Recently ranchers hosted a congressional tour in Eastern Montana to discuss the wide array of issues that impact ranchers. The purpose of the tour was to bring Washington D.C. to the West.
California Congressman Ken Calvert was invited to the Big Sky state to see first hand the hard work and success of family ranches in Montana. As well, Rep. Calvert sat around the dining room table and shared coffee with local ranchers to listen to their struggles and issues they face on a daily basis. Those issues range from this year’s catastrophic wildfires, prairie dog damage on range land, sage grouse conservation, government overreach and much more.
Congressman Calvert serves as the Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. His committee provides regular annual appropriations for the Department of the Interior, the EPA, and the Forest Service among others. These agencies, their budgets and decisions have a big impact on the ranchers that graze on public and private lands. And, ultimately determines the success of the family business.
Also highlighted was the role that public land ranchers play in the West and sharing their story of how they invest their time, their own money and their energy maintaining the federal lands they graze upon.
Watch: The Chairman's visit recently aired on Northern Ag Network TV.
The Public Lands Council, National Cattlemens Beef Association, American Sheep Industry Association, Montana Wool Growers and Montana Stockgrowers Association, along with Garfield and Petroleum Counties ranchers hosted the chairman on the tour.
Northern Ag Network