Viewpoint: Daines must prove he’s a friend of public lands
Nick Gevock
In the first Trump administration, Sen. Steve Daines made numerous statements that he would ask tough questions of Trump’s pick to run the largest federal land agency in the country, the Bureau of Land Management. That skepticism was well-founded in William Perry Pendley, an extremist who was a fierce advocate for selling off public lands.
But Daines never got that chance, because the Trump administration never brought Perry Pendley forward, instead letting him serve as BLM director under an acting status that was later ruled illegal. Eight years later, it’s deja vu all over again, as Trump has nominated an advocate for selling off our public lands to run the BLM.
Steve Pearce, a former member of Congress from New Mexico, would be disastrous for Montana’s forests, mountains, prairies, streams, and rivers; the native fish and wildlife that live there, and those of us who use these lands to hunt, fish, hike, camp, and otherwise access the outdoors.
Public lands are a major reason I live in Montana, as a hiker, hunter, angler, and wildlife enthusiast. Like me, Westerners have a long track record of leading the opposition to broad proposals to sell off our public lands.
When Utah Sen. Mike Lee sought to mandate the sale of millions of acres of public lands as part of the budget reconciliation bill this year, Montanans were grateful that our congressional delegation, including Sen. Daines, led a successful effort to strip this from the bill. At the time, our senators stated, “Blocking the sale of public lands is a victory for our Montana way of life.” I agree. And now the same leadership is needed to block a proponent of privatization from overseeing 245 million acres of our public lands.
Pearce’s record in Congress and statements through the years paint a dark picture of what’s in store for our public lands if he’s confirmed.
He is open about his disdain for public lands, and the clean air, water, abundant wildlife and recreational opportunities they provide. In 2012, he co-authored a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner pushing for the sale of public lands and opening lands to massive oil and gas, logging, and other industrial uses.
“Over 90 percent of this land is located in the western states, and most of it we do not even need,” Pearce wrote. He backed up this rhetoric by pushing legislation that directed the Interior Department and U.S. Forest Service to sell national public lands.
As a sitting member of Congress, Pearce in 2011 illegally took a chainsaw and cut trees on the Lincoln National Forest during a protest there. And he’s openly called for local sheriffs and county officials to have public land civil servants arrested, a frightening display of disrespect for both the law and the people who steward our treasured public lands.
It doesn’t stop there. Pearce has pushed to exempt logging on National Forests from all environmental review. He fought national monuments on treasured landscapes in his home state of New Mexico, and pushed to shrink one that is broadly popular with his former district’s constituents by more than 80 percent.
There’s no middle ground here. Pearce hasn’t tempered his views. And given that in the first nine months of the second Trump term, they’re bent on laying waste to our federal lands, Pearce seems like the perfect choice to carry out that agenda.
Daines is now a founding member of the Senate Stewardship Caucus, and previously said he’s against public land selloff. He’s again on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee and will get that chance soon when Pearce is up for confirmation.
He has the chance to show his talk about public lands is more than just talk. Daines can show he’s truly a friend of public lands by voting against the confirmation of Steve Pearce.
Nick Gevock serves as a campaign strategist for Northern Rockies wildlands and wildlife for the Sierra Club.