MISSOULA — A main reason why many of us choose to live in Montana is because of the access to the outdoors.
Late Wednesday night, Congressman Ryan Zinke drew a hard line against the sale of public land in the United States.
"Public lands is a red, white, and blue issue. Public lands, no matter where it's at, whether it's in Montana or Tennessee, or Utah, public lands belongs to all of us," Zinke told MTN.
Watch to learn more about Rep. Ryan Zinke's stance on public lands:
A provision allowing the sale of around half a million acres has been removed from the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" by Rep. Zinke and others.
"To think that you're gonna sell public land to pay off the debt, that's just a red line with me," Zinke shared.
While the land in question is in Utah and Nevada, Congressman Zinke was concerned that a sale could set a precedent for land in Montana.
"I made it known to the administration that, look, this is important. It's not only important to Montana, it's important to the country," Zinke said.
Zinke notes that managing land and utilizing resources is a better option for the country than selling. He adds that public lands need to be tended to and protected.
"Now, looking at the next 100 years, there's a lot more challenges. There's more people in the rivers, there's a lot more fence lines. Public access is more difficult to find," Zinke said.
He says, moving forward, there's a lot to be done at the federal level.
"We're working on several bills: corridors to make sure wildlife can travel between winter range and summer range. Looking at systems, cause what happens upstream affects downstream as far as the health and conditions of our streams and watersheds. Fire season, I think we're gonna use emerging technology better to fight our fires," Zinke told MTN.
