FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 10, 2020

MCV: Why is the Trump Administration denying $13.3 million from Montana’s public lands?

Department of Interior releases disappointing new public lands project list

(BOZEMAN, Mont.) — Montana Conservation Voters released the following statement from Deputy Director Whitney Tawney in response to the U.S. Department of Interior’s plan to strip $13.3 million from Montana for access to public lands under the Great American Outdoors Act:

“The Department of Interior’s failure to recognize the importance of public lands in Montana is a clear reflection of how Montanans and our public lands were caught up in politics this election cycle. Why is the Trump Administration denying $13.3 million from Montana’s public lands? We need our congressional delegation to be leaders for public lands and stand up to these misplaced priorities from President Trump’s Interior Department.”

The Great American Outdoors Act, signed into law earlier this year, provided full and dedicated funding to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which provides critical money for public lands. The Department of Interior’s recently released project list undermines the intention of this law and shortchanged communities across the country, including Montana.

First established by Congress in 1965, LWCF has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to protect public lands and increase access to outdoor recreation. LWCF has invested nearly $600 million in the Big Sky State. The fund supports Montana’s outdoor recreation economy, which sustains 71,000 Montana jobs and generates more than $7 billion in economic activity in Montana each year.

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