Issue Position: Protecting Our Public Lands

Issue Position

Jon is relentlessly defending our public lands. In Montana, hunting, fishing, and our outdoor heritage isn't just a way-of-life, it's an economic driver. Montana's outdoor economy accounts for more than $7 billion into our economy.
Jon has consistently opposed transferring federal lands to the state and is a champion of public access in the United States Senate.
Jon's relentless advocacy for Made-in-Montana public lands legislation shows he has Montana's back. After in-person town hall meetings, listening sessions, and roundtables across the state Jon has heard Montanans loud and clear: keep our public lands in public hands.
Jon worked across the aisle to pass Made-in-Montana legislation to protect the North Fork of the Flathead and over 275,000 acres on the Rocky Mountain Front. And Jon's Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act would permanently protect the Paradise Valley from mining at the gateway to Yellowstone National Park. Jon believes there are some places you just don't mine, and the doorstep of Yellowstone is one of them.
He's also been a champion of collaborative legislation to protect lands for the next generation. Jon's Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act was crafted over the years with local stakeholders from sportsmen to small business owners to the timber industry to add 79,000 acres of wilderness while accommodating recreational and commercial uses.
And just this year, President Trump signed Jon's bill to protect East Rosebud Creek by designating it "wild and scenic." Jon worked with the entire Montana delegation to get the bill to the President's desk.
Out-of-state special interests are attacking Montana's public lands, but Jon will always be there defending them. He's a relentless advocate for public access to public lands, ensuring hunting, fishing, and hiking opportunities for generations to come.
Matt Rosendale is no friend to our public lands -- which is no surprise since he spent two decades as a developer on the Eastern Shore in Maryland. Then he moved to Montana, bought a $2 million ranch and started calling himself a rancher, even though he owns no cattle. He talks a big game about public lands access for Montanans, but just a couple years ago, he wanted to transfer federal public lands to the state, which would explode Montana's budget and force the sale of lands to private owners, closing off access to sportsmen and devastating Montana's outdoor economy. And on the Land Board, when he had the chance to vote to protect access for sportsmen in Southwest Montana and to open up thousands of acres to public access in Eastern Montana -- he voted no. As a developer, Rosendale bought farmland in Maryland and Montana, and built neighborhoods on it.

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