Tester seeks new ideas from his Sportsmen’s Advisory Panel

Meeting follows Tester’s honor from NSSF

(BOZEMAN, Mont.) – On the heels of being named the “Legislator of the Year” by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Senator Jon Tester today held his third meeting with his Sportsmen’s Advisory Panel in Bozeman to seek new ideas for protecting Montana’s outdoor traditions.

Tester’s panel, comprised of Montana sportsmen and women, advises him on issues related to hunting, fishing, wildlife management and public land access.

During today’s meeting, panel members voiced their support for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and Tester’s Making Public Lands Public Act, which protect public access to lands and waterways for hunting and angling.  The panelists repeatedly expressed the importance of public lands and Montana’s long general hunting season.

Panelists also sounded their opposition to H.R. 1581, the Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act, an anti-hunting bill that would allow road-building and development in Montana’s prized hunting backcountry.

“The amazing part about Jon is that he understands Montana’s conservation ethic,” said panelist Randy Newberg, host of the hunting television show ‘On Your Own Adventures’.  “Our hunting and fishing is apolitical.  Jon listens to people and in a time of frantic partisan rhetoric, he is actually getting things done for hunters and anglers.”

Panel members also expressed support for the Conservation Reserve Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program in the upcoming Farm Bill.

Tester is the chairman of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus.