Rosendale plots against Montana hunters and anglers

Montanans are good at forming relationships. As I’ve traveled in the eastern U.S. House district, I’ve met voters who are husbands, wives, friends of friends, sisters, brothers, fathers, mothers … all of whom know someone who knows someone I should get in contact with about my independent campaign for Congress. But one of the most important relationships that Montanans cherish is our relationship with nature and wildlife. In no other state is there such a rich tradition of hunting and fishing. I have enjoyed chasing my son and grandson around as they hunt, and I have loved fishing the Blackfoot River for decades. In Montana, our human relationships are often strengthened by our connection to wildlife.

Matt Rosendale likes to pretend he understands this connection. His radical actions in Congress prove otherwise. This summer, Rosendale co-sponsored a bill to dismantle the nearly century old Pittman-Robertson Act, which has provided millions of dollars to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Of course, Rosendale doesn’t care because he is out-of-touch with his constituents. He would rather side with the extremist politicians and political hacks in Washington over thousands of hunters and anglers in Montana.

Let me be clear: the repeal has zero support in the communities of sportsmen and women. Rosendale has alienated almost every  hunting and angling organization in the state because his bill would gut conservation efforts in Montana. The National Rifle Association, the National Shooting Sports Association, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Ducks Unlimited and many others oppose it, and for good reason.

Seven of the bill’s co-sponsors have abandoned ship and withdrawn their support, realizing how harmful this bill would be. Rosendale was not one of them. His actions have a real effect on you as a voter and a Montanan.

You probably live near a Wildlife Management Area that the Pittman-Robertson supports. Just last year, the program accounted for over a billion dollars in funding nationwide. This small tax on firearms and bullets provided nearly $11 million to Beartooth and Sun River WMAs in Lewis and Clark County. It gave Grant Marsh WMA in Big Horn County over $1 million. In Teton County, the Blackfeet WMA received $641,000 in funding from this well-established law. The list is extensive and the impacts are huge. Pittman-Robertson covered 78 percent of the cost of 15 WMAs in Montana for a total of $29.9 million in funding.

These programs and many more will not have the funding to operate if Rosendale’s new bill passes. If Rosendale didn’t know this, he’s ignorant. If he did, he’s malicious. Either way, Montanans deserve better. The best way to preserve our relationship with wildlife is to end our relationship with Matt Rosendale.

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Gary Buchanan is an independent candidate for Montana’s second U.S. House district