Source: Office of Sen. Steve Daines
Posted on 04/22/2021 5:36:48 AM PDT by Kaslin
Source: Office of Sen. Steve Daines
For Senator Steve Daines (R-MT), conservation is in his blood.
A stewardship ethos is deeply ingrained in him—one that influences his legislative priorities like balancing natural resources development with public lands advocacy.
Fresh off his re-election victory, the second-term lawmaker is a leading conservative voice on issues relating to conservation, energy, and the environment.
Last year, Senator Daines joined former Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) in introducing and sponsoring the bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act—the most consequential public lands bill in 50 years. President Donald Trump later signed the bill into law. In 2019, Daines and his fellow Republicans launched the bicameral Roosevelt Conservation Caucus. It’s no surprise the Flathead Beacon dubbed Daines a “conservative conservationist.” He certainly is one, through and through.
Senator Daines recently chatted with me how he’s promoting true conservation policies in the U.S. Senate, his thoughts on new Interior Secretary Haaland, and the value of introducing more Americans to fishing and hunting.
Channeling the Montana Way of Life in Washington
Senator Daines said Montana values greatly influence his public policy work.
“I was very thankful that I got to grow up in Montana,” Daines remarked.
The gun owner embraced the shooting sports lifestyle early in life after receiving a Winchester 22, a pellet gun, and Daisy BB gun.
He acknowledged he was an early adopter of fly fishing before the film adaptation of "A River Runs Through It," starring actor Brad Pitt, made the sport popular.
“I had a fly rod in my hand in the early 70s before fly fishing was cool,” he quipped. “My grandpa had a Browning Silaflex rod with an automatic reel [and] a wicker creel. If you’ve seen the movie A River Runs Through It, that was filmed on the Gallatin River...I grew up fishing on [that river] before it was found and discovered probably by so many now.”
“I realized what I grew up with [was] something really unique and really special. And it's part of our legacy that we need to continue to protect and preserve in Montana.”
Conservatives Are Conservationists Too
I asked the avowed sportsman why Democrats are keen on weaponizing conservation against Republicans.
“I think it's unfortunate that conservation has gotten so politicized,” the senator observed. “That somehow if you are conservative—if you're Republican—you can't be pro-environment, pro-outdoors, pro-public lands. Because I am.”
If supporting multiple-use management of public lands is a “conservative” position, it’s the Montana position in Daines’ eyes.
The senator is concerned national Democrats, including President Joe Biden, want to shift Western states away from this public lands philosophy. He warned if they succeed, the Treasure State will transform into a playground solely for the rich and wealthy—not regular working Montanans.
“The average working men and women will have to leave because they don't have a job,” he declared. “As we've seen, some of these radical environmental groups shut down mining, shut down timber management, you know, shut down oil, gas, and our coal industries. Well, what do you have if you shut all those down? You basically just have a state that only people who are wealthy can afford to live in.”
Rating Secretary Deb Haaland’s Performance So Far
Senator Daines recently garnered attention for grilling Interior Secretary Deb Haaland during her confirmation hearing. Critics accused him of being biased against her—an accusation he resoundly rejects.
Daines revealed to me he could be open to working with Haaland, but remains pessimistic about his prospects. He is concerned she’s taking the Interior Department in a radical preservationist direction.
“She has taken some very, very radical positions prior to her nomination: shutting down all pipelines, shutting down natural resource development, [being] opposed to public lands trapping...,” he noted.
The self-described conservationist also felt she displayed weakness while answering a question about being guided by science on grizzly bear management. The science, Daines said, supports delisting the fully-recovered Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) grizzly bear—a position she vociferously opposed as a congresswoman.
“Of course, we got into a bit of a debate on the Endangered Species Act,” the avid sportsman admitted, citing her non-answer.
Daines, however, hopes the Interior Secretary will consider new Chao 2 numbers from the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC)—not politics—when her agency decides the species’ fate.
“We look at what's happening with the grizzly bears in a place like Montana. Today, there's over 1,000 grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem,” said Daines. “Tragically, just last week—an hour and a half from my home in southwest Montana—a 40-year-old man from West Hills, Montana, was tragically mauled and killed by a grizzly bear.”
“It's in the best interest of the people of Montana and the bears to delist them, and allow the state of Montana to manage the species.”
Conclusion
Before concluding our conversation, I couldn’t resist asking Senator Daines what his advice for new anglers and hunters is given renewed interest in these pastimes.
“Go for it,” he offered. “We keep the next generation going forward here by buying a fishing license—buying hunting licenses—because it funds conservation. It funds the Great Outdoors.”
Listen to Senator Daines on the District of Conservation podcast or watch the interview here. Make sure to follow Senator Daines on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and bookmark his official website.
Rats soil and eventually destroy every institution they control.
Politics is too political for this fake goober. Go fly fish in a lake and say Hail Marys. Dipshit.
Our news is indistinguishable from our entertainment. They are co-mingled on purpose. Now we have been primed to process them both equally and with the same accuracy. One does not feel entertained if it’s not got a political message.
Loving the outdoors and nature does not make you a hippy greeny tree hugger. Compromise and “multi-use” works just fine. And I do not know one hunter or angler who doesn’t want to compromise and be able to enjoy yet protect the environment as best they can. In fact hunters and anglers are the first and foremost true protectors of the environment and wildlife with their own dollars. Contrary to popular belief around here this does not automatically make them radical green extremists.
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Quite the opposite in my experience. The tree-huggers I’ve known seem to have no particular love of nature, they more seem to want to keep you out of it.
I agree, The extremist left huggers are for absolutely no access at all, this is normal for them. The point I was making is that there is an unwritten rule that if you are conservative right you are not supposed to have any love or care for nature at all.
If you even mention protecting the environment in any way you are automatically shamed and labelled a greeny tree hugger liberal. It has to be all on or all off, black or white, with no compromise in ideology. When environmental multi-use compromise is real and works just fine even if you are a conservative.
Totally agree with you. I am referencing the control freaks who “point to the science” whilst never leaving the metropolis they live in.
I hunt and fish. I own a small patch of land and and am planting trees next week to replace those that were cut.
State politicians Want to “conserve” the deer herd by starting the hunt in early September (before breeding)and ending in late January. All while increasing the # of antlerless permits. Where I live, the herd has been just about been killed off. Pheasants in Michigan’s thumb have been managed almost to extinction. Lawmakers have decided that it is acceptable for Nestle to pump 400 gallons/ minute of water from our aquifer for the princely sum of $200/year.
Lawmakers need to put some common sense into their “conservation”.
The Democrats policies of shutting down the energy sector and other land use industries has nothing to do with conservation of the planet. It has everything to do with controlling the population-moving them to urban centers, and making them reliant on the government. It is all about opposing individual freedom, and nothing about respect for nature.
Oh absolutely... I could write a book about the “Conservation efforts” that have actually damaged the environment more than if they had just left it alone as multi-use. The whole movement is about laundering money, theft of private property, and control.
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