For immediate release: November 1, 2018

Montana Public Land Advocates Rebuke Sec. Zinke
for Hiring Karen Budd-Falen
Former Bundy family lawyer joins Department of the Interior weeks after Zinke refused to denounce event in his hometown featuring Ammon Bundy

Helena, MT – Today, several organizations that advocate for public lands and wildlife in Montana rebuked Secretary Ryan Zinke for hiring Karen Budd-Falen, who today joined the Department of the Interior (DOI) as deputy Interior solicitor for wildlife and parks. Budd-Falen has served as one of the legal architects for the public lands transfer movement, has filed numerous frivolous lawsuits against DOI employees, and has ardently opposed bedrock environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act.

“What Scott Pruitt was to the Environmental Protection Agency, Karen Budd-Falen is to the Department of the Interior,” says Dave Chadwick, executive director of Montana Wildlife Federation. “She’s made a career out of suing the Department of the Interior and trying to subvert laws that were designed to protect wildlife and the integrity of our public lands.”

One of Budd-Falen’s clients was 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 $1 million in grazing fees he owed, and still owes, the American public.

“The fact that Sec. Zinke hired someone who used to represent the Bundys, has a long history of opposing federal management of public lands, and has actively worked against bedrock environmental laws is troubling, to say the least,” says Rick Potts, interim executive director of Montana Conservation Voters. “This sends a message, yet again, that Sec. Zinke is out of touch with Montanans.”

Budd-Falen’s start date at DOI comes just a few weeks after Cliven Bundy’s son Ammon was a featured speaker at an event in Zinke’s hometownof Whitefish, called “New Code of the West.” Ammon Bundy led the 44-day armed occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016 in Oregon and participated in the standoff against law enforcement officials at his father’s ranch in Nevada. New Code of the West also featured several speakers who peddle the “deep state,” Agenda 21, and other anti-government conspiracy theories. One of those speakers was Elaine Willman, an anti-Indian activist who advocates for terminating Indian treaty rights and eliminating tribal sovereignty.

Even though nearly 1,000 Montanans signed an open letter denouncing New Code of the West and calling on Zinke to do the same, he refused to do so. Full-page ads appeared in nearly every Montana daily newspaper and in local Flathead papers also calling on Zinke to “stand with Montanans” and condemn the event.

“Public lands are an enormous part of what make Montana’s young people want to live, work, and raise families here,” says Rachel Huff-Doria, executive director of Forward Montana. “By hiring Budd-Falen and refusing to stand with Montanans against anti-government and anti-public lands extremists, Zinke has, in effect, turned his back on the future of his home state.”

Critics of Budd-Falen have argued that she has helped provide the ideological rationale for taking arms against law enforcement agents. “Federal and state agents threaten the life, liberty, and happiness of the people of Catron County,” she wrote in a land use plan for the New Mexico county. “They present a clear and present danger to the land and livelihood of every man, woman, and child.”

“By hiring Budd-Falen and refusing to speak out against the likes of Ammon Bundy, Sec. Zinke is aiding and abetting a radical movement that’s trying to seize public lands,” says Ben Gabriel, executive director of Montana Wilderness Association. “Sec. Zinke once vowed to keep public lands in public hands, but those words now ring hollow.”

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Contacts:
Dave Chadwick, executive director of Montana Wildlife Federation: 406-438-6478
Rick Potts, interim executive director of Montana Conversation Voters: 406-366-9685
Rachel Huff-Doria, executive director of Forward Montana: 717-991-3295
Ben Gabriel, executive director of Montana Wilderness Association: 406-431-5198