Dear Honorable Senator Daines,
The Elkhorn Working Group (EWG) is an advisory council chartered by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks and USFS Region-1 in 2002 to develop and provide collaborative recommendations on wildlife/livestock management strategies and other issues in the Elkhorn Mountains (Hunting District 380, Lewis & Clark, Jefferson and Broadwater Counties). The EWG is composed of volunteers who meet six times a year in facilitated meetings. It works collaboratively with a steering committee composed of supervisors from the Helena-Lewis & Clark National Forest, the Bureau of Land Management, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, and the U.S. Natural Resource Conservation Service.
We are communicating with you to urge your continued support of permanently funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). As you know, this fund gets its monetary support from the fees from offshore drilling of oil and gas. The most recent budget bill drastically reduces these funds that are so important to all Montanans, and even more so, rural Montanans.
