Businessman Steve Daines entered the Montana political scene with his website, GiveItBack.com, by urging then-Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer to return a $1 billion state surplus to Montana taxpayers.

Montana Conservation Voters is now urging Senator Daines to live up to his own words.

As a member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee and as a member of the majority party, it’s time for Senator Daines to “give back” the hundreds of millions of dollars missing from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Every year LWCF funding is diverted to other expenditures not associated with our public land or water and as a result Montana’s outdoor heritage suffers. 

Please join us in demanding Senator Daines “give it back” to our public lands by taking action today! 

In 2019, Senator Daines said he supported full LWCF funding at $900 million. But then Senator Daines asked his colleagues on the Senate Appropriations Committee for only $600 million - two-thirds of “full funding.”  When Fiscal Year 2020 was ultimately settled, Congress landed on only $495 million for LWCF. 

When you ask for less than full funding, you get less than full funding.

Most recently, the Trump Administration released their 2021 budget proposal that recommends only $14.7 million for LWCF, which is 1.6% of full funding for our public lands. 

First established by Congress in 1965, LWCF has been funded by offshore oil and gas royalties, not taxpayer dollars, providing hundreds of millions 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 every year.