Governor Gianforte Blasts Biden Administration for Failing to Work with States on Wildlife Management

HELENA, Mont. – Governor Greg Gianforte today released the following statement after the Biden administration’s Department of the Interior issued a secretarial order that could impede states’ authority to manage bison:

“The Biden administration’s decision to act without consulting states and the secretarial order ignore the states’ role in managing wildlife, and undermine the longstanding tradition of state-federal coordination. As Secretary Haaland knows, the State of Montana and other states work closely with local and tribal leaders, as well as the federal government when appropriate, to manage the vast majority of wildlife. The Department of the Interior only made the state aware of its actions in a vague email barely 12 hours before the secretary of the Interior sent a press release with anything resembling details. The administration’s disregard for coordination and its efforts toward unilateral action are a thumb in the eye for Montanans, and we need and expect better federal partners.”