Daines Visits Fort Fizzle to Tout Great American Outdoors Act

Montana Senator Steve Daines paid a visit to Fort Fizzle just outside Lolo on Wednesday to meet with stakeholders and the media and talk about the Great American Outdoors Act.

Daines referenced a recent meeting with President Trump who promised his support for the project that will help to fully fund the Land and water Conservation Fund.

“We’re very pleased to have President Trump’s support for the Great American Outdoors Act,” said Daines. “This is a very important piece of legislation for the sportsmen and women of Montana. Did you know that 70 percent of our fishing accesses in Montana have been funded by the Land and Water Conservation Fund? This is an important bill to provide better access for the public to our public lands.
Daines said passage of this bill will virtually guarantee full funding of the LWCF.

“It’s not yet fully funded,” he said. “We are going to be working on that. That’s what the Great American Outdoors Act does. This is something that I presented directly to President Trump at the end of February. I went down to the White House and sat across the table from him, showed him what this was all about, and he said ‘Steve, if you get that on  my desk, I will sign it’, and that’s all I needed to hear.”

Daines said the Great American Outdoors Act will help to fund badly needed improvements in our national parks.

“Additionally, it addresses the $12 billion maintenance backlog that our national parks have,” he said. “So, let’s call this a win for infrastructure. It’s a good down payment addressing the crumbling infrastructure we see in our national parks. This is a tremendous win for Montana and for our nation.”

Also present were representatives of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, The U.S. Forest Service, and the Trust for Public Lands.

The nearby Lolo Phase 2 Trail LWCF project is a priority for the 2021 fiscal year and is a proposed extension of the current site, that would add about 8,000 acres to the project.