Zinke has history of working with sportsmen and women on wide range of natural resource issues
CONTACT:
Corey Fisher
(Dec. 14, 2016) Washington D.C. President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Representative Ryan Zinke of Montana to lead the Department of the Interior. If confirmed, Rep. Zinke would be in charge of managing hundreds of millions of acres that belong to all Americans as National Parks, Bureau of Land Management lands and National Wildlife Refuges, as well as conserving western water resources, and working with state and non-governmental organization partners such as Trout Unlimited to protect and restore trout habitat nationwide.
Chris Wood, President and CEO of Trout Unlimited issued the following statement:
Our nations public lands and waters and the work of the Department of the Interior are incredibly important to Trout Unlimited and its more than 150,000 members nationwide. For sportsmen and women, this is one of the most critical appointments made by a president.
Trout Unlimited has a history of working successfully with Rep. Zinke on a variety of issues, ranging from reauthorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund to, the Public Land Renewable Energy Development Act, to preventing the takeover of Americas public lands. While we have not always agreed with his past positions on other issues, when he was in the Montana State Legislature our members found occasion to work with him on conservation and natural resource issues of mutual interest.
Rep. Zinke understands that public lands are an integral part of Americas hunting and fishing conservation heritage. If confirmed as Secretary of the Interior, we look forward to continuing to work with him and the agencies he will oversee to tackle many of the challenges facing the management of our public lands.
The next Secretary of the Interior will have a very full plate and we will work with Congress to ensure that issues important to sportsmen and women remain on the forefront. These include keeping public lands in public ownership, responsible energy development, western water conservation, science-based management, citizen involvement, and protecting and restoring fish and wildlife habitat. These and other issues must be thoroughly vetted as Congress considers Rep. Zinkes nomination for one of the most important appointments affecting hunters and anglers, businesses, and communities that rely on healthy, well-managed public lands.
About Trout Unlimited –
Trout Unlimited is the nations oldest and largest coldwater fisheries conservation organization dedicated to conserving, protecting and restoring North Americas trout and salmon and their watersheds. Follow TU on Facebook and Twitter, and follow our blog for all the latest information on trout and salmon conservation.