Photo info (left to right): RMEF Director of Government Affairs Ryan Bronson, Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and RMEF Chief Conservation Officer Blake Henning
Below is a recap of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s recent visit to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. by RMEF Director of Government Affairs Ryan Bronson.
RMEF’s policy leadership team was in Washington, D.C. on September 11 and 12 for the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) annual banquet. RMEF is a major sponsor of CSF, and CSF was celebrating its 35th anniversary. RMEF chief conservation officer Blake Henning, and director of government affairs, Ryan Bronson, targeted their efforts meeting members and staff from three key committees with oversight of most of RMEF’s legislative priorities.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR), Environment and Public Works (EPW), and the House Natural Resources (HNR) Committees have control of several pieces of legislation that would improve the active management of federal forests, improve big game migration corridors, and protect access to public lands. In a full day that included several trips back and forth across the Capitol grounds to Senate and House office buildings (several miles of walking on concrete and marble), RMEF had 11 meetings. These included face-to-face meetings with Wyoming Senators Cynthia Lummis (ranking members on the EPW subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Water) and John Barrasso (ranking ENR member), Montana Representative Ryan Zinke who is co-sponsoring the bipartisan Wildlife Movement Through Partnerships Act, and HNR Chairman Bruce Westerman. RMEF also met with key staff members of the majority and minority parties on the committees and staff from the agriculture committees.
There is hope that a couple of key pieces of legislation will move following the November election, and RMEF is making sure that our priorities have a chance of being included in the end-of-year deals. The ‘Cottonwood Fix‘ is in play in both an end-of-the-year forestry and public lands package, as well as the Farm Bill. An expanded Forest Conservation Easement Program is a popular new element for the Farm Bill, and the bipartisan migration corridors legislation are all part of ongoing negotiations that will likely heat up in the lame-duck period following the election.
(Photo credit: Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation)