eventually joins Team Public Lands by acknowledging support for today’s repeal,” Tawney added. “But we aren’t holding our breath.”

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