FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 5, 2019

(BILLINGS, Mont.)  – Montana Conservation Voters is raising questions about the participation of a public lands opponent at the Western Caucus Foundation’s “Summer Western Roundtable and Field Tour” in California this month.

Montana Senator Steve Daines is chairman of the caucus, and is scheduled to speak at the Western Caucus Foundation in Lake Tahoe next Thursday, August 15. Also scheduled to speak is Karen Budd-Falen, billed in the official agenda as Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife & Parks at the U.S. Department of Interior.

Prior to becoming a government decisionmaker, Budd-Falen served as one of the architects for the public lands transfer movement and opposed bedrock environmental laws like the Endangered Species Act. Budd-Falen also represented Cliven Bundy, who in 2014 led an armed standoff against federal and local law enforcement agents who were trying to round up Bundy’s cattle as payment for the one-million-dollar grazing fees he owed the American public.

“On behalf of all Montanans who support public lands, we have serious questions for Chairman Daines and his role in welcoming anti-public lands crusaders like Karen Budd-Falen to speak at his California forum,” said Aaron Murphy, Executive Director of Montana Conservation Voters. “Senator Daines likes to call himself a supporter of public lands, but talk is cheap. We invite Senator Daines to explain himself, and to do so while speaking face-to-face with Montanans.”

An archived copy of the Western Foundation’s agenda, featuring both Senator Daines and Ms. Budd-Falen as speakers, is available upon request should the agenda be changed online.

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Montana Conservation Voters is a statewide non-partisan membership organization that is dedicated to fighting for Montana’s air, water, open spaces, wildlife and public health. MCV provides voter participation services to over 72,000 Montanans. Visit mtvoters.org for more details.

CONTACT                                                                                
Aaron Murphy

Executive Director of Montana Conservation Voters

(406) 254-1593